"Easy Terms" is the 28th

television play A television play is a television programming genre which is a drama performance broadcast from a multi-camera television studio, usually live in the early days of television but later recorded to tape. This is in contrast to a television movi ...

episode of the first season of the Australian anthology television series ''

Australian Playhouse ''Australian Playhouse'' was an Australian anthology TV series featuring the work of Australian writers. It ran for two series consisting of 40 episodes. Among the featured productions were works by Pat Flower who was the main writer havi ...

''. "Easy Terms" was written by

Pat Flower Patricia Mary Byson Flower (23 February 1914 – 2 September 1977) was an English Australian writer of plays, television plays and novels. Biography She was born in Ramsgate, Kent, England and moved to Australia with her family in 1928. She or ...

and originally aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

on 24 October 1966.

Plot

For the smallest weekly payment, Miranda Vane can buy peace, truth and status, only to discover the hard sell stems from husband and salesman alike.

Cast

Gerda Nicholson Gerda is a feminine given name. Notable people with the name include: A *Gerda Ahlm (1869–1956), Swedish-born American painter and art conservator * Gerda Alexander (1908–1994), Danish teacher and therapist *Gerda Antti (born 1929), Swedish ...

as Miranda Vane *

Edward Hepple Edward Hepple (4 June 1914 – 3 September 2005) billed variously as Eddie Hepple and Ted Hepple, was an Australian actor, voice artist, producer, director, playwright and television scriptwriter, known for his roles in theatre, television seri ...

as the salesman *

Fred Parslow Frederick Henry Parslow (14 August 1932 – 26 January 2017) was an Australian actor, who appeared in film, television and theatre. Acting career Parslow was notable in several film and TV roles, with parts in internationally successful TV so ...

as Miranda's businessman husband

Production

Flower originally wrote this and " The Lace Counter" for

Robin Lovejoy Robin Casper Lovejoy, OBE (17 December 1924 – 14 December 1985) was an Australian director, actor, and designer best known for his work on television and in theatre. He was one of Australia's leading theatre directors of the 1960s and 197 ...

's lunchtime theatre program. This program folded before Lovejoy even read them but once he did he recommended them to the ABC and Crowley became the main contributing writer to season one of ''

''. The play was shot in Melbourne with sets designed by Trevor Ling.

Reception

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' critic accused it and ''Marleen'' of having "hollow nothingness." ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' said "This was Miss Flower's sixth or seventh in the series — even the faithful have lost count — and it only increased the wonder at how her scripts are accepted so frequently. Set in an "op" art flat crammed with sterile bad taste, the characters were creatures who could not exist. They endlessly gave smart chatter such as: "Kiddies are only an afterthought" . . "My husband may pop off with a popsie" . . . "We can make our own earth here in Heaven." A sermon on the folly of selling one's soul for trashy possessions may have lurked there — may have, but who wants a sermon in a playhouse?" ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...

'' said "there cannot be very many viewers left these days for the ''Australian Playhouse'' series on ABC, which has rapidly become The Pat Flower Show... "Easy Terms" makes a grand total for the authoress of nine out of twenty-eight, which is over thirty-two per cent. No one, I am sure, would be even inclined to comment and everyone would wish her luck if they were becoming more and more entertaining, but a play like "Easy Terms", a creaking study of possession-culture "fantacised", was surely more suitable fora select audience in experimental Jane St. Theatre, Kensington, than for general entertainment." ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' called it a "plotless, formless hunk of tripe" in which "the actors went on just mouthing words."

References

External links