Drame

Drame — marelibri

Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright, with Auden and Eliot a leading exponent of twentieth-century verse drama [BBC [BritishBiblio.com

Christopher Fry: BBC Schools talk on 'A Sleep of Prisoners' with reading. Copy of typescript of BBC Home Service Schools talk and reading headed 'Religion and Philosophy 9. A Play for a Church by Christopher Fry'.

réf. 22906TRANSMISSION: BBC HOME SERVICE SCHOOLS Bush House London Monday 29th June 1953: 9.40 - 10.00 a.m. Contemporary duplicated typescript from the Christopher Fry papers. 14pp 8vo. Each page on a separate leaf. In fair condition lightly aged. Fry's introductory talk is present in its entirety on pp.1-5 this is followed by an unpaginated page then pp.8-15 with p.10 also unpaginated. Hence p.6 or p.7 beginning the extracts from the play would appear to be absent. On the front page between the heading and transmission details is: 'Rehearsal: Thursday 4th June 1953: 10.00 onwards Recording: Thursday 4th June 1953: 12.15 - 1.00 p.m. 3A Recording of Insert: BLANK'. Fry's talk - apparently unpublished astute and all the more revealing because addressed to a younger audience - is preceded by 'ANNOUNCER: This is the BBC Home Service for Schools. Religion and Philosophy. Today Christopher Fry speaks about his play "A Sleep of Prisoners". Mr. Fry.' Fry begins his talk: 'It's interesting - at least it's interesting to me - what apparently accidental things go to the making of a play. I always begin by feeling it's very improbable that I shall ever write anything. My mind is a vacuum: and then nature abhorring they tell me a vacuum starts to fill it up: very slowly usually; one little thing at a time; memories I had forgotten I possessed: a chance remark from somebody: all sorts of quite trivial things in my life gather together fal into line as though they had always meant to and gradually something which might be said to resemble a play shapes itself in my head. Which shows perhaps that nothing that ever happens to you is unimportant.' He proceeds to describe the 'things' that happened to allow him to publish 'A Sleep of Prisoners' with reference to: the 1951 Festival of Britain; Michael MacOwan; Oliver Cromwell; Fry's move during the war to a cottage in Oxfordshire. He describes his sudden suggestion to 'Mr. MacOwen': 'I should like the action of the play to be the dreams of the prisoners. Each man would dream in turn and would dream of himself and the other men. Naturally each man's opinion of himself and of the others would be different: no two people have exactly the same opinion of you or of me; and so in this way if we had four prisoners each actor would have four versions of himself to act each character would be seen from four different points of view. Tea-time came to an end Mr. MacOwen had to leave and that was as far as we had got.' He describes how a few weeks later on a single day he developed 'the whole story of the play'. He gives his assessments of the four characters and describes the a section of the plot before announcing in the final paragraph: 'The actors are going to play part of this dream for you. The character of Absolom remember is David's dream picture of Peter Peter with all his infuriating qualities uppermost.' He continues his explanation at one point stating: 'I have tried in this dream to mix the waking and sleeping world together. . So to us the audience Meadows is awake and to David he is a figure in a dream. Now let us go into the dream. Absalom has been mocking his father from down in the shadows and now David begins to speak.' The nine-page reading from 'the dream' follows and by reference to Fry's introduction together with the text of the whole poem it should be possible to establish what if any part is lacking. TRANSMISSION: BBC HOME SERVICE (SCHOOLS) [Bush House, London] | Monday 29th June 1953: 9.40 - 10.00 a.m. unknown

Richard M. Ford Ltd · Royaume-Uni220,00 £GB≈ 262,76 €

Sir Arnold Wesker (1932-2016), playwright and author [Aubrey Hodes, Israeli author; Centre 42; New Wave; Kitchen Sink Drama; AngBiblio.com

Sir Arnold Wesker playwright. Two Typed Letters Signed both 'Arnold Wesker' to Israeli author Aubrey Hodes regarding his touring festival Centre 42 the English attitude to 'culture outside the commercial framework' and Israeli arts funding.

réf. 2204420 Fitzroy Square London N1. 17 October 1962. Both 1p 4to and in good condition lightly aged and folded once. Both letters addressed to Hodes at Beit Rosenberg Keron Heyesod Street Herzlia-on-Sea Israel. The subject of the letters is Centre 42 the touring arts group Wesker formed to bring culture to the masses on his release from prison following a sentence for civil disobedience with the Committee of 100 in opposition to nuclear weapons. The group moved to the Roundhouse in London in 1964. The first letter begins: 'Emersed as I have been in the festivals I have only just got around to answering your letter and I find in it that you ask me to send some material to a friend in Ramat Chem. I am afraid it is too late to send him material now as he has probably returned. I am sorry about this but I hope that the enclosed material will give some indication of the scope of the festivals.' The first three festivals have been 'mounted with varying success but the project as a whole has gained a great deal of public attention though not always sympathy. There is something inherent in the English personality that considers culture outside the commercial framework to be an enfringement of a basic democratic principle.' He concludes: 'Plenty of Israeli theatres appear to have wanted my plays – none of them have yet done so. sic God knows why.' The second letter is on Centre 42's stylish letterhead in grey and red and begins with reference to a meeting between the two men in Israel and 'Megged's book' a copy of which he has received from the publisher Gollancz. 'Concerning Centre 42 I have sent all the information about us to Dov Vardi and I understand he is going to write about us'. Wesker is sending 'a set of literature' to Hodes adding: 'However it strikes me as very strange that anyone in Israel should be interested in this sort of movement since as far as I understand the Histadruth spends over a million pounds on the Arts and cultural activity in Israel and this is what we dream of happening here in England. … We even quote Israel as an example of the situation we should like to see.' 20 Fitzroy Square, London, N1. 17 October 1962. unknown

Richard M. Ford Ltd · Royaume-Uni220,00 £GB≈ 262,76 €