Naked Possum

Naked Possum is a 1956 Australian play by Barbara Vernon. It was her first play performed in Sydney and is one of the few Australian plays to examine the Malayan Emergency.

Reception

described it as "something of a damp squib."
The Sydney Morning Herald called it "ripe old melodrama" with "stale situations and limping cliches... The first act is merely dull and commonplace... But as soon as the distraught lady... arrives the atmosphere becomes clammy with potentialities."
However The Bulletin said "it has a remarkably attractive set.. and a most impressive performance by Owen Weingott, while the plot has sufficient intricacy and suspense to keep one guessing."

Premise

During the Malayan Emergency, Australian troops looking for Communists arrive at a temple in the jungle. They meet the widow of a murdered planter who tries to seduce the soldiers.

Original cast

Margaret Roberts as the widow
Owen Weingott as the captain
Jerold Wells as the sergeant
Derek Stanley as the lieutenant