Two-Headed Eagle


Two Headed Eagle is a 1960 Australian television play directed by William Sterling and starring Margo Lee. It was based on a play by Jean Cocteau which had been first presented on the London stage in 1946. The adaptation was by Alan Seymour who wrote a number of TV plays around this time. The play had been produced with Tallulah Bankhead.

Premise

In a fictitious European country, a Queen has been mourning her dead husband for the ten years since he was assassinated. A peasant-poet assassin, Stanislas, sets out to kill her. He is unable to do so after she greets him calmly and he winds up falling for the Queen, which costs him his life.

Cast

Costumes were by John Peters. The production was shot in Melbourne in 1960 though not broadcast in Sydney until the following year. It featured a 15 minute speech by Margo Lee.

Reception

The Age said it was a "personal triumph" for Lee.
The TV critic for The Sydney Morning Herald praised Margo Lee's performance but thought the play "could have been more effective if there had been a little more care in the production. The camera work relied too much on ordinary close and long shots; there was nothing much, in this respect, to enliven proceedings during the queen's long vocal cadenza; and the quality of the sound-reproduction was variable."