The Seas Between is a 1946 Australian radio play by Phillip Grenville Mann which starred Peter Finch. Mann was a former naval officer and the play had autobiographical elements.
"The story dramatises the problem of post-war marriage as it affects a young naval man and the girl he wants to marry. Stephen had dropped a promising musical career to join the Navy. Stella is in doubt about Stephen's ability to resume civilian life with a reasonable chance of success. The theme reflects a situation that has confronted many young people over the past few months. Unusual treatment has been applied. Much of the action occurs aboard a corvette, with intermittent scenes from Stella's home, where her mother foolishly attempts to rush the daughter into marriage."
Mann was a naval officer who wrote the play over several months in late 1945 while serving on a boat in Morotai Harbour and the Celebes on HMAS Wilcannia. He had seen war service on the corvette HMAS Ararat.
The play won a 1946 playwriting competition held by Lux Radio Theatre, winning over 1,140 entries. Frank Clelow of the ABC, one of the judges, said "the winning drama was written against a background with which the author was obviously well acquainted and, for that reason, had great fidelity of actual occurrence... the author had made excellent dramatic use of his knowledge.â Another judge, George Edwards, said the "play had been constructed for radio by someone wi:h a knowledge of radio technique. Atmosphere was well sustained throughout to a most unusual climax.â (Second price was Small Town by Kathleen Carroll.)
Lux presented the play in 1946 with Peter Finch and Joan Lord.
The Herald said "At last a real radio play written, acted and produced to suit the medium of the microphone!... The scenes on the corvette were made realistic by the sounds heard, and brought . the thrilling action against the submarine vividly to fireside listeners."
The Sun said it was "Intelligently written, capably produced and sensitively portrayed by a first-rate cast."