Drive a Hard Bargain

Drive a Hard Bargain
Written by	Oriel Gray
Date premiered	October 1957
Place premiered	Ballarat Civic Hall, Ballarat
Original language	English

Drive a Hard Bargain is a 1957 Australian play by Oriel Gray.

It won a one act play competition in 1957 by the South Street Society.^[1] Adjudicator Lindsay Browne of the Sydney Morning Herald called it "a delight to read for the vivacity of the plot, dialogue, Aussie humour and shrewd categorisation."^[2] The play, along with two others, was presented in 1957 at South Street.^[3]

The play was also filmed for Australian television by the ABC in 1964.

Leslie Rees called it "a very popular one-acter... As in other Oriel Gray plays, there was here a lack of sufficient dramatic clash to warm a potentially dramatic situation—but artifices of character and vivacity of bush dialogue carried the day for this sprightly modern moralityin-little."^[4]

A written edition of the play was published by the Tasmanian Adult Education Board in 1958.

Premise

According to ABC Weekly, "The play is on a theme as old as literature, the Mephistophelean theme telling how the Devil in man’s disguise wanders the earth seeking to buy men’s souls. Kate Cleary, a middle-aged woman with great strength of character, runs a country pub with the help of her adopted daughter, Peggy. Peggy, a self-assured half-castc girl, is in love with a stockman. Whip."^[5]

Radio adaptation

The work was adapted for Australian radio in 1958.^[5]

Television adaptation

The play was filmed by the ABC in 1964. It was shot in Hobart, Tasmania and was directed by John Baldwin. It was the second television play filmed in Hobart; the first had been The Happy Journey in 1963.

Cast

Junee Cornell as Kate Cleary
Gilliam Hunter as Peggy
Max Oldaker as Mr. Nicholas
Joan Coombe as The Blonde
Roger Triffitt as Whip O'Connor
John Tyde as Bart
Peter Dye as Geoff

References

^ "SUNDRY SHOWS Stage and Music", The Bulletin, 80 (4160), 4 Nov 1959, nla.obj-695718130, retrieved 21 January 2024 – via Trove
^ "Play awards at South Street". The Age. 17 September 1957. p. 3.
^ "Prize winning one act plays". The Age. 14 October 1957. p. 5.
^ Rees, Leslie (1987). Australian drama, 1970-1985 : a historical and critical survey. p. 313.
^ ^a ^b Australian Broadcasting Commission. (15 October 1958), "A.B.C. radio plays for the week", ABC Weekly, retrieved 21 January 2024 – via Trove