Alan Burke (18 November 1923 – 28 August 2007)
[ was an Australian writer and film director and producer. His credits include the musical '']Lola Montez
Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld (17 February 1821 – 17 January 1861), better known by the stage name Lola Montez (), was an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a Spanish dancer, courtesan, and mistress of King Ludwig ...
''.
Biography
Burke was born in the Hawthorn
Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to:
Plants
* '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae
* ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...
suburb of Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
in 1923.
Burke was interested in theatre from a young age and began writing plays. One of them ''Follow Suit'' debuted in 1941. According to ''The Argus'' "Alan is aged only 17 years, but has been turning out plays so prolifically for the past 4 or 5 years that he must now be reckoned a veteran playwright. Most surprising of all is that there's nothing "youthful" in his writings. Most of his efforts have had all the sophistication and wit of a Coward."
He served in the army from 1941 until 1946. He did a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne where he was heavily involved in the dramatic society. In 1948 he became a member of the Old Vic Company
The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, nonprofit organization, not-for-profit producing house, producing theatre in Waterloo, London, Waterloo, London, England. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Th ...
when they were touring Australia.
He worked with the Melbourne Little Theatre Melbourne Little Theatre was a theatre company in Melbourne, Australia, founded by Brett Randall and Hal Percy in 1931.
Randall and Percy staged their first production, Miles Malleson's ''The Fanatics'', at the central hall of His Majesty's Theat ...
, notably with Frank Thring
Francis William Thring (11 May 1926 – 29 December 1994) was an Australian character actor in radio, stage, television and film; as well as a theatre director. His early career started in London in theatre productions, before he starred in Ho ...
, and toured Victoria with several shows. He moved to Sydney, where he produced plays for the Metropolitan Theatre and Sydney University.
In December 1951 he was appointed as producer-manager of the Canberra Repertory Society, which he did for two years. Burke went overseas for three years on a UNSECO fellowship, in England, Europe and the United States. On his travels he met Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' — a ...
.
In 1954 in England in attended a two-month BBC television training course run by Royston Morley
John Royston Morley (25 August 1912 – 14 October 1991), was a British television producer, director and writer. He was among the earliest television producers, and also trained new producers for the BBC and in Australia.
Life and career
Morley ...
. He directed six plays in England. He returned to Australia in 1956 at the request of Neil Hutchinson
Neil is a masculine name of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. ...
to work with the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust
The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust is a theatre and performing arts company that was founded in September 1954, with the aim of establishing drama, opera and ballet companies nationally.
Founding
In 1954 the Australian Elizabethan Theatre T ...
where he directed eight plays and an opera.
He also wrote the book to a popular musical, ''Lola Montez''.
Television
In 1957 he directed a TV play for the ABC, ''A Fourth for Bridge
''A Fourth for Bridge'' is a 1957 Australian TV play starring Richard Meikle. It aired on the ABC.
Plot
Several POWs travel in Italian aircraft in World War Two. They play a card game.
Cast
*Hans Eisler
*Al Garcia
*Nigel Lovell as the Air ...
''. He formally joined ABC TV in 1958 and as an executive producer and director until 1986. He directed operas, ballet, musicals, original Australian drama and Australian adaptations of overseas drama.
Burke later described his process for directing operas:
What I do first is learn the whole opera. I would get the records of the opera and learn every note and all the dialogue. I would play it, and play it etc. After a while images come into the mind – the way an aria sticks out in an opera and so do certain key moments. Then I work out the crucial scenes. What makes it different to any other opera. Why is this opera the opera it is. The ABC Music Department cast all the operas so I played no part in that. Next was the design. I was allocated a designer. We would work out the costumes and sets and flavour and tone and period. Next is the big job of plotting the opera ie pictures and all the detail. I would leave the office and go home and play the opera for weeks, with the script in front of me. I would work on it plotting bar by bar. Then I passed all that information to the cast. I found most singers very grateful for direction.
He directed a production of ''Merchant of Venice'' starring Barry Creyton
Barry Creyton (born 1939, Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian actor and playwright. Creyton began his professional career in radio and revue in Melbourne, Australia and became well known in Sydney starring in and writing popular comedy-melod ...
who later called Burke " a very gentle, erudite man. Very sympathetic – he knew exactly what he wanted from actors and how to get it without ranting and raving; he would coax it out of you."
The team of ''Lola Montez'' were commissioned to write an original musical for television, ''Pardon Miss Westcott
"Pardon Miss Westcott" is a 1959 Australian TV play by the Seven Network as part of drama anthology series ''Shell Presents''. It was a musical set in colonial Australia and was broadcast live. It was Australia's first television musical comedy. ...
''. A third musical by the trio, based on Ruth Park
Rosina Ruth Lucia Park AM (24 August 191714 December 2010) was a New Zealand–born Australian author. Her best known works are the novels '' The Harp in the South'' (1948) and ''Playing Beatie Bow'' (1980), and the children's radio serial '' ...
's ''The Harp in the South
''The Harp in the South'' is the debut novel by Australian author Ruth Park. Published in 1948, it portrays the life of a Catholic Irish Australian family living in the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills, which was at that time an inner city slum.
P ...
'', has never been performed.
He taught at NIDA and did consultancy for the Australian Film Commission.
In 1980 he won a Sammy Award for directing ''A Toast to Melba
''A Toast to Melba'' is a 1976 Australian play by Jack Hibberd. A biography of Dame Nellie Melba, Hibberd described it as:
Another 'Popular Play' like ''The Les Darcy Show''. Using the Epic Theatre techniques of Bertolt Brecht (without politics), ...
''. He returned to directing theatre in 1982 with ''Errol Flynn's Great Big Adventure Book for Boys''.
Select TV credits
* ''Rita
Rita may refer to:
People
* Rita (given name)
* Rita (Indian singer) (born 1984)
* Rita (Israeli singer) (born 1962)
* Rita (Japanese singer)
* Eliza Humphreys (1850–1938), wrote under the pseudonym Rita
Places
* Djarrit, also known as Rita, ...
'' (1959) – director
* ''A Little South of Heaven
''A Little South of Heaven'' is Australian live television play which aired in 1961 on ABC. It was based on a radio play by D'Arcy Niland and Ruth Park.
Plot
Set in Sydney. An Italian widow who has moved to Australia plans a marriage for her son ...
'' (1961) – director
Select Theatre credits
*''Follow Suit'' (1940) – original play written by Burke
*''Woman Bites Dog'' (1944) – play written by Burke
*''Over 21'' by Ruth Gordon (1947) – directed production at Melbourne University
*''Night Must Fall'' (1947)
*''The Father'' by Stringberg (1948) – director
*''Rusty Bugles'' (1949) – directed at Majestic Theatre, Adelaide
*''The Play's the Thing'' (1950) – with Frank Thring
*''The Importance of Being Earnest'' (1951) – toured a production in Victoria – he directed
*''The Man Who Came to Dinner'' (1951) – with Frank Thring and Pat Hanna at the Melbourne Little Theatre
*''Happy as Larry'' (1951) – produced play at Sydney Metropolitan Theatre
*''The Eagle Has Two Heads'' by Jean Cocteau (1951) – Wallis Theatre
*''Venus Observed'' (1951) – produced this at Arrow Theatre in Melbourne[
*''Ned Kelly'' (1952) – directed production in Canberra
*''Harlequinade'', ''The Browning Version'' (1952) – directed production in Canberra
*''The Skin of Our Teeth'' (1953) – directed production in Canberra
*''Ring Round the Moon' (1953) – directed production in Canberra
*''The Government Inspector'' (1953) – directed production in Canberra
*''Hedda Gabbler'' (1953) – directed Canberra production
*''The Seagull'' (1954) – directed in Geneva
*''The Cherry Orchard'' (1954) – directed in Geneva]
*''Look Back in Anger
''Look Back in Anger'' (1956) is a realist play written by John Osborne. It focuses on the life and marital struggles of an intelligent and educated but disaffected young man of working-class origin, Jimmy Porter, and his equally competent yet i ...
'' (1957) – Australian premiere – with Zoe Caldwell
Zoe Ada Caldwell, (14 September 1933 – 16 February 2020) was an Australian actress. She was a four-time Tony Award winner, winning Best Featured Actress in a Play for '' Slapstick Tragedy'' (1966), and Best Actress in a Play for '' The Pri ...
– director
*''The Matchmaker'' – Australian premiere – director
*'' The Rainmaker'' – Australian premiere – co-directed with Leo McKern
Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO (16 March 1920 – 23 July 2002) was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British, Australian and American television programmes and films, and in more than 200 stage roles. His notable roles include Cla ...
*''Lola Montez'' – co-author
*''Errol Flynn's Great Big Adventure for Boys'' (1982) – director
Notes
References
External links
Alan Burke
at AustLit
AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource (also known as AustLit: Australian Literature Gateway; and AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature), usually referred to simply as AustLit, is an internet-based, non-profit collaboration betwee ...
*
Alan Burke interviewed by Bill Stephens in the Esso Performing Arts collection
Alan Burke's theatre credits
at AusStage
AusStage: The Australian Live Performance Database is an online database which records information about live performances in Australia, providing records of productions from the first recorded performance in Australia (1789, by convicts) up unt ...
Alan Burke
at National Film and Sound Archive
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Alan
Australian directors
1923 births
2007 deaths
Australian writers