Wilful Murder (play) explained

Wilful Murder
Director:	Alfred Dampier
Premiere:	^[1]
Place:	Alexandra Theatre, Melbourne^[2]
Orig Lang:	English
Genre:	melodrama

Wilful Murder is a 1892 Australian play by Alfred Dampier and Garnet Walch. The play adapted George Meredith's British play Drama of London Life, incorporating elements of the recent Windsor murder by Frederick Bailey Deeming.^[3]

The play was presented by Alfred Dampier.^{[4] [5]} Alfred Harcourt, who was in the play, had a brief connection with Deeming.^[6]

It ran for over six weeks in Melbourne.^[7]

Reception

The Age observed " The temptation to tickle further the appetite of the public for the grim and ghastly was too powerful to resist."^[8]

The Argus said " Apart from an unnecessary degree of attention being given to its more repulsive aspects the play is a fair one of its class, and was both well mounted and well played."^[9]

Synopsis

• ACT 1 - A TERRIBLE CRIME. "Throw Guilt upon the Soul, And like a stone cast on the troubled waters of a lake, 'Twill form in circles, round succeeding round, Each' wider than the first." - The Murder in the Heathstone
• ACT 2 - VOICES FROM THE TOMB. "Swathe the vile budy in the softest silks, Yet leave the conscience shuddering nakedly." - Midnight Mysteries.
• ACT 3 - FOLLOWING THE TRAIL. "Thou fool, The avenging deities are shed with wool." In full cry.
• ACT 4 - A DESPERATE MAN. "Turns like the baited wolf, and blind with blood, Rends all in fierce despair." Through perils manifold.
• ACT 5 - THE IRON HAND. WINDSOR. " Whose sheddeth man's blood, By man shall his blood be shed."^{[10] [1]}

External links

• Wilful Murder at Ausstage

Notes and References

1. News: Advertising . . 11565 . Victoria, Australia . 19 March 1892 . 8 May 2024 . 10 . National Library of Australia.
2. News: Advertising . . 62 . Victoria, Australia . 5 March 1892 . 8 May 2024 . 7 . National Library of Australia.
3. News: EXHIBITION THEATRE. . . 14,160 . Victoria, Australia . 16 July 1892 . 7 May 2024 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
4. News: " WILFUL MURDER." . . Victoria, Australia . 7 April 1892 . 7 May 2024 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
5. News: THE ALEXANDRA. . . 14 . 643 . Victoria, Australia . 19 March 1892 . 7 May 2024 . 12 . National Library of Australia.
6. News: THE WINDSOR MURDERER. . . 14,280 . Victoria, Australia . 1 April 1892 . 8 May 2024 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
7. News: TOWN TALK. . . 14,153 . Victoria, Australia . 8 July 1892 . 8 May 2024 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
8. News: ALEXANDRA THEATRE.--WILFUL MURDER. . . 11566 . Victoria, Australia . 21 March 1892 . 7 May 2024 . 7 . National Library of Australia.
9. News: ALEXANDRA THEATRE. . . 14,270 . Victoria, Australia . 21 March 1892 . 7 May 2024 . 10 . National Library of Australia.
10. News: Advertising . . LX . 7,012 . Tasmania, Australia . 15 August 1892 . 8 May 2024 . 3 . National Library of Australia.