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The Price of Pearls/Same Square of Dust
The Price of Pearls and The Same Square of Dust
These plays are both about Charles Kingsford Smith, the first pilot to fly the Pacific.
He spent many years as a pilot on Perth, and I researched his time in Western Australia for The Price of Pearls which won a nationwide competition in honor of Western Australia's 150th anniversary.
I then rewrote the play as the story of the first Pacific flight, focusing on the relationship between Kingsford Smith and his best friend and co-pilot, Keith Anderson
The Price of Pearls
Synopsis
A beautiful half caste pearl diver's daughter falls in love with Charles Kingsford Smith, but he leaves her, driven by his insatiable ambition to be first man to fly the Pacific
Production history
1979 this play won Western Australia’s 150th anniversary playwriting competition
1980, it was produced by the Darlington Theatre Players
The Same Square of Dust
Synopsis
The story behind the story. Charles Kingsford Smith abandons his best friend and co-pilot, Keith Anderson, when he sees his chance to conquer the Pacific by flying with Charles Ulm
Production History
Australia
1980 The National Theatre, Perth, Western Australia, directed by Stephen Barry
USA
1990, the Palmer Museum of Art on the Penn State University Park campus
1994, the American Theater of Actors, 54th St. W, NYC
1995 at ANZ Art Alliance, NYC
1996 rewritten as a screenplay for Mark Gordon and Hollywood Pictures, with a grant from IHLseng Cottage, at the Pennsylvania State University.
Reviews:
"Subtle and imaginative... often funny and always perceptive." Margot Luke, theatre critic, the West Australian, Perth Australia
"A riveting evening of theater... compelling portrait of an adventurer tormented by his burning desire to cross the Pacific Ocean" Harry Zimbler, The Centre Daily Times, State College, PA, USA