# Eternal Night > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Eternal_Night > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Eternal_Night.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Night > Source revision: 1355992908 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|1954 Australian play}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Use Australian English|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox play | name = Eternal Night | orig_title = | image = | alt = | caption = | writer = [James Workman](/source/James_Workman_(writer)) | based_on = | director = Gordon Grimsdale | characters = Donkin
Aaronson
Mattie | setting = Antactica | premiere = {{Start date|1954|07|22}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18441322 |title=Advertising |newspaper=[The Sydney Morning Herald](/source/The_Sydney_Morning_Herald) |volume=36|issue=375 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=22 July 1954 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}} | place = [Independent Theatre](/source/Independent_Theatre), Sydney | orig_lang = English | subject = Antarctica | genre = melodrama | web = }} thumb|right|SMH advertisement 23 July 1954 p 16 '''''Eternal Night''''' is a 1954 Australian play by [James Workman](/source/James_Workman_(writer)).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229707969 |title=THEATRE TRUST GETS HAND FROM RADIO |newspaper=The Sun |volume=13|issue=843 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=25 June 1954 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia}} The original production was directed by [Gordon Grimsdale](/source/Gordon_Grimsdale) who had directed Workman's scripts on radio for the thriller series ''[Thirty Minutes to Go](/source/Thirty_Minutes_to_Go)''.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229714688 |title=All stations are geared to cover Redex trial |newspaper=The Sun |volume=13|issue=849 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=2 July 1954 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}Oral history of James Workman interviewed by Stuart Glover, National Film and Sound Archive. NFSA ID374406, recorded 1998 It was adapted for British TV as ''Cold Fury''. ==Premise== "An imaginary weather station on Maundy Island in the Antarctic is the setting... The cast consists of three men — Donkin (Barrie Cookson) and Aaronson (Gordon Glen wright), weather observers, and a paranoiac, illiterate roustabout Matty (Ron Whelan). Matty, though ignorant, is physically stronger than the two weather observers. When his drunkenness is blamed for the party not being able to board the relief ship for Melbourne, his insanity and class hatred combine to make him a murderer. He kills Aaronson by cunningly fixing a fuel stove, then he decides to rule the weather station. He insists Donkin call him God."{{cite web |last=Workman |first=James |date=21 August 1954|title="Stage MURDER IN ANTARCTIC" |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-483253799 |access-date=18 April 2024 |publisher=Pix |page=29}} ==Original cast== thumb|right|From original production, Pix 1954 *[Ron Whelan](/source/Ronald_Whelan_(actor)) as Mattie{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article278428987 |title=Leads in new play |newspaper=Daily Mirror |volume=40|issue=93 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=20 July 1954 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=9 (Cable Edition 2) |via=National Library of Australia}} *Gordon Glenwright as Aaronson *Barrie Cookson as Donkin{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229706792 |title=ON STAGE |newspaper=The Sun |volume=13|issue=864 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=20 July 1954 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=11 (LATE FINAL EXTRA) |via=National Library of Australia}} ==Production history== James Workman said, "My play shows just what happens, and just what is said, as the three men break down under the strain of being shut up together. I haven't pulled any punches — in the dialogue or otherwise — to achieve complete realism. The play will definitely make audiences sit up."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229715034 |title=Playwright's plan to shock |newspaper=The Sun |volume=13|issue=865 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=21 July 1954 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=21 (LATE FINAL EXTRA) |via=National Library of Australia}} The play was scheduled to open on 15 July 1954 at the [Independent Theatre](/source/Independent_Theatre) in Sydney. It would be that theatre's 25th Australian play.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248935624 |title=FILMS AND THEATRES |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |volume=XIX |issue=93 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=8 July 1954 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=38 |via=National Library of Australia}} The opening was postponed due to the illness of one of the cast.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article278364826 |title=SYDNEY PLAY POSTPONED |newspaper=Daily Mirror |volume=40|issue=87 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=13 July 1954 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=5 (Late Final Extra) |via=National Library of Australia}} ==Reception== The Sydney ''Daily Telegraph'' wrote that Workman had "pulled no punches in providing a brutal plot and the play's three equally violent characters. But Mr. Workman is by profession a radio writer, well known for his action-packed suspense thrillers. To some extent, he has unwisely used much of his radio technique in this stage production."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248933633 |title=Stark play at theatre |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |volume=XIX |issue=106 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=23 July 1954 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=33 |via=National Library of Australia}} The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' called the play "shrill, raw, and vehement, overstated and overlong, unhelped by the absence of relaxed and gentle moods, so that the unrelenting violence of the wrangling becomes a little palting at times - but, for all that, Mr Workman keeps shrewd control of his suspense, and draws three very formidable characters despite the way all of them occasionally lapse into uncharacteristic talk."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18438472 |title=Independent's New Drama Of Antarctica |newspaper=[The Sydney Morning Herald](/source/The_Sydney_Morning_Herald) |volume=36|issue=376 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=23 July 1954 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}} The ''Daily Mirror'' felt the play "was weighted down with action and violence, and the dialogue rarely got above the level of the average radio commercial serial."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article278425401 |title=Drama of Antarctic |newspaper=Daily Mirror |volume=40|issue=96 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=23 July 1954 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=9 (Cable Edition) |via=National Library of Australia}} ''The Bulletin'' called the play "a first-rate opportunity for tight-as-a-drumhead drama, and the cast... go at it hammer-and-tongues."{{Citation | title=Stage and Music | journal=The Bulletin | volume=75|number=3885|date=28 Jul 1954 | location=Sydney, N.S.W | publisher=John Haynes and J.F. Archibald | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-533971626 | id=nla.obj-533971626 | access-date=18 March 2024 | via=Trove }} ==''Cold Fury'' - television adaptation== {{Infobox television episode | series = [Armchair Theatre](/source/Armchair_Theatre) | image = | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = | season = 3 | series_no = | episode = 73 | director = [Dennis Vance](/source/Dennis_Vance) | writer = [James Workman](/source/James_Workman_(writer)) | story = | teleplay = | based_on = play ''Eternal Night'' by James Workman | narrator = | presenter = | music = | photographer = | editor = | production = | airdate = {{Start date|1960|01|31}} | length = 60 mins | guests = * [Sam Wanamaker](/source/Sam_Wanamaker) as Matty * [Bernard Lee](/source/Bernard_Lee) as Aaronson * [Lyndon Brook](/source/Lyndon_Brook) as Donkin | prev = | next = | season_article = | episode_list = }} The play was adapted for British television as '''''Cold Fury'''''{{cite news|title=Real cold fury|newspaper=South Wales Argus|date=30 January 1960|page=2}} ===Reception=== The ''Liverpool Daily Post'' said it "gripped the attention but did not add up to anything satisfactory. Wannamaker gave a rip roaring performance."{{cite news|newspaper=Liverpool Daily Post (Merseyside ed.)|date=1 February 1960|page=4|title=The critics}} "Must be British television's first [Grand Guignol](/source/Grand_Guignol)," wrote the ''Daily Telegraph'', adding "certainly strong nerves were required to sit it out."{{cite news|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=1 February 1960|page=12|title=TV horror play}} The ''Birmingham Evening Mail'' thought it was "dreary".{{cite news|newspaper=Birmingham Evening Mail |date=1 February 1960|page=3|title=Comedy can't come too soon}} The ''Runcorn Guardian'' declared "the dialogue was slightly above average and Sam Wannamaker gave a touching performance."{{cite news|newspaper=The Runcorn Guardian |date=4 February 1960|page=6|title=A hole in the bucket}} ==Radio== The play was adapted for Australian radio as ''Cold Fury'' in 1961.{{cite news|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=5 November 1961|page=99|title=Radio plays}} ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/13011 Eternal Night] at Ausstage *{{IMDB title|id=0904172|title=Cold Fury}} Category:1950s Australian plays Category:Australian plays about Antarctica Category:British television plays Category:Works by James Workman Category:1954 plays --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Eternal Night](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Night) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Night?action=history)). 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