| The Bastard Country | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Written by | Anthony Coburn |
| Directed by | Robin Lovejoy |
| Date premiered | 6 May 1959 |
| Place premiered | Elizabethan Theatre Trust, Sydney |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | drama |
| Setting | A farm on the Victorian-New South Wales border |
The Bastard Country is a 1959 Australian play by Anthony Coburn. It was also known as Fire on the Wind.
The play was a finalist in the 1957 London Observer playwriting competition. Anthony Coburn, an Australian who lived in London since 1950, says he deliberately picked the title because "I wanted something to catch the judges' attention."[1]
It was performed by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1959. It was the third play of the season that year.[2][3] Director Robin Lovejoy called it "probably the most violent play in plot and language that has been seen in Sydney for many years. Many people think it an unreal picture of Australian life. But all the violence grows inevitably out of the characters as people, not because they are specifically Australian."[1]
Grant Taylor played the key role.[4]
The play was toured around the country along with two other Trust productions Man and Superman and Long Day's Journey into Night. For this run it was retitled Fire on the Wind.[5]
- ^ a b "Sydney to stage violent play". The Sydney Morning Herald. 26 April 1959. p. 31.
- ^ "Ten overlooked Australian plays (And why they're important)". April 2015.
- ^ "Elizabethans had to buy first show". The Canberra Times. 22 June 1965. p. 19. Retrieved 24 May 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Bastard country". Tribune. New South Wales, Australia. 20 May 1959. p. 7. Retrieved 22 April 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ "Elizabethan Players' Tour". The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 July 1959. p. 13.