Eternal Night

"An imaginary weather station on Maundy Island in the Antarctic is the setting... The cast consists of three men — Donkin (Barrie Cookson) and Aaronson (Gordon Glen wright), weather observers, and a paranoiac, illiterate roustabout Matty (Ron Whelan). Matty, though ignorant, is physically stronger than the two weather observers. When his drunkenness is blamed for the party not being able to board the relief ship for Melbourne, his insanity and class hatred combine to make him a murderer. He kills Aaronson by cunningly fixing a fuel stove, then he decides to rule the weather station. He insists Donkin call him God."{{cite web |last=Workman |first=James |date=21 August 1954|title="Stage MURDER IN ANTARCTIC" |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-483253799 |access-date=18 April 2024 |publisher=Pix |page=29}}

File:Eternal_night.png

• Ron Whelan as Mattie{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article278428987 |title=Leads in new play |newspaper=Daily Mirror |volume=40|issue=93 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=20 July 1954 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=9 (Cable Edition 2) |via=National Library of Australia}}
• Gordon Glenwright as Aaronson
• Barrie Cookson as Donkin{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229706792 |title=ON STAGE |newspaper=The Sun |volume=13|issue=864 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=20 July 1954 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=11 (LATE FINAL EXTRA) |via=National Library of Australia}}

The Daily Telegraph wrote that Workman had "pulled no punches in providing a brutal plot and the play's three equally violent characters. But Mr. Workman is by profession a radio writer, well known for his action-packed suspense thrillers. To some extent, he has unwisely used much of his radio technique in this stage production."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248933633 |title=Stark play at theatre |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |volume=XIX |issue=106 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=23 July 1954 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=33 |via=National Library of Australia}}

The Sydney Morning Herald called the play "shrill, raw, and vehement, overstated and overlong, unhelped by the absence of relaxed and gentle moods, so that the unrelenting violence of the wrangling becomes a little palting at times - but, for all that, Mr Workman keeps shrewd control of his suspense, and draws three very formidable characters despite the way all of them occasionally lapse into uncharacteristic talk."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18438472 |title=Independent's New Drama Of Antarctica |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |volume=36|issue=376 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=23 July 1954 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}

The Daily Mirror felt the play "was weighted down with action and violence, and the dialogue rarely got above the level of the average radio commercial serial."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article278425401 |title=Drama of Antarctic |newspaper=Daily Mirror |volume=40|issue=96 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=23 July 1954 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=9 (Cable Edition) |via=National Library of Australia}}

The Bulletin called the play "a first-rate opportunity for tight-as-a-drumhead drama, and the cast... go at it hammer-and-tongues."{{Citation

| title=Stage and Music

| journal=The Bulletin

| volume=75|number=3885|date=28 Jul 1954

| location=Sydney, N.S.W

| publisher=John Haynes and J.F. Archibald

| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-533971626

| id=nla.obj-533971626

| access-date=18 March 2024

| via=Trove

}}

{{Infobox television episode

| series = Armchair Theatre

| image =

| image_size =

| image_alt =

| caption =

| season = 3

| series_no =

| episode = 73

| director = Dennis Vance

| writer = James Workman

| story =

| teleplay =

| based_on =

| narrator =

| presenter =

| music =

| photographer =

| editor =

| production =

| airdate = {{Start date|1960|01|31}}

| length =

| guests = Sam Wanamaker as Matty
Bernard Lee as Aaronson
Lyndon Brook as Donkin

| prev =

| next =

| season_article =

| episode_list =

}}

The play was adapted for British television as Cold Fury{{cite news|title=Real cold fury|newspaper=South Wales Argus|date=30 January 1960|page=2}}

The Liverpool Daily Post said it "gripped the attention."{{cite news|newspaper=Liverpool Daily Post (Merseyside ed.)|date=1 February 1960|page=4|title=The critics}} "Must be British television's first Grand guignol" wrote the Daily Telegraph.{{cite news|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=1 February 1960|page=12|title=TV horror play}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/13011 Eternal Night] at Ausstage
• {{IMDB title|id=0904172|title=Cold Fury}}

Category:1950s Australian plays

Category:Australian plays about Antarctica

Category:British television plays