Review of Patrick White as Playwright by J. R. Dyce

Abstract

Miss Dyce's account of Patrick White's play ends with the suggestion that Night on Bald Mountain 'could, however, be the forerunner of a masterpiece'. As a judgment, it epitomizes Miss Dyce's high estimate of White's potentialities as a playwright and her shrewd recognition that they were not fully realized in the four plays he has allowed to be published. As an expression of hope, it no longer carries much conviction. We are reminded, rather, that ten years have passed since White turned away from the theatre. When Night on Bald Mountain was produced in Adelaide, Riders in the Chariot was still White's most recent novel. His oeuvre has changed enormously since 1964; and so has the Australian theatre.