AustLit
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
The Torrents is set in a newspaper office on an Australian gold-mining town in the late 19th century. It centres on a woman struggling to be accepted into the world of men.
It also focuses on a young engineer who dreams of improving the land in order to grow trees and crops but his ideas are blocked by the town elders.
Adaptations
- form y The Torrents ( dir. Oscar Whitbread ) Melbourne : ABC Television , 1968 Z1821220 1968 single work film/TV
- y A Bit o' Petticoat : A Musical Peter Pinne (composer), Montmorency : Yackandandah Playscripts , 1992 Z112554 1992 single work musical theatre
Teaching Resources
Production Details
-
1956 : Adelaide New Theatre, Stow Hall, 9 August.
1996 : State Theatre Company, South Adelaide, August.
2019 : Black Swan Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company co-production, 15 - 30 June 2019 (Heath Ledger Theatre, Perth) and 22 July - 24 August 2019 (Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House).
Director: Clare Watson.
Dramaturg: Virginia Gay.
Cast: Gareth Davies, Sophia Forrest, Sam Longley, Alan Little, Celia Pacquola, and Steve Rodgers.
Contents
- The Torrents and the Doll, single work column (p. viii-ix)
- Oriel Gray and the New Theatre, single work criticism biography (p. ix-xii)
- The Torrents, single work criticism (p. xii-xiv)
- [Untitled], extract autobiography (p. xv-xvi)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
A Play That Came in from the Cold
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Inside Story , August 2019;
— Review of The Torrents 1955 single work drama 'A new staging of Oriel Gray’s The Torrents allows its ideas to shine' -
Nifty Shades of Gray Shine through in Newspaper’s Mirror on the Past
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian , 21 June 2019; (p. 16)
— Review of The Torrents 1955 single work drama'A curious time warp pervades The Torrents, a play by Oriel Gray set in the late 1890s, written in 1955 and yet receiving just its second professional staging in 2019.' (Introduction)
-
Oriel Gray’s The Torrents
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 10-16 August 2019;'The Sydney-born playwright Oriel Gray didn’t particularly like journalists but enjoyed journalists’ banter and their constant search for a scoop. When her ABC reporter partner, John Hepworth, joined the Canberra press gallery prior to the 1949 federal election that ousted her beloved prime minister Ben Chifley, Gray discovered journos went to lots of great parties. “Your head spun from unbelievably believable gossip, suppositions and innuendos both political and sexual, as much as it did from the variegated liquor,” she marvelled decades later.' (Introduction)
-
[Review] The Torrents
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 413 2019; (p. 66)
— Review of The Torrents 1955 single work drama'Anyone with an interest in Australia’s drama history is likely to have some curiosity about Oriel Gray’s play The Torrents, joint winner of a Playwright Advisory Board prize in 1955 alongside Ray Lawler’s ground-breaking Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. Unlike Lawler’s play, it was not performed at the time. According to the current producers, it has had only one other professional production before this current version by Black Swan Theatre in Perth, which has reached Sydney after seasons in Perth and Brisbane.' (Introduction)
-
Why Revive a Forgotten Australian Classic? Oriel Gray’s The Torrents Remains Relevant Today
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 21 June 2019;'Set in a regional Australian newsroom in the 1890s, Oriel Gray’s The Torrents is a play about change. On the surface, it is about one man’s attempt to revitalise a declining gold mining town, but it also looks at the challenges of young journalist Jenny Milford as she tries to be taken seriously in the workforce. Both issues are unfortunately still relevant over 60 years after the play was first produced.' (Introduction)
-
Trickle of Humor Dampens Torrents
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 26 August 1996; (p. 30)
— Review of The Torrents 1955 single work drama -
Desperate Bid to Revive Monster Proves Hopeless
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian , 27 August 1996; (p. 8)
— Review of The Torrents 1955 single work drama -
The Importance of Irrelevance
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 10 September vol. 116 no. 6037 1996; (p. 84)
— Review of The Torrents 1955 single work drama -
Pressing Issues
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: The Adelaide Review , September no. 156 1996; (p. 30-31)
— Review of The Torrents 1955 single work drama -
Untitled
1998
single work
review
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , April no. 32 1998; (p. 147-150)
— Review of Blackrock 1995 single work drama ; The Torrents 1955 single work drama -
Stage by Stage
1996
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 24-25 August 1996; Examines the re-staging of Oriel Gray's The Torrents by the State Theatre Company of South Australia in August 1996. -
Four Australian Women Playwrights
1995
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Feminist Studies , no. 21 1995; (p. 129-152) Four Australian women playwrights discuss aspects of their work. Includes extracts from plays performed at the conference. -
The Torrents and the Doll
1996
single work
column
— Appears in: The Torrents 1996; (p. viii-ix) -
The Torrents
1996
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Torrents 1996; (p. xii-xiv) -
The Play that Time Forgot
1995
single work
biography
— Appears in: Good Weekend , 9 December 1995; (p. 35-37)
Awards
- 1955 joint winner Playwrights' Advisory Board Competition
- Country towns,
- 1890s