Wikipedia

The Kelly Gang (play)

The Kelly Gang; or the Career of the Outlaw, Ned Kelly, the Iron-clad Bushranger of Australia is an 1899 Australian play about bushranger Ned Kelly. It is attributed to Arnold Denham but it is likely a number of other writers worked on it.[3]

The Kelly Gang; or the Career of the Outlaw, Ned Kelly, the Iron-clad Bushranger of Australia
Written byArnold Denham and others
Date premiered22 July 1899[1]
Place premieredOpera House Sydney[2]
Original languageEnglish
Subjectbushrangers
GenreMelodrama

Authorship edit

The play is typically attributed to Arnold Denham, a Perth journalist who has few other credits or theatre experience. However he regularly litigated in defence of "his" copyright in the play. It is considered likely that Denham plagirised from Reg Rede's play The Kelly Gang.[4][5]

Denham died in 1922.[6] He wrote about the play that:

The fact that four men defied the Government for two years, with a reward of £10,000 on their heads, that their extermination cost the State £115,000, and that their last stand was made in a wooden shanty within two hundred yards of a railway station, where they were opposed by a small army of police, and a field gun, seems to me as dramatic and remarkable as anything in an-cient or modern history.[7]

Reviews edit

Evening News said "Many of the situations... are strongly reminiscent of the dramatisation of Robbery Under Arms."[8]

Lawsuits edit

Denham sued for copyright infringement against the producers of other plays about Ned Kelly including Outlaw Kelly in 1899[9][10] and a different play called The Kelly Gang in 1901[11].

He was successful in the 1901 case.[12] This decision was appealed unsuccessfully.[13][14] It has been said "the net result was that Denham, the first pirate in New South Wales of a popular play written and staged in Victoria,21 gained the same exclusive legal rights as the original copyright holder, although this is unlikely to have occurred if the defence evidence had been properly led."[15]

Productions edit

According to one account Kate Kelly appeared in an original production in Sydney at the Criterion Theatre.[16]

The play was an immediate success. The Sunday Times said "Though the production has not any very striking merit, apart from its sensationalism, the doings of 'the 'ironclad bushranger' appear to fascinate the audiences. The variety scene' at' the Glenrowan Hotel is contributed by several well-known artists, and is also fully appreciated."[17]

The play ran for seven weeks in Sydney in 1899 then toured.[18]

There was a revival in 1908.[19]

A production was staged on 18 May 1907 at His Majesty's Theatre in Perth.[20]

Characters edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Advertising". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 22 July 1899. p. 2. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  2. ^ "THE OPERA HOUSE". The Daily Telegraph. No. 6273. New South Wales, Australia. 20 July 1899. p. 5. Retrieved 4 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ The Kelly Gang at AustLit
  4. ^ Atkinson, Roslyn; Fotheringham, Richard (11 September 2006). "Dramatic Copyright in Australia to 1912" (PDF). University of Queensland. - originally published in Australasian Drama Studies 11 (1987): 47-63.
  5. ^ Fotheringham, Richard (2006). Australian plays for the colonial stage : 1834-1899. p. 568.
  6. ^ "SOCIETY AND SINNERS OTHER". Call. No. 407. Western Australia. 3 March 1922. p. 10. Retrieved 4 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "OBJECTIONABLE PLAYS". The Australian Star. No. 4320. New South Wales, Australia. 19 December 1901. p. 5. Retrieved 4 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ ""THE KELLY GANG."". The Evening News. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 24 July 1899. p. 8. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  9. ^ ""THE KELLY GANG."". The Evening News. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 2 September 1899. p. 2. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  10. ^ "EQUITY COURT". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 12 August 1899. p. 7. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  11. ^ "DISTRICT COURT". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 17 December 1901. p. 7. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  12. ^ "GLORIFYING BUSHRANGERS". The Age. No. 14, 596. Victoria, Australia. 17 December 1901. p. 6. Retrieved 4 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ ""THE KELLY GANG."". The Evening News. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 16 May 1902. p. 3. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  14. ^ "LAW REPORT". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 16 May 1902. p. 8. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  15. ^ Atkinson, Roslyn; Fotheringham, Richard (11 September 2006). "Dramatic Copyright in Australia to 1912" (PDF). University of Queensland. p. 8-9. - originally published in Australasian Drama Studies 11 (1987): 47-63.
  16. ^ "Commercial Success with". The Sun. No. 1890. New South Wales, Australia. 18 June 1939. p. 11 (Sunday Magazine). Retrieved 6 February 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ^ "LAST NIGHT'S AMUSEMENTS". Sunday Times. No. 707. New South Wales, Australia. 6 August 1899. p. 2. Retrieved 4 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ^ "The Arnold Denham Co". Wellington Times. No. 1127. New South Wales, Australia. 2 November 1899. p. 2. Retrieved 4 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ^ "KELLY GANG". Referee. No. 1062. New South Wales, Australia. 13 March 1907. p. 12. Retrieved 4 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. ^ "Amusements". The West Australian. Vol. 23, no. 6601. Perth. 18 May 1907. Retrieved 21 November 2022.

External links edit

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