Before the Dawn is a 1915 Australian play by Jo Smith.[1]
It was exclusively performed to raise money for Australian troops.[2] The play was a comedy set on an outback station.[3] Smith offered the play to JC Williamson's and Bert Bailey who rejected it but the play was popular.[4][5]
The play raised over a thousand pounds for the Red Cross.[6][7]
The Age said "it is a comedy drama, in which the farce element preponderates, or would do so if the author had not relied almost exclusively on his dialogue for the numerous laughs that encouraged the performers throughout the three acts."[8]
According to Table Talk "As in all his plays, Mr. Smith has conceived a good foundation plot, though some of the methods of working it out are conventional and rather farcical."[9]
References
edit- ^ "No title". Table Talk. No. [?]5. Victoria, Australia. 9 December 1915. p. 28. Retrieved 1 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "To The Editor". The Prahran Telegraph. Vol. 66, no. 3389. Victoria, Australia. 21 May 1926. p. 3. Retrieved 1 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ ""BEFORE THE DAWN."". Table Talk. Victoria, Australia. 19 August 1915. p. 25. Retrieved 1 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "AT POVERTY POINT.", The Bulletin, Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 29 Nov 1917, nla.obj-697110959, retrieved 1 May 2024 – via Trove
- ^ "BEFORE THE DAWN". The Herald. No. 12419. Victoria, Australia. 17 December 1915. p. 12. Retrieved 1 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Australian Drama and the Australian Playwright. [For the TRIAD.]", The Triad: A Journal Devoted to Literacy, Pictorial, Musical and Dramatic Art., Sydney, 10 January 1918, nla.obj-1247116050, retrieved 1 May 2024 – via Trove
- ^ "Australian Authors". Graphic Of Australia. No. 109. Victoria, Australia. 15 February 1918. p. 22. Retrieved 1 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "AMUSEMENTS". The Age. No. 18, 886. Victoria, Australia. 1 October 1915. p. 14. Retrieved 1 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "NEW AUSTRALIAN PLAY". Table Talk. No. [?]6. Victoria, Australia. 7 October 1915. p. 24. Retrieved 1 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
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