"Rusty Bugles" is a television play episode of the Australian ABC television series Wednesday Theatre which aired on 23 June 1965.[1][2][3]
| "Rusty Bugles" | |
|---|---|
| Wednesday Theatre episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 25 |
| Directed by | Alan Burke |
| Teleplay by | John Warwick |
| Based on | Rusty Bugles by Sumner Locke Elliott |
| Original air date | 23 June 1965 |
Cast
- Jack Allan as Mac
- John Armstrong as Andy
- Stuart Finch as Gig Ape
- Kerry Francis as Rod
- Guy le Claire as Darky
- Robert McDarra as Sgt Brooks
- Rod Moore as Keghead
- Graham Rouse as Vic
- Michael Thomas as Ot
- Mark Edwards[4]
- Reg Gorman
- Charles Little
- Tony Bonner
- John Salter
- Mark Edmonds
- Reg Gorman as Ollie
Production
It was Alan Burke's first production for the ABC since he returned from England where he had directed a TV production of The Harp in the South.[5] it was shot at the ABC's studios in Sydney. Some of the language of the play was toned down for the adaptation. Burke said "I'm very excited about the play and I feel sure viewers will react the same way after they see it on tv."[6]
It was designed by Kevin Brooks.[7]
Reception
The critic for The Sydney Morning Herald thought the adaptation blundered by not establishing where and when the play was set, saying the director "wasted speculation while a huge cast of strange characters passed before him — too many, in fact, to be accommodated comfortably in such short playing lime." He also felt the word "flamin' " was overused.[8]
Another reviewer for the same paper noted the high use of the word "flamin" ("it got a flamin' good workout") while "the other word, which the wowsers took such exception to when the play was first staged in Sydney some 15 years ago, hardly got a look-in." However he thought "Alan Burke's production was a good, smooth job" and did "draw the pathos from the story."[9]
The TV critic for The Age said it "came through as a worthwhile piece of Australiana which one should have seen."[10]
The Bulletin said "most of the flavour" of the play came through in the adaptation.[11]
The production was repeated in March 1966.[12]
