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The Invisible Circus (play)
The Invisible Circus is a 1946 Australian stage play by Sumner Locke Elliott set in the world of commercial radio drama, a field that Elliott knew well from many years writing for George Edwards. Elliott is represented in two characters, the idealistic Brad and the more jaded Mark.
A young and idealistic scriptwriter, Brad McGee, is introduced to commercial radio. Among the characters he meets there are the receptionist, Mona; a gag writer, Percy; a grand actress, the Duchess; another actress, Fred.
The more jaded Mark Cornell winds up leaving radio.
The original stage production by John Carlson ran for six weeks at the Independent Theatre, Sydney in 1946. There was a production in Melbourne later that year by the Little Theatre produced by Irene Mitchell starring Frank Thring. The play was also produced in Adelaide.
The Sydney Morning Herald drama critic felt the play's "strength is dialogue, its weakness construction."
The Bulletin felt it was "quick-moving and entertaining" although "a fault was the American-style smart retorts, which have become such an ordeal to the average picture-goer. Hollywood’s newspaper or business comedies always have some disillusioned, hard-faced female (frequently with a heart of gold) ready and waiting to fire her synthesised comments on Man and the world. And so it was in The Invisible Circus; the same situations, the same openings, and click, like a well-oiled machine, the disillusioned damsel delivers the wisecracks in a tired, disillusioned voice."
The Argus called it "bright and pungent entertainment."
Leslie Rees thought the play "marked a great advance in originality" for Elliott's work, saying "Eschewing mawkish emotional situations, Locke-Elliott gave three acts of diverting farce-comedy." Rees added:
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The Invisible Circus (play)
The Invisible Circus is a 1946 Australian stage play by Sumner Locke Elliott set in the world of commercial radio drama, a field that Elliott knew well from many years writing for George Edwards. Elliott is represented in two characters, the idealistic Brad and the more jaded Mark.
A young and idealistic scriptwriter, Brad McGee, is introduced to commercial radio. Among the characters he meets there are the receptionist, Mona; a gag writer, Percy; a grand actress, the Duchess; another actress, Fred.
The more jaded Mark Cornell winds up leaving radio.
The original stage production by John Carlson ran for six weeks at the Independent Theatre, Sydney in 1946. There was a production in Melbourne later that year by the Little Theatre produced by Irene Mitchell starring Frank Thring. The play was also produced in Adelaide.
The Sydney Morning Herald drama critic felt the play's "strength is dialogue, its weakness construction."
The Bulletin felt it was "quick-moving and entertaining" although "a fault was the American-style smart retorts, which have become such an ordeal to the average picture-goer. Hollywood’s newspaper or business comedies always have some disillusioned, hard-faced female (frequently with a heart of gold) ready and waiting to fire her synthesised comments on Man and the world. And so it was in The Invisible Circus; the same situations, the same openings, and click, like a well-oiled machine, the disillusioned damsel delivers the wisecracks in a tired, disillusioned voice."
The Argus called it "bright and pungent entertainment."
Leslie Rees thought the play "marked a great advance in originality" for Elliott's work, saying "Eschewing mawkish emotional situations, Locke-Elliott gave three acts of diverting farce-comedy." Rees added: