The Ninety-and-Nine
The Ninety-and-Nine is a 1913 Australian stage play. It was an adaptation of a 1902 American play by Ramsay Morris that relocated the action to Australia.[1][2]
The Australian version debuted in 1913 from the Bert Bailey Company.[3]
The original American play had been based on the hymn The Ninety and Nine] which had been, in its own turn, inspired by Luke 15:7. This play was filmed in 1922 as The Ninety and Nine.
The Sydney Morning Herald said "it was good, clean, wholesome melodrama; and if it lacked -the pistol play and slaughter ordinarily associated with these productions, it made ample amends by its fidelity to life, a strong love motif, and the self-sacrifice of a woman, which had its ultimate reward in the redemption of the prodigal."[4]
The Sun said it was done with "sound, common sense, mixed with mirth".[5]
The Sunday Times said "The play shows no brilliancy of dialogue or particular ingenuity in the manner in which its situations are devised, several of these, in fact, beiag absolutely banal in their obvious striving for theatrical effect. The chief excuse for its 'raison d'etre' appears to be the preaching of a rather tedious sermon, and the proving of the somewhat obvious axiom that the love of a bad woman debases, while that of a good woman elevates."[6]
References
[edit]- ^ "STAGE GOSSIP". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 23, 773. Victoria, Australia. 14 October 1922. p. 11. Retrieved 2 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ ""THE NINETY-AND-NINE."". The Daily Telegraph. No. 10705. New South Wales, Australia. 15 September 1913. p. 11. Retrieved 2 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ ""The Ninety-and-Nine."". Sydney Mail. Vol. III, no. 77. New South Wales, Australia. 17 September 1913. p. 13. Retrieved 2 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ ""NINETY AND NINE."". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 23, 613. New South Wales, Australia. 15 September 1913. p. 3. Retrieved 2 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ ""NINETY AND NINE."". The Sun. No. 546. New South Wales, Australia. 14 September 1913. p. 10. Retrieved 2 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ ""THE NINETY AND NINE."". Sunday Times. No. 1444. New South Wales, Australia. 21 September 1913. p. 6. Retrieved 2 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
External links
[edit]- The Ninety and Nine at Ausstage