With the Colours
{{Short description|1905 stage drama by Edward Irham Cole}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox play
| name = With the Colours
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| writer = Edward Irham Cole
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| director = Edward Irham Cole
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| premiere = 1905
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| orig_lang = English
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| subject = melodrama
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With the Colours is a 1905 Australian stage drama by Edward Irham Cole set during the Second Boer War.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article231869158 |title=MUSIC AND DRAMA. |newspaper=The Sunday Sun |issue=141 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=17 December 1905 |accessdate=4 April 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} It became one of the key plays in Cole's repertoire.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59640758 |title=ADELAIDE'S LATEST ATTRACTION. |newspaper=The Mail (Adelaide) |volume=3 |issue=107 |location=South Australia |date=16 May 1914 |accessdate=4 April 2024 |page=10 (SATURDAY'S NEWS SECTION.) |via=National Library of Australia}} {{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52365905 |title=THE TRAVELLING THEATRICAL SHOW |newspaper=The Examiner (Tasmania) |volume=XCVIII |issue=226 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=5 December 1939 |accessdate=4 April 2024 |page=4 (LATE NEWS EDITION and DAILY) |via=National Library of Australia}}
Crowds during the initial season were excellent.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14751773 |title=THE HAYMARKET HIPPODROME. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=21,149 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=18 December 1905 |accessdate=4 April 2024 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}} The play was revived in 1906,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114089839 |title=THE LEMARE RECITALS. |newspaper=Evening News |issue=12,247 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=10 September 1906 |accessdate=4 April 2024 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} 1908,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15020989 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=22,034 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=29 August 1908 |accessdate=4 April 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} 1911,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50492597 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Examiner (Tasmania) |volume=LXX |issue=216 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=11 September 1911 |accessdate=4 April 2024 |page=1 (DAILY) |via=National Library of Australia}} 1912, 1913,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10783694 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=20,843 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=14 May 1913 |accessdate=4 April 2024 |page=16 |via=National Library of Australia}} 1914 and 1918.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article175507517 |title=Music and Drama. |newspaper=The Telegraph |issue=14,286 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=7 September 1918 |accessdate=4 April 2024 |page=13 (SECOND EDITION) |via=National Library of Australia}}
Premise
"A captain of the forty second is under sentence of death for supposed cowardice in action. He entrusts his all to the care of a brother officer, who however betrays his trust and robs the widow and orphan. A very exciting scene takes place at the end of the lirst act, where the captain is placed before a file of his own men and is just about to be shot, when the Boers attack the British camp. A hand to hand battle is fought and some very fine specimens of swordsmanship are shown, with the curtain falling on a British victory with Australians to the front."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article151273466 |title=Local and General. |newspaper=North-eastern Advertiser |volume=V |issue=11 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=10 February 1914 |accessdate=4 April 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}