Alan Burke (director) explained

Alan Burke
Birth Date:18 November 1923
Birth Place:Hawthorn, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Death Place:Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation:Writer, director, producer
Years Active:1939–2003

Alan Burke (18 November 1923 – 28 August 2007)[1] [2] was an Australian writer and film director and producer. His credits include the musical Lola Montez.

Biography

Burke was born in the Hawthorn suburb of Melbourne, Victoria in 1923.[1]

Burke was interested in theatre from a young age and began writing plays. One of them Follow Suit debuted in 1941. According to The Argus "Alan is aged only 17 years, but has been turning out plays so prolifically for the past 4 or 5 years that he must now be reckoned a veteran playwright. Most surprising of all is that there's nothing "youthful" in his writings. Most of his efforts have had all the sophistication and wit of a Coward."[3]

He served in the army from 1941 until 1946.[4] He did a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne where he was heavily involved in the dramatic society. In 1948 he became a member of the Old Vic Company when they were touring Australia.[5]

He worked with the Melbourne Little Theatre, notably with Frank Thring, and toured Victoria with several shows.[6] He moved to Sydney, where he produced plays for the Metropolitan Theatre and Sydney University.[7] [8]

In December 1951 he was appointed as producer-manager of the Canberra Repertory Society, which he did for two years.[9] Burke went overseas for three years on a UNESCO fellowship, in England, Europe and the United States.[10] [11] On his travels he met Thornton Wilder.[12] [13] [14]

In 1954 in England in attended a two-month BBC television training course run by Royston Morley. He directed six plays in England. He returned to Australia in 1956 at the request of Neil Hutchinson to work with the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust where he directed eight plays and an opera.[15]

He also wrote the book to a popular musical, Lola Montez.[16]

Television

In 1957 he directed a TV play for the ABC, A Fourth for Bridge. He formally joined ABC TV in 1958 and as an executive producer and director until 1986. He directed operas, ballet, musicals including his own, original Australian drama and Australian adaptations of overseas drama.[17]

Burke later described his process for directing operas:

What I do first is learn the whole opera. I would get the records of the opera and learn every note and all the dialogue. I would play it, and play it etc. After a while images come into the mind – the way an aria sticks out in an opera and so do certain key moments. Then I work out the crucial scenes. What makes it different to any other opera. Why is this opera the opera it is. The ABC Music Department cast all the operas so I played no part in that. Next was the design. I was allocated a designer. We would work out the costumes and sets and flavour and tone and period. Next is the big job of plotting the opera ie pictures and all the detail. I would leave the office and go home and play the opera for weeks, with the script in front of me. I would work on it plotting bar by bar. Then I passed all that information to the cast. I found most singers very grateful for direction.[18]
He directed a production of Merchant of Venice starring Barry Creyton who later called Burke "a very gentle, erudite man. Very sympathetic – he knew exactly what he wanted from actors and how to get it without ranting and raving; he would coax it out of you."[19]

The team of Lola Montez were commissioned by ATN7 in 1959 to write an original musical for television, Pardon Miss Westcott which was directed by David Cahill. A third musical by the trio, based on Ruth Park's The Harp in the South, has never been performed.[20]

He taught at NIDA and did consultancy for the Australian Film Commission.[21]

In 1980 he won a Sammy Award for directing A Toast to Melba.[22] He returned to directing theatre in 1982 with Errol Flynn's Great Big Adventure Book for Boys.[23]

Select TV credits

Select theatre credits

External links

Notes and References

  1. 1988-12-06 . Alan Burke interviewed by Bill Stephens in the Esso Performing Arts collection [sound recording]. ]. English . 2020-11-04 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20201104033550/https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1160268 . 2020-11-04 . Canberra, Australia . . 01:13 . "I was born in 1923, and um, in the suburb of Hawthorn where I lived the bulk of my early years of life.".
  2. Web site: Find a loved one - Northern Cemeteries. Northern Cemeteries. 2020-11-04.
  3. News: WHILE STROLLING AROUND TOWN: UNMASKING THE SLY INFLUENZA GERM . . 29,587 . Melbourne . 21 June 1941 . 10 February 2017 . 14 (The Argus Week-end Magazine) . National Library of Australia.
  4. Web site: DVA's Nominal Rolls.
  5. News: What goes on? Brave deeds have not won him a home . . 32,590 . Victoria, Australia . 14 February 1951 . 10 February 2017 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
  6. News: STUDENTS "GO BUSH". . . 31,330 . Melbourne . 29 January 1947 . 10 February 2017 . 12 (Woman's Magazine) . National Library of Australia.
  7. News: Producer Was With Sir Laurence Olivier . . 10,465 . Victoria, Australia . 3 April 1951 . 10 February 2017 . 5 . National Library of Australia.
  8. News: Stage Whispers . . 127 . Sydney . 1 July 1951 . 10 February 2017 . 11 . National Library of Australia.
  9. News: Mr. A. BURKE NEW PRODUCER FOR REPERTORY . . 26 . 7592 . 19 December 1951 . 10 February 2017 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
  10. News: MR. ALAN BURKE RECOMMENDED OVERSEAS STUDY . . 27 . 8,072 . 11 July 1953 . 9 February 2017 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
  11. News: Theatre Men Share Scholarship . . 36,053 . 10 July 1953 . 9 February 2017 . 10 . National Library of Australia.
  12. News: CANBERRA DIARY . . 28 . 8,171 . 10 March 1954 . 9 February 2017 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
  13. News: News of the Day . . 30886 . Victoria, Australia . 30 April 1954 . 9 February 2017 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
  14. News: Farewell Presentation To Mr. Alan Burke . . 28 . 8,199 . 8 December 1953 . 9 February 2017 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
  15. News: CANBERRA DIARY . . 32 . 9,527 . 9 July 1958 . 9 February 2017 . 5 . National Library of Australia.
  16. News: English star is "Lola Montez" . . 26 . 21 . 29 October 1958 . 9 February 2017 . 39 . National Library of Australia.
  17. Filmink. Forgotten Australian TV Plays – The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day. Stephen. Vagg. October 19, 2020.
  18. Web site: Alan Burke Talks About Early ABC Opera. ABC Gore Hill.
  19. Filmink. Stephen. Vagg. Barry Creyton Live!. 11 October 2020.
  20. Filmink. Forgotten TV Plays: Pardon Miss Wescott. Stephen. Vagg. 4 November 2020.
  21. News: Bawdy colonial yarn thrilled. The Sydney Morning Herald. Peter . Benjamin. 8 September 2007.
  22. News: Gold Sammy award winners . . 55 . 16,459 . 18 October 1980 . 9 February 2017 . 8 . National Library of Australia.
  23. News: Alan Burke, Errol Flynn and theatre adventures . . 56 . 16,920 . 24 January 1982 . 9 February 2017 . 8 . National Library of Australia.
  24. Filmink. Forgotten Australian TV Plays – The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day. Stephen. Vagg. October 19, 2020.
  25. News: SOCIAL AND PERSONAL . . 29,402 . Melbourne . 15 November 1940 . 10 February 2017 . 8 . National Library of Australia.
  26. News: "OVER TWENTY-ONE" . . LXXX . 4782 . Melbourne . 26 March 1947 . 10 February 2017 . 28 . National Library of Australia.
  27. News: What goes on? Brave deeds have not won him a home . . 32,590 . Melbourne . 14 February 1951 . 10 February 2017 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
  28. News: Kaufman-Hart Play Hilarious . . 29,911 . Victoria, Australia . 10 March 1951 . 10 February 2017 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
  29. News: STAGE WHISPERS.. . . 125 . Sydney . 17 June 1951 . 10 February 2017 . 11 . National Library of Australia.
  30. News: Irish Whimsy In Verse Play . . 35,426 . 7 July 1951 . 10 February 2017 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
  31. News: Play By Cocteau . . 35,434 . 17 July 1951 . 10 February 2017 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
  32. News: A.C.T. REPERTORY SOCIETY'S FINE PERFORMANCE . . New South Wales. 13 October 1952 . 10 February 2017 . 3 (Daily and Evening) . National Library of Australia.
  33. News: "THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH" BY REPERTORY . . 28 . 8,174 . 7 November 1953 . 9 February 2017 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
  34. News: REPERTORY SUCCESS IN NEW FARCE . . 27 . 8,030 . 23 May 1953 . 9 February 2017 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
  35. News: BLUFF COMEDY IN "GOVERNMENT" INSPECTOR" . . 27 . 7,966 . 7 March 1953 . 9 February 2017 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
  36. News: FINE ACTING IN NEW REP. DRAMA . . 27 . 8102 . 15 August 1953 . 9 February 2017 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
  37. News: Night and Day . . 13,987 . Sydney. 10 December 1954 . 9 February 2017 . 35 (LATE FINAL EXTRA) . National Library of Australia.
  38. News: CANBERRA DIARY . . 29 . 8,404 . 9 December 1954 . 9 February 2017 . 4 . National Library of Australia.

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