SCREEN PLAYS
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Arthur Miller on the small screen 2: Granada productions in the late 1950s
Arthur Miller’s (1915-2005) American tragedies have not only proved to be extremely popular on both British professional and amateur stages for more than half a century but they have also enjoyed a longstanding place at the heart of English literature curricula in schools. It is not surprising, therefore, to discover that at least twelve productions of his plays have been transmitted on British television networks over a forty-year period from 1957 to 1997. This second in a series of four posts looks at Granada’s productions of Miller’s plays in the late 1950s. In its second year of broadcasting Granada mounted Death of a Salesman (the subject of my last blog post); this was soon followed by productions of All My Sons, A Memory of Two Mondays and The Crucible, all of which were British television premieres. Continue reading
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Our second BFI Southbank season begins on Monday 25 March with a screening of Granada’s 1965 adaptation of Women Beware Women. This will be followed by a discussion with Dame Diana Rigg (who plays Bianca in the production) and Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company Gregory Doran (a few tickets are still available). Following on from Amanda Wrigley’s selection of Greek tragedy on the small screen last June, the six programmes feature Jacobean tragedy made for television (although strictly speaking Hamlet at Elsinore is after a play written in the final years of Elizabeth I). Over the next month or so (the season runs until 29 April) I will be writing about each of the productions and also hoping to prompt thoughts and responses from those who attend the screenings. Continue reading
Screen Plays is delighted to announce a second BFI Southbank season that follows on from our successful ‘Greek tragedy on the small screen’ series last year. The new season, which runs from 25 March to 29 April, highlights television adaptations of Jacobean tragedy. Curated by John Wyver, it features productions based on plays by Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, John Ford and John Webster, as well as a rare showing of Hamlet at Elsinore (1964), a remarkable version of Shakespeare’s revenge tragedy. Continue reading
Arthur Miller’s (1915-2005) American tragedies have not only proved to be extremely popular on both British professional and amateur stages for more than half a century but they have also enjoyed a longstanding place at the heart of English literature curricula in schools. It is not surprising, therefore, to discover that at least twelve productions of his plays have been transmitted on British television networks over a forty-year period from 1957 to 1997. This first in a series of four posts considers the three known productions of Death of a Salesman: a 1957 Play of the Week production by Granada for ITV; a BBC Play of the Month production in 1966; and, finally, David Thacker’s five-part production for BBC Schools in 1996. Continue reading
BFI Southbank screened the hour-long BBC adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s early play Baal a month or so before Christmas. Viewing this 1982 production on that occasion I marvelled that anything so bleak, austere and radical could possibly have been screened at 9.25pm on a Tuesday evening on BBC1. Originally shown under the title David Bowie in Baal, the adaptation (which can be found in full on YouTube) also has a newly topical sense this week with the news that the star will in March release The Next Day, his first studio album for a decade. Continue reading
Tonight I was back at BFI Southbank for a showing of a 1961 Hamlet made for schools television by Associated Rediffusion. Until some two years ago this was thought lost, but a print was among those discovered by archivists at the Library of Congress. It would be pleasing to report that a masterpiece has been restored to us, but such critical honesty as I own to forces me to acknowledge that the production really is not very good. Continue reading
