The Time Is Not Yet Ripe (1912)

by Louis Esson

A political comedy in the Shavian style (4 acts, 13 men, 5 women).

Genres: Plays

97 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1912

About the author

Thomas Louis Buvelot Esson was born in Scotland but grew up in Australia. After graduating from the University of Melbourne around the year 1900, Esson worked as a journalist and as a playwright. Australian plays were still largely disregarded by the cultural establishment, who preferred British and American fare.

Esson attempted to change this disregard with his company, the Pioneer Players, during the 1920s. The company was unfortunately a failure, and Esson's work has largely been forgotten, although his political satire "The Time is Not Yet Ripe" has been revived in recent years.

Esson died in 1943 without achieving his goal of developing a "national theatre" in Australia. However his plays and letters were published by admirers in the years after his death. In the 1950s, state theatre companies would be developed across Australia and Australian theatre would finally receive its due.