The First 400 Years

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The First 400 Years
Ad in The Age 3 Oct 1964
Written byWilliam Sterling
Directed byWilliam Sterling
StarringKeith Michell
Googie Withers
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
Production
Running timePart 1 - 35 mins
Part 2 - 35 mins
Production companyABC
Original release
Release
  • Part 1 – 8 July 1964 (1964-07-08) (Melbourne)[1]
  • Part 2 – 7 July 1964 (1964-07-07) (Sydney),[2]
    7 October 1964 (1964-10-07) (Melbourne)

The First 400 Years is a 1964 Australian television play. It was filmed in Adelaide. The stars were performing in the play around Australia for JC Williamsons.[3][4]

It screened in two parts.[5]

Premise[edit]

A collection of scenes from the plays of William Shakespeare.

Part One was more comic consisting of:[6]

  • the wooing scene from Taming of the Shrew
  • Katherin's plea to the Royal Court in Henry VIII
  • the scene with Lance and his dog from Two Gentlemen of Verona
  • the church scene between Beatrice and Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing.

Part two was more serious consisting of:

  • two scenes from The Merchant of Venice
  • the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet
  • the closing scene from Hamlet.

Cast[edit]

Original play[edit]

The show was based on a play directed by Raymond Westwell for J.C. Williamsons. It premiered in Melbourne on 23 April 1964, the 400th anniversal of Shakespeare's birth.[7]

"What a profligate waste of costumes," wrote Column 8 in Sydney Morning Herald.[8]

Production[edit]

It was rehearsed and filmed in one day and the ABC's studios in Adelaide. Sterling said "Fortunately the stage production was almost ideal for TV> I tried to place the cameras in such a way that there was very little adjustment of movement and although the studio was smaller than the stage acting area, the production transposed well."[9]

Reception[edit]

The Sunday Sydney Morning Herald reviewer said it "lit up the screen... these couple of superb artists in action. My only complaint is that 30 minutes was not long enough."[10]

One viewer called it "dull, flat and unprofitable."[11]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "TV Guide". The Age. 7 October 1964. p. 18.
  2. ^ "TV Guide". Sydney Morning Herald. 6 July 1964.
  3. ^ "TV adapts Shakespeare from stage". The Canberra Times. Vol. 38, no. 10, 893. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 7 July 1964. p. 11. Retrieved 15 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Googie's Seven Roles". Sydney Morning Herald. 7 December 1964. p. 15.
  5. ^ "Part 1 of the First 400 Years". The Age. 1 October 1964. p. 13.
  6. ^ "TV Guide". The Age. 2 July 1964. p. 31.
  7. ^ O'Neill, Josephine (5 April 1964). "Curtain Call". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 83.
  8. ^ Granny (24 June 1964). "Column 8". p. 1.
  9. ^ "The First 400 Years". The Age. 2 July 1964. p. 13.
  10. ^ Marshall, Valda (12 July 1964). "TV Merry Go Round". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 90.
  11. ^ "Producers and the Drama Cameras". The Age. 16 July 1964. p. 29.

External links[edit]

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