doollee banner
The Playwrights Database
contact doollee


Louis Esson

LOUIS ESSON

  (1878 - 1943)
Nationality:    Scottish
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

Louis Esson was born Thomas Louis Buvelot Esson in 10 Aug 1878 in Edinburgh, Scotland. When he was three years old Esson and his recently widowed mother moved to Melbourne. He attended the University of Melbourne but it was arguably his time in Ireland, and the friendships he forged with Yeats and Synge, that inspired him to create an Australian national theatre that could serve as a political and social forum. In the early 1920s Esson founded the Pioneer Players along with other creative intellectuals including Katherine Susannah Prichard and Vance Palmer. Whilst his vision of a national theatre was not fully realised through the Pioneer Players, the company, and Esson himself, produced a number of works that shaped the landscape of Australian drama. Esson died 27 Nov 1943

Research:    http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/225443

Buy Plays with Doollee

Each page of doollee.com has links to play/book outlets, either directly to the Publisher, through Stageplays.com and Amazon to the second hand and 1st editions of AbeBooks. These links will automatically take you to the relevant area obviating the need for further search.
AbeBooks.co.uk   AbeBooks.com   Stageplays.com   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.ca
whether you are a Playwright who wishes to make their entry definitive, an unlisted Playwright or a User with a tale to tell - we want to hear from you.
download WORD submission template

below is a list of Louis Esson's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Andeganora         Australia Felix         Battler, The         Bride Of Gospel Place, The         Dead Timber         Drovers, The         Mates         Mother And Son         Sacred Place, The         Shipwreck         Southern Cross, The         Time Is Not Yet Ripe, The         Woman Tamer, The

Andeganora

Synopsis:
part of An Evening of Australiana

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Little Theatre, Sydney, NSW    23 Jul 1938

Organisations:
Sydney Drama Society

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/88099

Top of Page Top of Page

Australia Felix

Synopsis:
A monologue adapted from Australia Felix by Louis Esson

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
D1 Studio, Kensington, NSW    19 Oct 1979

Organisations:
NIDA

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
monodrama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/63679

Top of Page Top of Page

Battler, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Playhouse, Melbourne    17 May 1922

Organisations:
Pioneer Players

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
comedy

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/102056

Top of Page Top of Page

Bride Of Gospel Place, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC    1926

Organisations:
Pioneer Players

1st Published:
in the Southern Cross and other plays, Melbourne : Robertson & Mullens, 1946   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  9+            Female:  9+            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/62063

Top of Page Top of Page

Dead Timber

Dead Timber
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
St Patrick's Hall, Melbourne, VIC    13 Dec 1911

Organisations:
Melbourne Repertory Theatre Company

1st Published:
Contained in: "Dead Timber and Other Plays" published by Hendersons, London 1920   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short tragedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/88103

Top of Page Top of Page

Drovers, The

Synopsis:
Life in the bush is hot, hard and not for the faint-hearted. Under the extreme sun of Northern frontier country a pack of itinerant drovers thrive in the land they call home. A freak stampede brings 'Briglow' Bill and his mates face to face with mortality and their masculinity and mateship are tested. All the while, Pidgeon, a young Aboriginal boy, watches the white fellows. He sees something the drovers cannot speak of and, for Briglow, this silence is as stifling yet as familiar and as comforting as the heat that surrounds them all. The Drovers is a bush drama that is rich with tension, grim stoicism and heightened masculinity of the, notably, all-male characters. Clipped sentences and straight-talking speak of the no-nonsense attitude necessary to survive in the remote bush of the 1920s. The play draws us to the campfire where, in light and heat, we see the relationships the drovers experience: between each other, between white man and Aboriginal man, between man and land and, finally, the ultimate and unavoidable relationship: a man's connection with life and death.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Temperance Hall, Melbourne , VIC    03 Dec 1923

Organisations:
Pioneer Players

1st Published:
Contained in: "Modern Short Plays" published by Angus and Robertson 1951   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act 30 min

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/65990

Top of Page Top of Page

Mates

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
written by Louis Esson and Frank Brown

1st Produced:
Playhouse, Melbourne    16 Aug 1923

Organisations:
Pioneer Players

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/102060

Top of Page Top of Page

Mother And Son

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Temperance Hall, Melbourne , VIC    Jun 1923

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in the Southern Cross and other plays, Melbourne : Robertson & Mullens, 1946   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/60074

Top of Page Top of Page

Sacred Place, The

Sacred Place, The
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Turn Verein Hall, Melbourne, VIC    15 May 1912

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Dead Timber and Other Plays" published by Hendersons, London 1920   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short play

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/88095

Top of Page Top of Page

Shipwreck

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
[reading] University of New England Hall, Armidale, NSW    Sep 1984

Organisations:
Conference on Australian Drama 1920 - 1955

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/102057

Top of Page Top of Page

Southern Cross, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Perth, Perth, WA    1930

Organisations:
Workers' Art Guild

1st Published:
in the Southern Cross and other plays, Melbourne : Robertson & Mullens, 1946   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  large cast

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/102058

Top of Page Top of Page

Time Is Not Yet Ripe, The

Time Is Not Yet Ripe, The
a high-life political comedy from 1912 in which the forces of socialism, feminism and conservatism fight out an election and an engagement to marry.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne, VIC    23 Jul 1912

Organisations:
Melbourne Repertory Theatre Company

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Historical

Parts:
Male:  13            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/102059

Top of Page Top of Page

Woman Tamer, The

Woman Tamer, The
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Turn Verein Hall, Melbourne, VIC    05 Oct 1910

Organisations:
William Moore Drama Nights

1st Published:
Contained in: "Dead Timber and Other Plays" published by Hendersons, London 1920   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Short play

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/97295

Top of Page Top of Page