The Kelly Gang; or the Career of the Outlaw, Ned Kelly, the Iron-clad Bushranger of Australia is an 1899 Australian play about bushranger Ned Kelly. It is attributed to Arnold Denham but it is likely a number of other writers worked on it.[3]
| The Kelly Gang; or the Career of the Outlaw, Ned Kelly, the Iron-clad Bushranger of Australia | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Arnold Denham and others |
| Date premiered | 22 July 1899[1] |
| Place premiered | Opera House Sydney[2] |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | bushrangers |
| Genre | Melodrama |
Authorship
The play is typically attributed to Arnold Denham, a Perth journalist who has few other credits or theatre experience. However he regularly litigated in defence of "his" copyright in the play. It is considered likely that Denham plagirised from Reg Rede's play The Kelly Gang.[4][5]
Denham died in 1922.[6] He wrote about the play that:
The fact that four men defied the Government for two years, with a reward of £10,000 on their heads, that their extermination cost the State £115,000, and that their last stand was made in a wooden shanty within two hundred yards of a railway station, where they were opposed by a small army of police, and a field gun, seems to me as dramatic and remarkable as anything in an-cient or modern history.[7]
Reviews
Evening News said "Many of the situations... are strongly reminiscent of the dramatisation of Robbery Under Arms."[8]
Lawsuits
Denham sued for copyright infringement against the producers of other plays about Ned Kelly including Outlaw Kelly in 1899[9][10] and a different play called The Kelly Gang in 1901.[11]
He was successful in the 1901 case.[12] This decision was appealed unsuccessfully.[13][14] It has been said "the net result was that Denham, the first pirate in New South Wales of a popular play written and staged in Victoria,21 gained the same exclusive legal rights as the original copyright holder, although this is unlikely to have occurred if the defence evidence had been properly led."[15]
Productions
According to one account Kate Kelly appeared in an original production in Sydney at the Criterion Theatre.[16]
The play was an immediate success. The Sunday Times said "Though the production has not any very striking merit, apart from its sensationalism, the doings of 'the 'ironclad bushranger' appear to fascinate the audiences. The variety scene' at' the Glenrowan Hotel is contributed by several well-known artists, and is also fully appreciated."[17]
The play ran for seven weeks in Sydney in 1899 then toured.[18]
There was a revival in 1908.[19]
A production was staged on 18 May 1907 at His Majesty's Theatre in Perth.[20]
Characters
References
External links
- The Kelly Gang at AustLit