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- The Wasters, The Australian Theatre, Newtown, NSW, 22 August 1973
- Mrs Pretty and the Premier, ABC Radio, Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 3 March 1951
- Gallipoli Bill, The Palais Theatre (1925 - 1926), Manly, NSW, 26 April 1926
- Mrs Pretty and the Premier, Sydney Repertory Theatre (1913-1924), Sydney, NSW, 18 November 1914
- Mrs Pretty and the Premier, Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne, VIC, 26 September 1914
- Doctor Death, Standard Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 22 October 1912
- Doctor Death, Criterion Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 6 July 1912
- Doctor Death, Walkerville Hall, Walkerville, SA, 1912
- The Pierrot in Australia; Doctor Death; Press Cuttings, Unley Town Hall (1907 -), Unley, SA, 10 December 1910
- The Wasters, Unley Town Hall (1907 -), Unley, SA, 27 August 1910
- Pierrot in Australia, Standard Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 19 August 1910
- The Tame Cat, Criterion Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 16 October 1909
- The Wasters, Elder Hall, Adelaide, SA, 1909
- The Tame Cat, Criterion Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 11 July 1908
- Tapu or, A Tale of a Maori Pah, Her Majesty's Theatre (1887-1933), Sydney, NSW, 9 July 1904
- Tapu or, A Tale of a Maori Pah, Wellington Opera House, Wellington, New Zealand, 16 February 1903
- Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves; a Tale of Persian Company-Promoting, Her Majesty's Theatre (1887-1933), Sydney, NSW, 24 December 1898
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Playwright- The Wasters, The Australian Theatre, Newtown, NSW, 22 August 1973
- Mrs Pretty and the Premier, ABC Radio, Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 3 March 1951
- Gallipoli Bill, The Palais Theatre (1925 - 1926), Manly, NSW, 26 April 1926
- Mrs Pretty and the Premier, Sydney Repertory Theatre (1913-1924), Sydney, NSW, 18 November 1914
- Mrs Pretty and the Premier, Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne, VIC, 26 September 1914
- Doctor Death, Standard Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 22 October 1912
- Doctor Death, Criterion Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 6 July 1912
- Doctor Death, Walkerville Hall, Walkerville, SA, 1912
- The Pierrot in Australia; Doctor Death; Press Cuttings, Unley Town Hall (1907 -), Unley, SA, 10 December 1910
- The Wasters, Unley Town Hall (1907 -), Unley, SA, 27 August 1910
- Pierrot in Australia, Standard Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 19 August 1910
- The Tame Cat, Criterion Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 16 October 1909
- The Wasters, Elder Hall, Adelaide, SA, 1909
- The Tame Cat, Criterion Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 11 July 1908
- Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves; a Tale of Persian Company-Promoting, Her Majesty's Theatre (1887-1933), Sydney, NSW, 24 December 1898
Librettist- Tapu or, A Tale of a Maori Pah, Her Majesty's Theatre (1887-1933), Sydney, NSW, 9 July 1904
- Tapu or, A Tale of a Maori Pah, Wellington Opera House, Wellington, New Zealand, 16 February 1903
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Wilfrid Neill - Actor, Director, Producer
- Doctor Death, Walkerville Hall, Walkerville, SA, 1912
- The Pierrot in Australia; Doctor Death; Press Cuttings, Unley Town Hall (1907 -), Unley, SA, 10 December 1910
- The Wasters, Unley Town Hall (1907 -), Unley, SA, 27 August 1910
- The Wasters, Elder Hall, Adelaide, SA, 1909
Alfred Hill - Composer, Musical Arranger
- Tapu or, A Tale of a Maori Pah, Her Majesty's Theatre (1887-1933), Sydney, NSW, 9 July 1904
- Tapu or, A Tale of a Maori Pah, Wellington Opera House, Wellington, New Zealand, 16 February 1903
- Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves; a Tale of Persian Company-Promoting, Her Majesty's Theatre (1887-1933), Sydney, NSW, 24 December 1898
- Doctor Death, Walkerville Hall, Walkerville, SA, 1912
- The Pierrot in Australia; Doctor Death; Press Cuttings, Unley Town Hall (1907 -), Unley, SA, 10 December 1910
- The Wasters, Elder Hall, Adelaide, SA, 1909
W B Beattie - Actor, Stage Manager
- The Wasters, The Australian Theatre, Newtown, NSW, 22 August 1973
- The Wasters, The Australian Theatre, Newtown, NSW, 22 August 1973
- The Wasters, The Australian Theatre, Newtown, NSW, 22 August 1973
- The Wasters, The Australian Theatre, Newtown, NSW, 22 August 1973
- Doctor Death, Standard Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 22 October 1912
- Doctor Death, Standard Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 22 October 1912
- The Wasters, The Australian Theatre, Newtown, NSW, 22 August 1973
- Doctor Death, Standard Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 22 October 1912
- The Wasters, The Australian Theatre, Newtown, NSW, 22 August 1973
- The Wasters, The Australian Theatre, Newtown, NSW, 22 August 1973
- Doctor Death, Standard Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 22 October 1912
- The Wasters, The Australian Theatre, Newtown, NSW, 22 August 1973
- Gallipoli Bill, The Palais Theatre (1925 - 1926), Manly, NSW, 26 April 1926
- The Wasters, The Australian Theatre, Newtown, NSW, 22 August 1973
- The Wasters, The Australian Theatre, Newtown, NSW, 22 August 1973
- Doctor Death, Standard Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 22 October 1912
- The Wasters, The Australian Theatre, Newtown, NSW, 22 August 1973
- Doctor Death, Standard Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 22 October 1912
- The Wasters, The Australian Theatre, Newtown, NSW, 22 August 1973
J B Watson - Choreographer, Director
- The Wasters, The Australian Theatre, Newtown, NSW, 22 August 1973
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Resources |
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Anthology:  Arthur Adams, Adelaide Literary Theatre, Three Plays for the Australian Stage, William Brooks, Sydney, National Library of Australia, 1914
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Dramatist. Born 6 June 1872 at Lawrence (New Zealand). Graduated from University of Otago (Dunedin) 1894. Journalist on Wellington Evening Post. Covered Boxer rebellion for Sydney Morning Herald 1900. Wrote libretti for Alfred Hill, novels and poetry. Edited Red Page of Sydney Bulletin 1906-09. Edited Lone Hand 1909-11. Impoverished by 1930. Granted Commonwealth Literary Fund assistance 1933. Died 4 March 1936 in Sydney.
Arthur H. Adams was the most vigorous supporter of Australian playwrights early in the 20th century and a successful one himself. About 1897 he wrote the libretto of Tapu, an operetta on a Maori subject, for the Wellington composer Alfred Hill. This gained Adams work for two years in Sydney in 1898-1900 as J.C. Williamson's literary secretary, though he was not pleased when Williamson rewrote and staged the operetta during his absence in England. In the Lone Hand and Theatre magazine he described this and other attempts to have his plays performed, attacked the indifference to local writers of the great actor-managers who controlled Australian theatre, and gave aspiring playwrights good advice on learning their craft: 'Get your play produced. Failing the Managers, get it done by amateurs'.
Adams took his own advice, with success. Pierrot in Australia in Sydney in 1910 and in London in 1912, The Tame Cat, The Wasters, Mrs Pretty and the Premier and other plays received amateur production. A professional management in England took up Mrs Pretty and the Premier. Adams noted in an introduction to his Three Plays for the Australian Stage - The Wasters, Mrs Pretty and Galahad Jones - in 1914: 'One of the many drawbacks to their production is that there is no Australian stage'. He described the unperformed Galahad Jones, adapted from his own novel, as 'a comedy with a tragic tang', since the leading female character dies at the end. Insisting that it was a play for production in the professional theatre as well as for amateurs, Adams added a postscript: 'Should the theatrical manager demand his pound of flesh, the author has written, much against his will, an alternative "happy ending” in which Sybil recovers' .
Adams's last play, Gallipoli Bill, is his most original. Set during the last days of the First World War, it concerns two ANZAC soldiers. While recovering from wounds, Bill and Jim spend a few weeks in romantic dalliance at an English country mansion. The English lord and lady, their officer son and a silly chappie from the War Office are conventional, but the two soldiers, a lecherous old dowager aunt, the lord's daughter, who works in a munitions factory, and her Australian girlfriend, who is equal to Bill's love-them-and leave-them flirtations, are vigorous and cleverly written. Bill has a long, hilarious drunk scene which obviously appealed to the actor-manager Tal Ordell, who cast himself in the role for a season in suburban Sydney in 1926. There are reports of other performances in 1928. In February 1929 Adams sold the stage and film rights to Bert Bailey, who revised the script, but the Great Depression prevented further performance.
Article:  Richard Fotheringham, Arthur H. Adams, Companion To Theatre In Australia, 1995, 24
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Book:  Arthur Adams, The Wasters, Three Plays for the Australian Stage, 1914
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Book:  John Mansfield Thomson, A Distant music : the life and times of Alfred Hill 1870-1960, Oxford University Press, Auckland; Oxford, 1980, 239pp
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Playscript:  Arthur Adams, Doctor Death, The Lone Hand, 5, 27, 1909
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Playscript:  Arthur Adams, Edmund Barclay, Mrs Pretty and the Premier, The University of Queensland, Fryer Library
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Playscript:  Arthur Adams, Galahad Jones, Three Plays for the Australian Stage, 1914
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Playscript:  Arthur Adams, Mrs Pretty and the Premier, Three Plays for the Australian Stage, 1914
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