Peter Kenna papers, 1872, 1909, 1950-2006

MLMSS 9828/Boxes 1-43
MLMSS 9828/Boxes 44X-45X
PXD 1430

fonds

1872, 1909, 1950-2006

1074668

6.4 metres of textual material and 7 drawings (43 boxes, 2 outsize boxes)

From the estate of Peter Basclain

Boxes 1 to 16 consist of manuscript and typescript drafts of play scripts, some with adaptations for radio, television or film, as well as some correspondence, notes, clippings of reviews, contracts, treatments, and poems.

BOXES 1-4
‘The Umbrella Woman’, also released as ‘The Good Wife’. Box 4 also contains publicity photographs of Peter Kenna, ca. 1981-1987

BOX 5
‘The cat who spoke’, 1982-1984

BOX 6
‘The slaughter of St Teresa’s Day’, ca. 1958-1985

BOX 7
‘A hard God’ (Play 1 in ‘The Cassidy album’ trilogy), 1973-1978

BOX 8
‘Furtive love’ (Play 2 in ‘The Cassidy album’ trilogy), ca. 1977-1987

BOX 9
‘An eager hope’ (Play 3 in ‘The Cassidy album’ trilogy). Includes ‘The Cassidy album’ manuscript synopsis, notes, teaching material, news cuttings, programs, ca. 1977-1978

BOX 10
‘Listen closely’, ca. 1973

BOX 11
Autobiography of Edward James Kenna: manuscript and typescript drafts, 1975-1977

BOX 12
‘Talk to the moon’, ca. 1963. Includes letter from Robyn Nevin, 1986
‘Mates’, ca. 1975

BOX 13
‘Dr Knock’s Marvellous Medicine Show’, ca. 1982
‘The fair sister’, undated
‘Hamlet: the western’, ca. 1987

BOX 14
‘Trespassers will be prosecuted’, ca. 1976
‘Muriel’s virtues’, [ca. 1966]

BOX 15
‘In captivity’, ca. 1978
‘Sawdust hearts’, ca. 1983

BOX 16
‘The umbrella woman’, 1982
‘Hamlet - the western: synopsis for a screenplay based on the tragedy by William Shakespeare’, [ca. 1980]
‘The cat who spoke’, 1984
‘Sawdust hearts’, 1986
‘Muriel’s virtues: a farce in three acts’, ca. 1966
‘Talk to the moon: a drama in three acts’, ca. 1963
‘An eager hope: a play in two acts. Play 3 in “The Cassidy Album” trilogy’, ca. 1978
‘The slaughter of St. Teresa’s Day’ revised script for Queensland Theatre Company production, December 1985
‘Trespassers will be prosecuted: a play in two acts’, [ca. 1975]

BOX 17
Handwritten drafts of scripts: ‘Happy birthday, Henry’, ‘The last spring’, ‘Best damn loving’, ‘Traces of man’, ‘The perils of upright Bob, or Along the road’, ‘Across the sea’, ‘Dust’, ‘The shooting a specimen flat’ (including stage design drawings), ‘Jitters’ featuring Cassidy characters, ‘The other side of the wind’ ca 1972
Six page short prose ‘Sister’s letters’
Two versions of story ‘A piss to remember’
Treatment for film ‘An everyday story’
Typescript manuscript ‘The other side of the wind’ ca 1972
Manuscript and notes for ‘Trash and treasure: songs, jokes, stories collected and performed by Peter Kenna’
Journal entries, notes and observations, and correspondence relating to visit to Philippines to receive medical treatment, 1975
Typescript versions of letters headed ‘Love letters from the Philippines’, from Kenna to Peter Basclain
Photocopied sheet music, various published songbooks
Short story ‘Life among the dressers’ relating to Kenna’s work as a window dresser at Foy’s in 1946
Handwritten notes for plays

BOX 18
Manuscript drafts, mostly handwritten, some unfinished. Titles include: ‘The temptation of Upright Bob’, ‘Two birds in the hand’, ‘The bush wife’ 1968, ‘The Vice-President’
Various versions of article and preface written for book on playwright Jim McNeil, 1984; theatre programme and script for play ‘Jack’ by Jim McNeil (Saturday 17 September 1977); transcript of McNeil interview with Tim Bowden
Articles, news cuttings, and transcript of speech delivered by Kenna relating to the establishment of NSW State Theatre Company, 1978
Correspondence from Kenna to Cyril, 1956
Treatment for ‘The revolutionary’
Notes and ideas for plays

BOX 19
Theatre programmes, posters, and news cuttings, ca 1970-ca 1980; obituary for Gloria Dawn; handwritten song lyrics; journal ‘Contact’ nos. 17-18, 20; obituary for Kenna by Nick Enright; programme for funeral of Kenna, 1987; script for ‘Semi-life: a celebration of the life and work of Peter Kenna’, performed at Belvoir Theatre, 26 June 1988; manuscript and published version of ‘Little Chief Yellowhand’, 1985; theatre reviews written by Kenna; outline for screenplay ‘Bello Cane’; Kenna’s nomination for Order of Australia, 1986, including references from Robin Nevin, and Ruth Cracknell; journal ‘New Theatre Australia’, February 1988, containing obituary for Peter Kenna by Katharine Brisbane; article in magazine New Idea relating to Kenna’s kidney transplant, 3 June 1978; copy of letters of Rachel Henning

BOX 20
Correspondence including: approximately 30 letters from Kenna to Basclain whist in London, 1980; letters from Kenna’s sister Mary, ca 1974 -ca 1979; letters between Kenna and Basclain whilst Kenna was in Canberra at the Australian National Playwrights Conference, May 1977; letters from Basclain to Kenna whilst he was away in London, 1986; letter from Martin McKenna of Wee Waa to his daughter May, 1 January 1909, copies of letters sent by Kenna to family whist he was in London, 1948, 1961-1969, 1974
Transcript of interview with Hazel de Berg from the National Library of Australia, 1972
Family history documents including ‘Origin of the McKennas’ 1972, and family tree
Various draft manuscripts for ‘An Australian life’ by Edward James Kenna and Peter Kenna
Marriage certificate of Martin Kenna and Anna Maria O’Connor, 30 October 1872
Ideas for radio and television
Poems including ‘The gnomes of Gibberagong’

BOX 21
Reviews, programmes, tickets, news cuttings, posters, royalties, 1975-2001
Contracts relating to screenplays adaptations of ‘The cat who spoke’, and ‘The umbrella woman’, ca 1983
Correspondence between Peter Basclain, and Fiona Inglis and Pippa Masson (Curtis Brown literary agents) relating to Sydney Theatre Company production of ‘A Hard God’, 2005
STC contract for staging of ‘A Hard God’, 2006
Press kit from Sydney Theatre Company production of A Hard God, 2006

BOX 22
Correspondence, 1981-1987. Subjects include: submissions to literary agents in the US, Ireland, and Australia; requests for permission to stage and publish plays by Kenna; barking dog at 19 Merton Street Rozelle; estate of the late Irene Felicia Hilder; agreement for option of ‘The Cassidy Album’; various agreements with theatre companies for production of plays by Kenna; correspondence, agreements, and legal issues relating to production of film The Umbrella Woman; legal dispute involving the Australian Film Commission and Margaret Kelly; New York Times obituary of Kenna’s literary agent Frieda Fishbein

BOX 23
Notes and drafts for biography of Edward James Kenna, ‘An Australian Life’
Summary of royalties from 1984 season of ‘A Hard God’ at The Playhouse, Perth; reviews from American newspapers for ‘Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted’, 1982; various theatre programmes and posters for productions of Kenna plays, 1972; programme of Adelaide Festival, 1978; flyer for film The Umbrella Woman.

BOX 24
Kenna’s notes and analysis of his plays
Various manuscripts for plays ‘Buffalo-Grass’ ca 1979, ‘She passed through the fair’, ‘Charlie’s Desert: a play for radio’, ‘Naughty Lady Lavender, or Shame, Sham, and Circumstance’; short stories ‘The legend of fire’ 1952, ‘Sketch of my own life and experience’, ‘The wind and the rose’ 1952-53, ‘Trespassers’, ‘Yesterday, stay where you were’, ‘Who dropped that sandbag’, ‘Fables in fact’, ‘The cockie’; poems ‘Holy communion’ 1950, ‘Emuo Ruo: a non epic poem’; music compositions ‘Ain’t artists got eyes?’, ‘Fool heart’, ‘Main Street, Blue Town’, ‘Clarrie’, ‘My cave man’; article ‘Jewish humour’
Audition pieces for characters Thelma and Marge, The Umbrella Woman
Resource materials for students and teachers relating to ‘A Hard God’

BOX 25
Various manuscript plays and screenplays, ca 1950s-ca 1980s. Titles include: ‘Outline for a dramatic documentary on a western suburbs housewife’, ‘Blood of strangers’, ‘The Butler Did It’ 1956, ‘The Unknown Soldier’, ‘The leader of the band’, ‘The kitchen’, ‘All the loving in hell’, ‘Someone for Daphne’, ‘Beak of the early bird’ (stage version of ‘Goodbye Gloria’), ‘The two-face clock’

BOX 26
21 manuscript plays and screenplays, mostly written during time in London, ca 1950s-ca 1960s. Titles include: ‘The Spectators’, ‘Reggie’, ABC TV version of ‘Goodbye, Gloria, Goodbye’ 1966’, ‘Sins committed at the passion patch’, ‘The Emigrants’

BOX 27
14 manuscript plays and screenplays. Titles include: ‘Dust of Polish by Norman Lindsay: adapted for television by Peter Kenna’, ‘The Trap’, ‘Miss Rosalie Adorable: a musical satire’, ‘Faces of virtue, faces of evil’ based on Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, first of Kenna’s plays to be performed ‘Before the carnival’

BOX 28
Correspondence received, 1950s. Subjects include: approaches to and responses from agents about sale of plays; registration of copyright for ‘The Slaughter of St Teresa’s Day’, 1959; letters from The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust relating to radio plays by Kenna, 1959.

Correspondence received, 1960-1965. Subjects include: approaches to theatre companies by Kenna; thoughts of Robin Lovejoy (The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust) on play ‘Muriel’s virtues’; literary agent’s updates on selling plays in London; responses from various theatre companies in London; royalties from plays performed; rejection letters from the BBC and ABC.

Correspondence received, 1966. Subjects include: various letters from mother; various letters from Michael Cook; rejection letter from United Telecasters Sydney Limited; return of scripts from The Old Tote Theatre Company; various scripts by George Sheedy.

Correspondence received, 1967. Subjects include: various letters from Michael Cook; message from John H. Stewart (Research Department, Sydney Hospital); various letters from mother; various letters from Monica Curtain; various letters from brother Jim Kenna; sister Agnes Reid.

Correspondence received, 1968. Correspondents include: Maggie Dence, Michael Cook, mother, Michael Frost, Monica Curtain, niece Annette Reid, sister Agnes Reid.

Correspondence received, 1969. Correspondents include: mother, sister Agnes, Monica Curtain, Maggie Dence, agent Peter Grose (Curtis Brown), Michael Cook, Gerald Sheedy. Folder also contains rejection letter from E. P. S. Lewin, author and publisher; income tax assessment from Inland Revenue UK; papers relating to stay in The Royal Free Hospital.

BOX 29
Correspondence received, 1970. Correspondents include: Monica Curtain, Michael Cook, Vera La Motte, Peter Grose (Curtis Brown), Gerald Sheedy, Ray F. Cook, mother, Agnes Reid, Annette Reid, Jon Ewing, Ray Lawler, Maggie Dence, Freyda De Silva. Folder also contains rejection letter for ‘Listen closely’, letters from Inland Revenue UK, application for travel grant, correspondence with Sydney Hospital relating to dialysis treatment.

Correspondence received, 1971. Correspondents include: Suzanne Baker, Monica Curtain, Katharine Brisbane, Michael Cook, mother, Roger McDougall, Maggie Dence, Mrs B. Hilda Sexton, Robert Bruning, P. Puckridge. Folder also contains transport invoices, medical bills, reference from Green & Stone art supplies shop, funeral card of Matilda J. Reid.

Correspondence received, 1972. Correspondents include: Monica Curtain, Freyda De Silva, Ronnie H., Phyllis Margaret Puckridge, Roger McDougall, Jim Kenna, Margaret Klucis, Martin Kenna, Hazel Plant. Folder also contains contact with Currency Press for Australian radio broadcasting rights to ‘Talk to the moon’, correspondence with the ABC relating to adaptation of Lindsay novel ‘Dust of polish?’, letters from National Library of Australia and The University of Sydney relating to copying of manuscripts and oral history interview.

Correspondence received, 1973. Correspondents include: Monica Curtain, Michael Cook, Bob Ellis, Agnes Reid, Pat Kenna, Michael Laurence, Fairfax Hospital, South Australian Film Corporation.

BOX 30
Business correspondence received, 1974. Correspondents include: BBC, Currency Methuen Drama Publishers, South Australian Film Corporation, The Australian Writers’ Guild, National Institute of Dramatic Art, The Old Tote Theatre Company,The Australian Playwrights Theatre, ABC, Literature Board (Australian Council for the Arts), Melbourne Theatre Company, Howard Nicholson (Writer’s Agent), Kavanagh Productions.

Get well Cards and telegrams received by Kenna following kidney transplant, 1974. Well-wishers include: Dorothy Hewitt, Jim McNeil, May Pusey, Maggi Gray

Personal correspondence received, January-June 1974. Correspondents include: Patricia Kennedy, Brian Barnes, Agnes Reid, Nick Enright, Jim Kenna, Michael Laurence, Mary Gordon, Michael Cook, Ronaldo Hay, Ruth Niland (Park), Ron Blair, Freyda De Silva, John Hargreaves.

Personal correspondence received, July-December 1974. Correspondents include: Moya Wood, Pat Jackson, David Young, Jim McNeil, Maggie Dence, Alma De Groen, Ronald Hay, Garry and Moira Eastman, Brian Barnes, Jim Kenna, Stella Adler Wilson, Mary Gordon, Evangelos Patsikatheodoran, Ruth Park, Nick Enright

Correspondence received whilst residing at 27-209 Toorak Road, South Yarra, Victoria, 1974. Correspondents include: Jim Kenna, Agnes Reid, Currency Methuen Drama Pty Ltd Publishers, Ronald Hay, Nick Enright, Howard Nicholson, Maggie Dence

BOX 31
Correspondence received, 1975. Correspondents include: Kath Pearson, Kathryn M. Pratt (Copyright Department, BBC), Monica Curtain, Kevin Hambly, Nick Enright, Errol O’Neill, Frank Heatherly (Plays Department, BBC), Anne Robertson (Field Librarian, State Library of NSW), Eric Tayler (ABC).

Correspondence received, 1976. Correspondents include: Nick Enright, Kath Pearson, Monica Curtain, Julian Glover, Paul Iles, Phyllis Puckridge, David Williamson, Kevin Miles, Michael E. Costitgan (Literary Board, Australia Council), George W. (The National Institute of Dramatic Art), Wayne Maddern (General Manager, South Australian Theatre Company), Bettina Dickson, Stanley Walsh (Director, Australian National Playwrights Conference).

Business correspondence received, 1977. Correspondents include: Literature Board of the Australia Council, Q Theatre Group, Anthony Steel (Artistic Director, Adelaide Festival of Arts), E. E. Eder (Bursar, The New South Wales Institute of Technology, Vince Moran (Writers’ Liaison Officer, Crawford Productions), Colin George (Artistic Director, South Australian Theatre Company). Folder also contains newsletters of The Dramatists Guild, and Australian Writer’s Guild.

Personal Correspondence received, 1977. Correspondents include: Edward Kenna, Monica Curtain, Jane Rose, Amanda Robson, Pat Kenna, Lloyd L. Fogarty (Auvergne Station), Steven Harvey, C. R. Lucas (Senior Medical Officer, Fairfield Hospital), Malcolm Purcell, Mary Gordon, Margaret Basclain.

BOX 32
Business correspondence received, 1978. Correspondents include: H. Stephens (English Studies Coordinator, St Patricks College), Literature Board of the Australia Council, Barry Waters (WEA), H. G. Kippax (Acting Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald), G. A. Wilkes (English Department, University of Sydney), Jenny Palmer (ABC).

Personal correspondence received, 1978. Correspondents include: Nick Enright, Steven Harvey, Steve J., Eileen Ford, Dot Young, Yvonne Hopkins, Ron Rodger, Dallas Bicknell, Monica Curtain, James Kenna, Harry Collins, Jim Searle.

Business correspondence received, 1979. Correspondents include: Paul Iles, Hayes Gordon, John Bell (Nimrod Theatre), Philip Parsons (School of Drama, University of New South Wales), Elaine Lindsay (Literature Board, Australia Council), George Whaley (Head of Acting Course, NIDA), Paul Iles (Nimrod Theatre), Richard Wherrett (Director, The Sydney Theatre Company), Ted Willis (Lord Willis).

Personal Correspondence,1979. Correspondents include: Frank Hausser, D. M. O’Connor, Nick Enright, Ted Willis (Lord Willis), Jennifer Compton, Malcolm Purcell.

Letters received, 1980. Correspondents include: Katharine Brisbane, Currency Press, E. J. Kenna, Jan Blake, Robin Lovejoy, Maggie Dence, Nick Enright.

Correspondence, 1981. Correspondents include: E. J. Kenna, Mary Gordon, Lloyd L. Fogarty, Frieda Fishbein, Nick Enright, Bea Aston.

BOX 33
Correspondence, 1982. Correspondents include: E. J. Kenna, Ray Cook, Frieda Fishbein, Kevin Jackson, Joe Anderson, Robyn Archer, Nancy Turner, various requests from amateur theatre companies seeking permission to perform plays by Kenna.

Letters received, 1983. Correspondents include: Nick Enright, Stephen Gatesworth, Rick Raftos (Australian Writers’ Guild), Jim Pearson, E. J. Kenna, Chris Thomson. Also includes two royalty statements.

Letters received, 1984. Correspondents include: Agnes Reid, Samantha Reid, Edward J. Kenna, Di Drew (ABC).

Letters received, 1985. Correspondents include: Ronnie, Barbara, Nick Enright, E. J. Kenna, Pat Kenna, Bettina Welch, Ray Cook, Sam Reid, Rachel Ward, Barry Humphries.

Letters received, 1986. Correspondents include: Geraldine Turner, Nick Enright, John Bell, Agnes Reid.

Letters received, 1987. Correspondents include: Jim Kenna, Agnes Reid, Robyn Griffith (Production Co-ordinator, Radio Drama & Features, ABC), Denis Kenna

BOX 34
Correspondence with literary agents in USA and UK, including Frieda Fishbein and Eric Glass, 1976-1980
Contract for off-Broadway production of ‘Trespassers will be prosecuted’, 1977
Manuscript drafts of play ‘Buffalo grass’, ca 1977
Correspondence relating to rights to perform plays by Kenna, mostly amateur theatre companies, 1979-1980
Contracts for plays and screenplays ‘Furtive Love’, 1980; ‘The Cassidy Album’, 1978; ‘The cat who spoke’, 1984; ‘A hard god’, 1973, 1980, 1981.

BOX 35
Correspondence, business and personal, approximately 200 letters, undated.

BOX 36
Approximately 300 postcards received by Kenna
Hand puppet

BOX 37
Various manuscripts by Kenna

BOXES 38-42
Printed material, mostly theatre programmes from UK and Australia

BOX 43
18 diaries and address books, 1970s-1982; 2 passports; bank passbooks

BOX 44X
Approximately 200 photographic prints. Subjects include: friends and family; self-portraits; publicity photographs; theatres; stills from plays; parties
2 reel-to-reel audio tapes

BOX 45X
Scrapbook, ca 1945-ca 1965. Approximately 60 pages, containing news cuttings; sketches; approximately 150 photographs including family portraits, holiday shots, and selfies; theatre programmes; greetings cards.

PXD 1430
7 set design drawings

POSTERS/2016/90-96
Sydney Bridge celebrations, March 19th 1932, be there! 1932. (POSTERS/2016/90)
Nimrod, Martin Sharp, 1982? (POSTERS/2016/91)
'The umbrella woman', 1987. (POSTERS/2016/92)
'Trespassers will be prosecuted', by Peter Kenna [Cleveland Playhouse], 1982. (POSTERS/2016/93)
'A hard god' by Peter Kenna [The Playhouse], [1984]. (POSTERS/2016/94)
Peter Kenna's 'Furtive love', [New Theatre], 1992. (POSTERS/2016/95)
Sydney 2000, Games of the XXVII Olympiad, live on the Seven Network, 2000. (POSTERS/2016/96)

Copyright status:: In copyright - This collection has multiple rights owners
Research & study copies allowed: Applies only to material in which the author has been deceased for more than 50 years
Rights and Restrictions Information:: No publication without prior written approval of copyright holder
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales