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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'The human and political story of the last man to be executed in Australia, Remember Ronald Ryan won the 1995 Victorian Premiers Literary Award. Dickins portrays the man behind the legend as lovable, cheeky, courageous, and wretched. This edition includes Ryan, a new monodrama spoken from Ryans perspective that speaks to a new audience from his poor and unmarked grave. (Barry Dickins)' (Publication summary)
Reading Australia
Notes
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Dedication: For Ian Grindlay
Production Details
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First produced at Playbox Theatre Centre, Melbourne, 21 September 1994.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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[Essay] : Remember Ronald Ryan
2013
single work
essay
— Appears in: Reading Australia 2013-;'‘Please admit the bearer…to the execution of Ronald Joseph Ryan, on 3rd February, 1967.’
'This invitation, received by journalists covering the last hanging in Australian history, hints at why Ronald Ryan’s story translates so well into the theatre. For the message sounds like a pass to any ordinary show. And why not? An execution is intended as a performance, an elaborate display of the state’s power over its subjects. But the ghoulish phrasing also illustrates a key theme in Barry Dickins’ Remember Ronald Ryan, in which the Ryan execution represents a bridge between two different eras. The authorities at Pentridge Prison modelled their procedures – and their invitation – on the ancient traditions of English hangmen. But in the Melbourne of 1967 those traditions seemed, like the execution itself, a grotesque legacy of an earlier age.' (Introduction)
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Last Man Hanged in Victoria
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: Tain , August-September 2004; (p. 24)
— Review of Remember Ronald Ryan 1994 single work drama -
Hoy Polloy Revisits Ronald Ryan with Dickins
2002
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 28 May 2002; (p. 4) -
Less Sympathy, More Drama and Editing Needed
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 31 May 2002; (p. 4)
— Review of Remember Ronald Ryan 1994 single work drama -
Untitled
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , April no. 28 1996; (p. 185-190)
— Review of Remember Ronald Ryan 1994 single work drama
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Last Man Hanged in Victoria
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: Tain , August-September 2004; (p. 24)
— Review of Remember Ronald Ryan 1994 single work drama -
Culminating in Death
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , February-March no. 168 1995; (p. 54-55)
— Review of Sanctuary 1994 single work drama ; Remember Ronald Ryan 1994 single work drama -
Comi-Tragic Life Explored
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 16 September 1994; (p. 7)
— Review of Remember Ronald Ryan 1994 single work drama -
A Likeable Larrikin Meets the Hangman
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 23 September 1994; (p. 17)
— Review of Remember Ronald Ryan 1994 single work drama -
Ryan's Slaughter: a Tragedy of Errors
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 2 October 1994; (p. 7)
— Review of Remember Ronald Ryan 1994 single work drama -
Hanged but Not Forgotten
1996
single work
column
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 28 May vol. 116 no. 6022 1996; (p. 88) -
Judging Drama
1996
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Eureka Street , December vol. 6 no. 10 1996; (p. 45-46) -
Ron the Bungler
1994
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Age , 17 September 1994; (p. 11) -
Ghost of Ronald Ryan Stirs Playwright's Pen
1993
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 20-21 March 1993; (p. 5) -
Hoy Polloy Revisits Ronald Ryan with Dickins
2002
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 28 May 2002; (p. 4)
Awards
- Melbourne, Victoria,