Lady in Danger (play)

Lady in Danger was a play by Australian writer Max Afford. It was one of the few Australian plays to be produced on Broadway. It was also adapted for radio and television.[1]

Lady in Danger
Playbill cover 1945 production
Written byMax Afford
Alexander Kirkland (US version)
Date premiered28 February 1942
Place premieredIndependent Theatre, Sydney
Original languageEnglish
Genrecomedy-mystery
SettingLondon

Plot

Monica Sefton is the wife of a sacked reporter, Bill. She plans to write a thriller to restore the family fortune. She accidentally stumbles upon a Nazi spy ring.

Characters
  • Bill Seflton, a journalist
  • Monica, his wife (also a writer)
  • Mrs Idamae Lambrey their landlady
  • Dr Gilbert Norton, a neighbour
  • Sylvia Meade, hat and gloves
  • Andrew Meade, thin, untidy man in his mid-thirties, fellow journalist to Bill
  • Detective Dennis Marsh
  • Constable Pogson
  • Chief Inspector William Burke
  • Corpse, non-acting
  • Cat (soft toy)

1942 amateur production
SMH ad 14 Mar 1942

The play was first produced by Doris Fitton at the Independent Theatre in Sydney in early 1942 starring Gwen Plumb.

The Sydney Morning Herald said "Well written and full of dramatic surprise the play deserves the attention of the professional theatre."[2]

Wireless Weekly said "Mr Afford uses stock material, but with skill and sure-fire effect. Everything is nicely explained, and the action, after a longish start, runs true and smooth to an exciting final scene. Dialogue is studded with wisecracks, ranging from the feeble to the inspired. Too many seemed artificially introduced. However, I consider that it is not the function of little theatres to present murder mysteries. Our professional theatre seems intent on supplying all the demand this... Nevertheless, it is pleasing to see an Australian playwright win success in a highly competitive field."[3]

1944 professional production
SMH ad 29 March 1944

The play was seen by representatives of J.C. Williamsons Ltd, the leading theatrical producers in the country, who bought the rights. Since Williamsons had not produced an Australian play in over 20 years (the previous one was The Flaw) this was seen as a positive step for Australian playwriting.[4][5]

Afford said “The season at the Independent, gave me an opportunity to improve any weaknesses. Naturally, the professional production will be a more elaborate one particularly in the last act, which requires sliding panels and secret passages.” [6]

The play made its professional debut on 15 March 1944 at the Theatre Royal in Sydney and was positively received.[7] The Bulletin said "it is hard to become elated over a completely unsophisticated Fifth Column melodrama set in London... Surely, in a country which has offered such items as the Shark Arm and Pyjama Girl mysteries, Mr. Afford has no need to go to London for his material."[8]

The play was performed in Newcastle.[9]

The play was published in 1944 by Mulga.[10] Leslie Rees later observed:

One of the attractive things about Max Afford’s play was that the author succeeded in making you like his young couple as well as believe in them; and when the sticky web closed round Monica, you shared their shock, amazement, and fear. In other words, the play was not merely a piece of pattern-making, ingenious, logical, unexpected and knit into current events and dangers, but it also had human quality. The mechanics were concealed beneath back-chat and a variety of character imprints, each figure seeming to be there in his own right of contributing entertainer. [11]

1945 Broadway production
Ad in Detroit Free Press 18 Mar `945

The play was also optioned for production on Broadway, although it was rewritten by Alexander Kirkland to be set in Melbourne, Australia and be about a Japanese spy ring. The character of Bill Sefton was changed to an American soldier who was stationed in Melbourne, and his wife Monica now grew up in Japan, not Germany. The other characters played Australians.[12] Kirkland finished his new draft by September 1944.[13] Robert Cummings and Jane Wyman were announced as possible stars.[14]

Lady in Danger premiered in Detroit in March 1945.[15][16]

Cast
  • Ronald Alexander as Detective Dennis Marsh
  • Gary Blivers as Frederick Smith
  • Helen Claire as Monica Sefton
  • Vicki Cummings as Sylvia Meade
  • Clarence Derwent as Chief Inspector Burke
  • Elfrida Derwent as Miss Hodges
  • Paul Fairleigh as Karl Kurt
  • Hudson Faussett as Constable Pogson

Response

Reviews were not strong and it closed after twelve performances.[17][18]

The Cincinnati Enquirer said "there is not the tiniest suspicion of comedy throughout and the only mystery about the entire sorry affair is how in the name of things theatrical it was produced in the first place."[19] Walter Winchell said "it had better have stayed down under."[20] The Daily News called it "a tepid chiller."[21]

"That's not: too good, is it?" said Afford. "Still, ¥ don't suppose you can hitthe jackpot eveir time."

1955 radio adaptation

The play was adapted for radio on the ABC in 1955.[22][23]

1959 television version

The play was adapted for Australian television in 1959.

References
  1. Michael J. Tolley, 'Afford, Malcolm (Max) (1906–1954)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, accessed 10 January 2013.
  2. ""LADY IN DANGER"". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 2 March 1942. p. 7. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  3. Australasian Radio Relay League. (7 March 1942), "THE LITTLE THEATRES", v. ; 24-38 cm., The wireless weekly : the hundred per cent Australian radio journal, Sydney: Wireless Press, 37 (10), nla.obj-725938863, retrieved 28 August 2023 – via Trove
  4. "MUSIC AND DRAMA". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 4 April 1942. p. 6. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  5. ""SUN" SPOTLIGHT". The Sun. No. 10663. New South Wales, Australia. 10 March 1944. p. 4 (LATE FINAL EXTRA). Retrieved 28 August 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. Australasian Radio Relay League., The wireless weekly : the hundred per cent Australian radio journal, Sydney: Wireless Press, nla.obj-724609845, retrieved 28 August 2023 – via Trove
  7. "MUSIC AND DRAMA". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 18 March 1944. p. 6. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  8. "SUNDRY SHOWS.", 105 volumes : illustrations (chiefly coloured), portraits (chiefly coloured) ; 30-40 cm., The bulletin., John Ryan Comic Collection (Specific issues)., Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 65 (3345), 22 March 1944 [1880], ISSN 0007-4039, nla.obj-538784023, retrieved 28 August 2023 – via Trove
  9. "'LADY IN DANGER' BEGINS SEASON". The Newcastle Sun. No. 8225. New South Wales, Australia. 6 May 1944. p. 2. Retrieved 28 August 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. Australian Broadcasting Commission. (14 October 1944) [1939], "BOOKS RECEIVED", v. : ill. ; 29cm., ABC weekly, Sydney: ABC, 6 (42), nla.obj-1339017582, retrieved 28 August 2023 – via Trove
  11. Rees, Leslie (1953). Towards An Australian Drama. p. 106.
  12. "MUSIC AND DRAMA". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 11 December 1943. p. 6. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  13. "Kirkland, Afford Pen New Thriller". Daily News. 24 September 1944. p. 230.
  14. "His play may have its face lifted". The Sun. No. 2188. New South Wales, Australia. 18 March 1945. p. 4 (SUPPLEMENT TO THE SUNDAY SUN). Retrieved 30 October 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. "AUSTRALIAN'S PLAY ON BROADWAY". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 28 March 1945. p. 20. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  16. "'LADY IN DANGER' OPENING TONIGHT: ESPIONAGE PLAY, FIRST SEEN IN AUSTRALIA, TO MAKE BOW AT BROADHURST THEATRE IRWIN TO BE PRODUCER THAT TRUEX FAMILY" by SAM ZOLOTOW. New York Times 29 Mar 1945: 29.
  17. "New York Critic Finds S.A. Author's Play Dull". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 31 March 1945. p. 8. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  18. "SPY THRILLER ENDS ITS BROADWAY RUN: IN LONG-RUN COMEDY" by SAM ZOLOTOW. New York Times 9 April 1945: 22.
  19. "Ham Holiday". Cincinnati Enquirer. 1 April 1945. p. 60.
  20. Winchell, Walter (8 April 1945). "Lady in Danger". The Cincinnati Enquirer. p. 38.
  21. Chapman, John (31 March 1945). "'Lady in Danger' a Tepid Chiller with an Australian background". p. 151.
  22. Radio adaptation of Lady in Danger at Ausstage
  23. "WEEKEND LISTENING". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 15 October 1955. p. 4 (The Argus WEEKENDER). Retrieved 9 April 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
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