AustLit

Described as an Irish play.

''Rhapsody had for its locale the parlour of an inn at Nirlitz, a village on the road to Berlin, and was set In the spring of 1841. It dealt with an incident In the life of Franz Liszt, the composer, and the story was neatly unfolded and the atmosphere cleverly suggested it was probable' ('One-Act Plays,' p.20).

'The plot concerns an excommunicated Spanish noblewoman whom jealousy and the promise that she will be welcomed back to the bosom of Mother Church, causes to betray her heretic lover. But before they come to take him away she has learned that her jealousy was unwarranted, and they flee together. The author represents the working of the woman's agonised conscience by introducing the symbolic figure of a stranger, a forgiven Judas Iscariot, who shows her that there are other ways than that of the betrayer of entering the ' many mansions' of the Kingdom of Heaven' ('Little Theatre,' p.20).

'A party of tourists are being, shown through Edinburgh Castle when a tale told by the guide, coupled with the music of a spinet, recreates in the mind of one of them an episode of the past, in which she fancies herself to be taking part. After the due interval of dimmed lights and rippling music this episode comes on the stage. After an other similar interval the dreamer returns to the present' ('Polygon.' 'Two Local Plays,' p.15).

The fantasy story revolves around Mary Queen of Scotts and her infant son (later King James I of England). The title of the refers to the Queen's four maids-in-waiting who are all named Marie.

'Any one who has had the courage to dig deep into the mysteries of amateur theatricals, knows only too well what joys, cares, and sorrows they involve...'

Written by Phyllis Tweedie (aged 14), this lengthy article provides some behind the scenes insight into the staging of amateur theatre in the Murchison and Pilbarra region of Western Australia during the mid-1920s. Tweedie spends much of the article recalling a production of Monsieur Beaucaire.