"The Schoolmistress" is a 1967 Australian TV play based on ''

The Schoolmistress ''The Schoolmistress'' is a farce by Arthur Wing Pinero. It depicts the complications at a girls' boarding school when the headmistress is away, leaving her feckless husband in charge. The play opened at the Court Theatre, London in March 18 ...

'' by

Arthur Wing Pinero Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (24 May 185523 November 1934) was an English playwright and, early in his career, actor. Pinero was drawn to the theatre from an early age, and became a professional actor at the age of 19. He gained experience as a supp ...

. John Croyston directed based on a stage play presented by Alexander Hay. It aired as part of ''

Wednesday Theatre ''Wednesday Theatre'' is a 1960s Australian anthology show which aired on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC. Many of the episodes were imported from the BBC. However a number of episodes were made locally. Episodes 1965 1966 1 ...

''.

Plot

At a girls school one of the girls is secretly married to a young man her parents have forbidden her to see.

Cast

* David Copping * Kirrily Nolan *

Jeanie Drynan Jeanie Drynan is an Australians, Australian film and television actress well known for her roles in the television series ''Class of '74'' and in the 1994 film ''Muriel's Wedding''. She may be best known to international viewers for her role a ...

* Judith Fisher as Peggy Hesslrigge *

Jacki Weaver Jacqueline Ruth Weaver (born 25 May 1947) is an Australian theatre, film and television actress. Weaver emerged in the 1970s as a symbol of the Australian New Wave through her work in Ozploitation films such as '' Stork'' (1971), ''Alvin Purp ...

Clarissa Kaye-Mason Clarissa Kaye (2 August 193121 July 1994) was an Australian stage, film and television actress. She was the second wife (1971–1984) of the British actor James Mason. After her marriage, she was often known as Clarissa Kaye-Mason. Biography ...

* Frank Lloyd * Alan Edwards * Marion Johns

Production

It was a TV version of a production of the play that was then running at the Old Tote.}

Reception

The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' to put the play "into the telly machine is like asking a Ford Mustang to run on oats" but admitted "_Croyston's lighting and camera movements show detailed thought and are worked to effect. He cannot help losing colour or the third dimension, but he has kept the essential frothiness and has puffed it further with cleverly caught close-ups and so on" but that "the 90 minutes of TV seem to take longer than the 140 minutes of theatre." The Sunday ''Sydney Morning Herald'' called it "a most enjoyable affair... the whole enterprise was one of ABN-2's more successful experiments."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schoolmistress (Wednesday Theatre), The 1967 television plays 1967 Australian television episodes 1960s Australian television plays Wednesday Theatre (season 3) episodes