The exhilaration caused by the success in 1955 of Ray Lawler'sSummer of the Seventeenth Dollgalvanised a host of new Australian playwrights. This collection features some of the best examples that sprang up in its wake. Together these plays mark a journey towards a recognisably Australian rhythmic form and a more poetic, visceral drama characteristic of the theatre that was to come later in the century. The Multi-Coloured UmbrellabyBarbara Vernontells the story of an upwardly mobile family who are bookmakers at Randwick Racecourse, and was significant in the origins of Australian realist drama. It premiered in 1957 and was broadcast by ABC TV in January 1958. The Slaughter of St Teresa's DaybyPeter Kennaintroduces the first of Kenna's Irish-Australian matriarchs, Oola Maguire. Image in the Clayby David Irelandblends realism and poetry in a stark portrait of a rural Aboriginal family. The Life of the Partyby Ray Mathew draws a desperate portrait of post-war urban sophisticates trapped in the shadow of the Cold War.