Cornerstone (play)

Cornerstone is a 1956 Australian play by Gwen Meredith.

It was highly commended in a 1955 competition from the Playwrights' Advisory Board (the one won by The Torrents and Summer of the Seventeenth Doll).

Production history
The play was produced at Sydney's Independent Theatre in a production sponsored by the Elizabethan Theatre Trust. It was then produced in Brisbane. This was rare for an Australian play in the 1950s.

Reception
The Bulletin called it "an efficient, almost photographic account of the everyday tragedy of the daughter who has sacrificed her chances of marriage in order to look after her mother... The characters are recognisable types, the dialogue fluent, and all the surface-values of the situation are presented in a simple and straightforward manner, so that the final impression is that of a sad story ably told."

Radio adaptation
The play was adapted for radio in 1956.

Cast

 * Mary Disney as Catherine Andrews
 * Moira Carleton as Granny Andrews
 * John Morgan as Bryce Ansett
 * Williams Lloyd as Arthur
 * Bettv Randall as Helen
 * Madge Ryan as Grace
 * Rosyln Winter as Sue
 * Marcella Burgoyne as Nan
 * Harry Starling as David

Premise
Catherine, a single woman in her forties, looks after her widowed mother. Her ex-boyfriend Bryce comes back into her life, a widower, and he proposes. Catherine accepts but the rest of her family refuses to take their mother. Bryce must leave for overseas without her.