The well-made play

[Stanley Stewart]

Serendipity provided the basis for a most enjoyable session of sheer reflection prompted by the discovery of an off-air video of The Corn is Green (1945), a Hollywood version of Emlyn Williams' 1938 play which became an international success with Sybil Thorndyke as the feisty schoolteacher, Miss Moffat, in a small mining Welsh community who took a promising youngster under her wing and persisted until he won a place at Oxford. The parallel was the young Williams encouraged by his teacher, Miss Cooke, who became his mentor and life-long friend. Dame Sybil reprised her role and as a youth in the mid 40s, I sat enthralled as I heard the play in Saturday Night Theatre - Home Service? At the time, I was beginning to grasp the craft of narrative and construction which came under the heading of the well-made play. The plot also had a beginning, a middle and an end with cleverly plotted curtain lines to end each act.

Circa 1946, I remember the frisson of the curtain line at the end of Act 1, in a pre-London tour of Rattigan's "The Winslow Boy" when the QC, indeed, played by Mr Williams, after a ferocious interrogation of a schoolboy wrongly accused of stealing a postal order (remember those? ) turns to the family solicitor and tells him to send the papers to his Chambers. "You mean you are taking the case?". "Of course, the boy is plainly innocent" - a quick curtain line with such an impact that the audience cheered to the rafters. In the 1948 film version, Robert Donat defined the role of the QC and his resonant declamation of "Let Right Be Done" in the House of Commons also stirred cinema audiences.

JB Priestley was another practioner of the well-made play and his clever manipulation of the time theory is seen at its best in "Dangerous Corner" (1932) which enjoyed regular revivals in
20th century theatre. The play is set in real time and each curtain line is repeated at the beginning of the next act.

Bette Davis also brought star quality and sharp intelligence to her performance of Miss Moffat in the Warner Bros version of "The Corn is Green" and the script was respected with the presence of a fine Welsh actor, Rhys Williams, as Technical Advisor, alongside a role. Perhaps a few minor Hollywood aberrations which amused rather than irritated.

I enjoy contemporary theatre and the changed style of performance demanded by more intimate auditoria (?) but still heartened to see the craftsmanship of an earlier era.

[french frank]

Yes, and as with classical music, there is the whole 'archive' of theatre going back over the centuries. I have the feeling that it's not so much the changes in contemporary theatre which lead to 'plays', their performances and the craft being forgotten. It's also 'written-for-television drama' that largely took over from 'plays'. An 'episode' might be an hour long, part of a six-part serial or a series. No doubt it requires its own skills, but it's what television makes possible that results in TV drama being different. And no doubt that's why, though 'drama' is very popular on television, plays had largely gone out of fashion (bit of a revival lately, do I gather?).

[Stanley Stewart]

Yes, perhaps I sensed a restlessness viz the TV adaptation of, say, An Inspector Calls, which could restore the popularity of the crafted, well-made play, yet absorbing the techniques now available in their presentation. I do recall the popularity of 'a good story' which frequently arose in post-performance discussions during my years in rep, 60s.

[Ferretfancy]

Yes, perhaps I sensed a restlessness viz the TV adaptation of, say, An Inspector Calls, which could restore the popularity of the crafted, well-made play, yet absorbing the techniques now available in their presentation. I do recall the popularity of 'a good story' which frequently arose in post-performance discussions during my years in rep, 60s.

I go far enough back to be able to remember the days when the BBC did TV Outside Broadcasts of plays from West End theatres. Managements usually saw television as a threat, but seemed to think that if they allowed just one act to be broadcast it might attract audiences to see the rest in the theatre. Radio plays employing well known stage performers were usually back announced 'Emily Fosdyke is now appearing in"Where's the Money? at Wyndhams Theatre.' or whatever.

The problem remains that the big difference in acting style between the stage and the screen, with the sometimes excessive voice projection involved in the theatre can be very uncomfortable listening, but it would certainly be better dealt with today than it was back in the 1950s.

A few weeks ago I went to Zeffirelli's Cinema in Ambleside to see a live performance of the RSC in HenryV, and I have to say I found it very convincing, all of its three and a half hours.

Excellent direction, with first class acting, photography and sound meant that the large cinema screen appeared almost as a proscenium, making us part of the Stratford audience,especially in the more intimate scenes such as the night before the battle. I was initially sceptical but soon won over.

As for well made plays, the sort that were usually on at the Haymarket Theatre, well, there were some good ones, but many more were dull ways to spend an evening. I see that Enid Bagnold's The Chalk Garden is due for a West End revival. A truly terrible play which once caused shock in the audience when a character referred to "the old bugger upstairs"it's difficult to imagine it returning as a success.

One sad fact is that there is a whole library of historic theatre which deserves revival if only because there are whole generations who have never seen Shaw, Ibsen or Checkhov, and plays like these are simply not seen on television either. I would love to see the BBC trying harder to bring some classics to the public. It's nice to see that the Shakespeare history plays will be on the screen soon.

[french frank]

One sad fact is that there is a whole library of historic theatre which deserves revival if only because there are whole generations who have never seen Shaw, Ibsen or Checkhov, and plays like these are simply not seen on television either. I would love to see the BBC trying harder to bring some classics to the public. It's nice to see that the Shakespeare history plays will be on the screen soon.

We (that is on various messageboards/forums) have expressed theopinion that it would be good to hear the classics on Radio 3 if the BBC has no thought of putting them on television. Even if they copied the Opera Live format to bring live theatre to the small screen, it could only be a drop in the ocean considering the amount of theatre around.

We are having Harriet Walter 'curating' a Harriet Walter season (I presume with HW appearing in various plays, including Pinter). Why not seasons of Shaw, Chekhov, Ibsen &c? Not so many years ago, Radio 3 was still doing some rattling good productions.

[Mary Chambers]

I was a great fan of Emlyn Williams when I was a young teenager. I had seen The Corn is Green, and an amateur (but very good) production of Night Must Fall. I wrote to him and he sent me a hand-written reply, so I was even more of a fan then.

I was also very keen on Shaw from a young age, and read all his plays - my Penguin (?) editions of Plays Pleasant and Plays Unpleasant almost fell apart from frequent reading. We did Saint Joan at school, and I know other schools did it, too. I often wonder why they are done so little now, but I think they may be considered too wordy for today's audiences.

I know Shaw wasn't mentioned by Stanley, but Ferretfancy (extraordinary name!) brought up the subject.

[aeolium]

I'm very keen on drama but not particularly on the theatre, which is perhaps a bit of a paradox. I think broadcasting drama in the media of radio, TV and film did an incalculable service to the quality of acting to drag it away from the histrionic and the stentorian as these forms required much greater subtlety of intonation and expression, and I still find on my occasional visits to the theatre (or live cinema broadcasts of stage plays) that acting often appears over-emphasised or exaggerated compared with that on screen or radio productions. I've never seen a live Shakespeare production on stage which stood up to the best of radio productions (and the very good Hollow Crown BBC Richard II brought out the qualities of screen, not stage acting).

[Stanley Stewart]

Almost pixilated by so many stimulating responses. I'd be glad to know if the short Sunday night season of plays and novel adaptations attracted good viewing figures. Didn't the hugely popular Forsyte Saga take root with a 7.25pm Sunday, BBC1, start in the mid 60s?

Delighted by ferretfancy's mention of the OB broadcasts; Brian Rix and the Whitehall farces - no holds barred playing and seen on fuzzy monochrome from the Upper Circle. Even with the addition of digital technology, it would still be OTT! However, the rules of the game have considerably changed. I've recently viewed Rattigan's Deep Blue Sea, arguably his best play (1952) with the splendid Penelope Wilton in the role of Hester Collyer and the same cast which played at the Almeida Theatre, Islington, and tweaked for TV. It remains an absorbing experience, although recorded in 1994 - I've just checked. And it must be 10 years since the Scottish National Theatre production of Black Watch was filmed at the Edinburgh Festival and provides a stunning experience. Today's actors have adapted to the individual nuances of playing within the procenium arch, or the demands of a more intimate setting. Surely the Arts Council and TV pundits could liaise on such a paramount issue by merging live theatre and subsequent TV adaptation. A good all-round deal.

GB Shaw, Mary. Pygmalion always brings 'em in, although I've only played in You Never Can Tell and Mrs Warren's Profession. Good houses for both and Shaw is a delight to play but, if you go off text, even for an indefinite article, a warning bell always goes off in the head.

Can't agree on Enid Bagnold's The Chalk Garden, Ferretfancy. A delicious stylish study with Edith Evans in her prime and swooping voice, - "I'm never at my best talking through mahogany and Peggy Ashcroft heart-rending as a governess convicted of murder having to face a house guest, a Judge, who convicted her many years earlier, but the tepid film adaptation had Deborah Kerr rather lame in the Ashcroft role. Strongly recommend EB's astute Biography (sic) (1970, Wm Heinemann).