''The Fire on the Snow'' is a 1941 Australian verse play by

Douglas Stewart Douglas Stewart may refer to: *Douglas Stewart (poet) (1913–1985), Australian poet *Edward Askew Sothern (1826–1881), English actor who was sometimes known as Douglas Stewart * Douglas Stewart (equestrian) (1913–1991), British Olympic equestri ...

about the

Terra Nova Expedition The ''Terra Nova'' Expedition, officially the British Antarctic Expedition, was an expedition to Antarctica which took place between 1910 and 1913. Led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the expedition had various scientific and geographical objec ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

Robert Falcon Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...

. It premiered 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 ...

radio on 6 June 1941 to great acclaim and inspired a series of Australian verse dramas on ABC radio. The play was performed in Canada,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and New Zealand, and was an assigned text for the Leaving Certificate. It was also adapted into a stage version.

Background

Exrtracts of the play were published in ''The Bulletin'' in 1939. Leslie Rees, the ABC's Drama Editor, read it and encouraged Stewart to turn it into a radio play. Stewart said he wanted to write the play for radio "because I wanted to write a long poem about Scott, and this, short of finding a lunatic talkie director who would make a film with verse, dialogue and commentary, was the only way to do it. This commentator form, enabling the poet to speak directly to his audience and to present heroic or mythological themes that cannot very well be performed on the stage, is likely to have an increasing appeal to poets. Since the commentator is a sort of ‘chorus,’ the form of the play is very close to that of the ancient Greek dramas." He was influened by the plays of Archibald Macleish. Leslie Rees, the ABC's drama editor, called ''The Fire on the Snow'' the "finest-written radio play yet to have come out of Australia, and among the finest-written half-dozen from anywhere."

Original 1941 Production

The original production of the plat was produced by

Frank Clewlow Frank Dawson Clewlow (October–December 1885 – 13 June 1957) also known under pseudonym of Stafford Dawson, was an English-born actor, director, stage and radio producer and theatre manager, he worked in his native England, as well as Scotland ...

and was to have starred

Peter Finch Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch (28 September 191614 January 1977) was an English-Australian actor of theatre, film and radio. Born in London, he emigrated to Australia as a teenager and was raised in Sydney, where he worked in vaudeville ...

as Scott, but he joined the army only four days before broadcast, so Frank Harvey replaced him. Clewlow decided to employ a female actor, Ida Osbourne, as narrator to contrast with the all-male cast. No copy of this original production exists. ''The Bulletin'' said "it is more important as a poem than as a play, though the natural dramatic quality of what it treats of... the powerful statement it makes on a theme of supreme and absolute human heroism, and, as well, the strong reality in the cold awe of its setting, add up to uncommonly impressive radio drama." The play prompted an enormous amount of correspondence. Leslie Rees responded saying he thought the production was "magnificent. I am convinced that Douglas Stewart’s dramatic chronicle justified in the event every ounce of the preliminary praise I was in the position to give it. A large number of listeners thought the same and have said so, verbally or in letters." The production was repeated in August 1941. ''The Fire on the Snow'' was called "the radio sensation of 1941."

Original 1941 radio cast

* Frank Harvey as

John Tate John Tate may refer to: * John Tate (mathematician) (1925–2019), American mathematician * John Torrence Tate Sr. (1889–1950), American physicist * John Tate (Australian politician) (1895–1977) * John Tate (actor) (1915–1979), Australian act ...

Edward Adrian Wilson Edward Adrian Wilson (23 July 1872 – 29 March 1912) was an English polar explorer, ornithologist, natural historian, physician and artist. Early life Born in Cheltenham on 23 July 1872, Wilson was the second son and fifth child of ...

Lou Vernon Lou Vernon (26 June 1888, Brisbane – 22 December 1971, Sydney) was an Australian actor of stage, radio and screen and producer. He started his career in musical comedy, and was particularly noted for his versatility and ability as a character a ...

Lawrence Oates Lawrence Edward Grace "Titus" Oates (17 March 188017 March 1912) was a British army officer, and later an Antarctic explorer, who died from hypothermia

* Peter Bathurst as Henry Bowers *

John Alden John Alden (c. 1598 - September 12, 1687) was a crew member on the historic 1620 voyage of the ''Mayflower'' which brought the English settlers commonly known as Pilgrims to Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts, US. He was hired in Sou ...

Edgar Evans Petty Officer Edgar Evans (7 March 1876 – 17 February 1912) was a Royal Navy officer and member of the "Polar Party" in Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, ''Terra Nova'' Expedition to the South Pole in 1911–1912. ...

Ida Elizabeth Osbourne Ida Elizabeth Lea MBE (29 August 191630 October 2014), professionally known as "Elizabeth" Osbourne and Ida Elizabeth Jenkins, was an Australian actor and broadcaster, best known as the co-founder of the Australian Broadcasting Commission's lo ...

as narrator

Subsequent productions

The play has been performed on radio several times since including: *25 September 1942 ABC production with

directed by Frank Clelow *September 1944 - ABC production with John McCallum and Frank Harvey *1946 ABC production *1948 ABC production with Frank Harvey - called "a pleasant experience" *1948 Canadian production directed by Frank Clelow *1950 ABC production * 1951 production directed by

Tyrone Guthrie Sir William Tyrone Guthrie (2 July 1900 – 15 May 1971) was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at his ...

for the BBC starring John Mills (Scott) and

*1953 - ABC production starring English actor

Robert Speaight Robert William Speaight (; 1904 – 1976) was a British actor and writer, and the brother of George Speaight, the puppeteer. Speaight studied under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based in the Royal Albert Hal ...

as Scott *1954 ABC production with Ray Barrett *August 1955 - ABC production *November 1955 - ABC production with Judith Anderson *January 1958 - CBC production on ''CBC Wednesday Night'' *April 1958 - ABC production in Brisbane *1959 - ABC production with Allan Trevor *June 1962 ABC production *July 1963 ABC production *1965 ABC production *1967 Canadian production CBM Midweek Theatre *1968 ABC production *1982 ABC production - done for the ABC's 50th anniversary *1984 ABC production *1989 ABC production

Publication

The play was published in 1945.

Stage version

Stewart adapted the play into a stage version that has been performed a number of times. Notable productions include: *1958 at Sydney University *1963 at Sydney's

Independent Theatre Independent Theatre, formerly known as The Independent Theatre Ltd., was an Australian dramatic society founded in 1930 by Dame Doris Fitton in Sydney, Australia. It is also the name given to the building it occupied from 1939 (then known as the ...

*1965 at Sydney's Independent Theatre with Leonard Thiele *1968 at Sydney's Old Tote directed by Tom Lewis

References

External links

Australian theatre productions of the play
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 ...

''The Fire on the Snow''
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 ...