The Complaisant Lover is a 1959 comedy play by Graham Greene. Consisting of two acts, each of two scenes, the play revolves around an affair between Mary Rhodes and Clive Root, the book seller friend of her husband, Victor. The play takes place in the Rhodes family home and an Amsterdam guesthouse. [1]
The Complaisant Lover was first produced on 18 June 1959 by John Gielgud at the Globe Theatre London, where it ran for almost a year. [2] The cast included; Ralph Richardson as Victor Rhodes, Paul Scofield as Clive Root and Phyllis Calvert as Mary Rhodes. [3]
The play opened at Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theatre on 1 November 1961, directed by Glen Byam Shaw; and ran for 101 performances. [4] The cast included; Michael Redgrave as Victor Rhodes, Richard Johnson as Clive Root and Googie Withers as Mary Rhodes. [1]
On its Broadway staging, The New York Times praised the production and performances, but concluded, "In the English way "The Complaisant Lover" talks about sex without heat and outrages morality with scarcely the tinkle of a teacup. Very English- and a bit tepid." [5]
The Women is a 1936 American play, a comedy of manners by Clare Boothe Luce. The cast includes women only.
Eric Blore Sr. was an English actor and writer. His early stage career, mostly in the West End of London, centred on revue and musical comedy, but also included straight plays. He wrote sketches for and appeared in variety. In the 1930s Blore acted mostly in Broadway productions. He made his last London appearance in 1933 in the Fred Astaire hit Gay Divorce. Between 1930 and 1955 he made more than 60 Hollywood films, becoming particularly well known for playing butlers and other superior domestic servants. He retired in 1956 for health reasons, and died in Hollywood in 1959 at the age of 71.
Gay Divorce is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Dwight Taylor, adapted by Kenneth Webb and Samuel Hoffenstein. It was Fred Astaire's last Broadway show and featured the hit song "Night and Day" in which Astaire danced with co-star Claire Luce.
Gerald Robert Flood was a British actor of stage and television.
The Sleeping Prince: An Occasional Fairy Tale is a 1953 play by Terence Rattigan, conceived to coincide with the coronation of Elizabeth II in the same year. Set in London in 1911, it tells the story of Mary Morgan, a young actress, who meets and ultimately captivates Prince Charles of Carpathia, considered to be inspired by Carol II of Romania.
Richard Keith Johnson was an English actor, writer and producer, who starred in several British films of the 1960s and also had television roles and a distinguished stage career.
Five Finger Exercise is a 1962 American drama film made by Columbia Pictures, directed by Daniel Mann and produced by Frederick Brisson from a screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, based on the play by Peter Shaffer.
Pack of Lies is a 1983 play by English writer Hugh Whitemore, itself adapted from his Act of Betrayal, an episode of the BBC anthology series Play of the Month transmitted in 1971.
The Potting Shed is a 1957 play by Graham Greene in three acts. The psychological drama centers on a secret held by the Callifer family for nearly thirty years.
There's a Girl in My Soup is a stage comedy written by Terence Frisby. Set in the 1960s, it tells the story of a smooth-talking TV chef, Robert Danvers, who falls for a much younger woman, Marion. She leaves her hippy boyfriend, Jimmy, to live with Danvers, but eventually returns to Jimmy, leaving Danvers bereft.
Conduct Unbecoming is a play by Barry England. The plot concerns a scandal in a British regiment stationed in India in the 1880s.
Patricia Helen Mary Jessel was an English actress of stage, film and television.
Trelawny of the "Wells" is an 1898 comic play by Arthur Wing Pinero. It tells the story of a theatre star who attempts to give up the stage for love, but is unable to fit into conventional society.
Basil Henson was an English actor.
Minnie Rayner was a British stage and film actress. A character actress, she played working class figures, often mothers, in films of the 1930s. Her roles include the matriarch of the working-class Fulham family who takes in an exiled Russian prince as a lodger in the comedy I Lived with You (1933). The same year she played Gracie Fields's mother in This Week of Grace.
Gerald Douglas Savory was an English writer and television producer specialising in comedies.
The Philanthropist is a play by Christopher Hampton, written as a response to Molière's The Misanthrope. After opening at the Royal Court Theatre, London in August 1970, the piece, directed by Robert Kidd, transferred to the May Fair Theatre in the West End and ran there for over three years, subsequently going on a regional tour in 1974. In the meantime, the play, directed once again by Kidd, premiered on Broadway in March 1971, running till May of the same year. Kidd had previously collaborated with Hampton on When Did You Last See Your Mother? (1964), which had also been staged at the Royal Court Theatre.
The Living Room is a 1953 play by Graham Greene
Escape is a play in nine episodes by the British writer John Galsworthy. The world premiere was on August 12, 1926 at the Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End, produced by Leon M. Lion. The play ran until March of the following year, when it went on tour of England with Gerald Ames in the lead role.
All in Good Time is a comic play by Bill Naughton based on his 1961 TV play Honeymoon Postponed. Originally produced at the Mermaid Theatre in 1963 in London, it subsequently transferred to the Phoenix Theatre, and then to Broadway, where it ran for 44 performances in February and March 1965. The Broadway cast included Donald Wolfit, Marjorie Rhodes and Richard Dysart. It received Tony Award Best Actress and Best Featured Actress nominations for Marjorie Rhodes and Alexandra Berlin.
