View source for Kain (play)

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
'''''Kain''''' is a 1966 play loosely based on the biblical story of [[Cain and Abel]]. It was the first co production between the ABC and the BBC.<ref name="kain">{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-australian-tv-plays-kain/|title=Forgotten Australian TV plays: Kain|first= Stephen|last= Vagg|date=June 8, 2021|access-date=August 9, 2024}}</ref>
==1966 stage production==
{{Infobox play
| name       = Kain
| image      =
| alt        =
| caption    =
| writer     = Alan Poolman
| chorus     =
| characters =
| mute       =
| setting    = Australian Outback
| premiere   = 1966
| orig_lang  = English
| series     =
| subject    =
| genre      = Drama
| web        =
}}
In 1964 Michell returned to Australia after ten years to appear in ''[[The First 400 Years]]''. He said "I have always wanted to act in a play by an Australian author out here."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122309511/?terms=%22First%2B400%2BYears%22|date=28 May 1964|page=5|newspaper=The Age|title=Actor Home}}</ref> He hoped this play would be ''Kain'' which he called "a 'country modern' play, essentially Australian, and very rich in comedy – although it is a tragedy."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/123910444/?terms=%22First%2B400%2BYears%22|date=28 June 1964|page=84|first=Josephine|last=O'Neill|title=The Actor Who Tries to Stop Singing}}</ref>
The play premiered in 1966 at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre at Guild ford. .<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article105884321 |title=Leisure TV Drama Music Art BGooks Radio The Arts |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |volume=40 |issue=11,377 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=28 January 1966 |accessdate=23 February 2019 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article105881905 |title=Australian play for UK |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |volume=40 |issue=11,361 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=11 January 1966 |accessdate=23 February 2019 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
===Original cast===
*[[Keith Michell]]
*Alan White
*Joanna Anin
*June Brunell
*Redmond Phillips
==1967 TV adaptation==
{{Infobox television
| image          =
| image_upright  =
| image_alt      =
| caption        =
| genre          = Drama
| creator        =
| based_on       =
| writer         = Alan Poolman
| screenplay     =
| story          =
| director       = Lionel Harris
| starring       =
| narrated       =
| music          =
| country        = Australia<br>United Kingdom
| language       = English
| num_episodes   =
| producer       =
| editor         =
| cinematography = Frank Parnell
| runtime        = 90 mins<ref>{{Cite news|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=13 April 1967|title=TV Guide|page=35|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122293213/?terms=kain&match=1}}</ref>
| company        = ABC/BBC
| budget         = $65,000<ref name="must"/>
| network        =
| released       = {{Start date|1967|04|17|df=y}} (Australia, UK)<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122293039/?terms=kain%20poolman&match=1|date=11 April 1967|page=24|title=TV Guide|newspaper=The Age}}</ref>
}}
A TV adaptation was directed by Lionel Harris and written by Alan Poolman. It was the first collaboration between the [[BBC]] and the ABC.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131649937|title=Outback drama has biblical theme|date=17 April 1967|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|accessdate=23 February 2019|issue=11,665|location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia|volume=[?]|page=15|via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6994419c|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190223131809/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6994419c|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 February 2019|title=Kain (1967)|website=BFI|language=en|access-date=2020-01-24}}</ref>
===Overview===
Brothers Kain and Rattler Sutherland live on a station in the Australian outback. The brothers clash when an Aboriginal maid gives birth to a child which both believe they have fathered.
===Cast===
*[[Keith Michell]] as Kain Sutherland
*Alan White as Rattler Sutherland
*J D Devlin as Old Bill a desert wanderer
*Audine Leith as Inala
*[[Candy Devine]] as Kaita
*Roger Cox as Rev. Mr Ramsay
*Teddy Plummer as King Brumly
*Michael Williams as Jock Mosquito
*Aborigines of the Warrabri Government Settlement
===Production===
The play was announced in March 1966.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=MPJUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=X5MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1755%2C538977|title=ABC and BBC in joint venture|date=3 March 1966|page=14}}</ref> The script was commissioned by the ABC and BBC and was inspired by the Biblical story of Cain and Abel as well as the painting of [[Russell Drysdale]].<ref name="must"/>
According to ''Filmink'' "That is a big commitment for a small screen adaptation of a play that was not very well known, from a writer without much of a reputation, but the ABC and BBC probably took confidence from the prospect of pretty outback pictures, and from the presence of Michell in the lead."<ref name="kain"/>
It was filmed in Australia in March and April 1966: exteriors in the Northern Territory near [[Tennant Creek]], at [[Ali Curung|Warrabri]] and at [[Karlu Karlu / Devils Marbles Conservation Reserve|Devil's Marbles]], and interiors at the [[ABC (Australian TV channel)|ABC]]'s Gore Hill studios.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/8140393?mainTabTemplate=workFilmDetails|title=Kain {{!}} AustLit: Discover Australian Stories|website=austlit.edu.au|access-date=2020-01-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|date=13 April 1967|page=29|title=Drama at 120 in the Forgotten Silence|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122293202/?terms=kain&match=1}}</ref>
Lionel Harris, the director, Alan Poolman, the writer, and actors Michell, White and Devlin came from London; the rest of the cast were Australian.<ref name="times">{{cite magazine|magazine=TV Times|title=Australia outback murder drama based on Bible Story|page=9|date=12 April 1967}}</ref> Props had to be brought in from Sydney. 'The days were long and hard," said Harris.<ref name="times"/>
Harris said the play's theme was "in not taking those closest to you for granted – not living entirely for self. Kain thinks he has no conscience but his discovery that he has provides the play's conflict."<ref name="times"/>
Production design was by Douglas Smith. The budget was reportedly $65,000. Filming took ten days. Chief cameraman was Frank Parnell who later died in a helicopter crash filming a documentary.<ref name="must">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122293440/?terms=kain&match=1|date=17 April 1967|page=6|first=Ann|last=Gibson|title=A Must Tonight}}</ref>
===Broadcast===
The broadcast ran for 90 minutes and aired 17 April 1967.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131650552|title=Desert play praised|date=20 April 1967|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|accessdate=23 February 2019|issue=11,668|location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia|volume=41|page=5|via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
In the UK it was broadcast in the drama anthology series ''[[Theatre 625]]'' as item 17 in series 4. It was thought lost, but survives as 16mm film.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tvbrain.info/|title=TVBrain {{!}} Kaleidoscope {{!}} Lost shows {{!}} TV Archive {{!}} TV History|website=tvbrain.info|access-date=2020-01-24}}</ref>
===Reception===
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' said it "grabbed and gripped with a force we too rarely see on the Box."<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=18 April 1967|first=Harry|last=Robinson|page=22|title=Kain should get another screening|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/123564911/?terms=kain&match=1}}</ref>
The Sunday ''Sydney Morning Herald'' TV critic called it "the event of the week" praising the "strong performances from" Michell, White and Devlin and the "superbly photographed outback scenery. The photography ran rings around most routine Hollywood westerns. In colour, it would be a masterpiece." He did say "I felt that author Alan Poolman over-wrote at times. But this is small stuff, weighed alongside the tremendous dramatic impact of the play as a whole".<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date= 23 April 1967|first=Valda|last=Marshall|title=Kain: worth the money|page=94|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/123565652/?terms=kain&match=1}}</ref>
The London ''Times'' said it had "great emotional power."<ref>{{cite news|date=20 April 1967|page=10|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/123565069/?terms=kain&match=1|title=Praise for Kain|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref>
The ''Age'' thought it was "an essentially melodramatic play" but said "Michell's performance turned into something of breathtaking strength."<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122293688/?terms=kain&match=1|date=21 April 1967|page=3|title=Teletopics|last=Televiewer}}</ref>
''The Bulletin'' called it "awful... Save us from expatriate playwrights such as Alan Poolman, who marry some childish sense of what is Australian to a   more thorough idea of how to write bad drama" in which Michell "was less than unimpressive, matched only by Alan White... What possessed BBC-TV and ABC TV to film it?   Well, television people have some weird ideas about the Outback, there’s no other explanation. Let’s hope the British viewers took it all at face value—as only a bad joke."<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Bulletin|first=Frank|last=Roberts|date=29 April 1967|page=38|title=Television Fair dinkum |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-699654084 }}</ref>
The Sunday ''Sydney Morning Herald'' critic later reflected "I can't remember a TV show which has split the critics into two such violent camps" as ''Kain'' in Australia and England. "Did we all see the same thing or were there two of them?"<ref>{{cite news|date=30 April 1967|page=95|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|title=Valda Marshall Talks about TV|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/123568109/?terms=kain&match=1|first=Valda|last=Marshall}}</ref>
''Filmink'' called it:
<blockquote>A truly unique, odd slice of television. It’s very theatrical, with long monologues, clearly delineated “acts”, and key characters and events which are referred to but never seen... a bold piece of drama to be sure, tackling all sorts of themes: sibling rivalry, treatment of blacks, lust, money, race, death.... there’s too many unresolved plot strands and characters, particularly Kaita; the drama feels too unfocused; it’s structurally wonky... and the Aboriginal characters allowed little screen time.<ref name="kain"/></blockquote>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://www-austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/8140393 Kain] at [[AustLit]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190223131809/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6994419c Kain TV movie] at BFI
*[https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/106309 Kain] at [[Ausstage]]
[[Category:1960s plays]]
[[Category:1960s Australian television plays]]
[[Category:Australian films based on plays]]