The Dark Is Light Enough is a 1954 verse play by Christopher Fry, which he wrote for Dame Edith Evans and set during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. [1] [2] It is formally a comedy, but Fry subtitled the play 'A Winter Comedy' to signal its tragic qualities.
The play, directed by Peter Brook, premiered at the Aldwych Theatre in London, UK, in May 1954. [3]
The extended preview season started on Broadway at the ANTA Playhouse on 23 February 1955 and closed on 23 April 1955, after a total of 69 performances. It was directed by Guthrie McClintic. [4]
A 90-minute BBC TV version was broadcast in January 1958, starring Edith Evans as the Countess and Peter Wyngarde as Richard Gettner. It was directed by Stuart Burge. [5]
Dame Edith Mary Evans, was an English actress. She was best known for her work on the stage, but also appeared in films at the beginning and towards the end of her career. Between 1964 and 1968, she was nominated for three Academy Awards.
Christopher Ryan is a British actor best known for his roles as Mike The Cool Person in the BBC comedy series The Young Ones, Dave Hedgehog in the BBC comedy series Bottom, Tony Driscoll in the BBC comedy series Only Fools and Horses, and as Edina Monsoon's ex-husband Marshall Turtle in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. He has also appeared as the McKendrick twins in One Foot in the Grave, and played Sontaran General Staal in Doctor Who in 2008.
Hay Fever is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1924. Its first production was in the West End in 1925 with Marie Tempest as Judith Bliss. A cross between high farce and a comedy of manners, the play is set in an English country house in the 1920s, and deals with the four eccentric members of the Bliss family and their outlandish behaviour when they each invite a guest to spend the weekend. The self-centred behaviour of the hosts finally drives their guests to flee while the Blisses are so engaged in a family row that they do not notice their guests' furtive departure.
Christopher Fry was an English poet and playwright. He is best known for his verse dramas, especially The Lady's Not for Burning, which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s.
Hugh Emrys Griffith was a Welsh actor. Described by BFI Screenonline as a "wild-eyed, formidable character player", Griffith appeared in over 100 theatre, film, and television productions in a career that spanned over 40 years. He was the second-ever Welsh-born actor to win an Academy Award, winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in Ben-Hur (1959), with an additional nomination for Tom Jones (1963).
James Donald was a Scottish actor. Tall and thin, he specialised in playing authority figures, particularly military doctors.
Michael Roy Kitchen is an English actor and television producer, best known for his starring role as Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle in the ITV drama Foyle's War, which comprised eight series between 2002 and 2015. He also played the role of Bill Tanner in two James Bond films opposite Pierce Brosnan, and that of John Farrow in BBC Four's comedy series Brian Pern.
The Lark is a 1952 play about Joan of Arc by the French playwright Jean Anouilh.. It was first presented at the Théâtre Montparnasse, Paris in October 1953. Translated into English by Christopher Fry in 1955, it was then adapted by Lillian Hellman for the Broadway production in the same year.
Marian Winters was an American dramatist and actress of stage, film, and television.
Jane Elizabeth Marie Lapotaire is an English actress.
The Madwoman of Chaillot is a 1969 American satirical film made by Commonwealth United Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. It was directed by Bryan Forbes and produced by Ely A. Landau with Anthony B. Unger as associate producer. The screenplay was by Edward Anhalt, based on The Madwoman of Chaillot, Maurice Valency's adaption of La Folle de Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux. The music score was by Michael J. Lewis and the cinematography by Burnett Guffey and Claude Renoir. It was shot at the Victorine Studios in Nice and on location in Paris. The film's sets were designed by the art director Ray Simm.
William John Phillips MC was an English actor. He is known for the role of Chief Superintendent Robins in the television series Z-Cars and for his work as a Shakespearean stage actor.
Privates on Parade: A Play with Songs in Two Acts is a 1977 farce by English playwright Peter Nichols, with music by Denis King. The drama draws upon Nichols' own experiences in the real-life Combined Services Entertainment, the postwar successor to ENSA, Entertainments National Service Association. The play is noteworthy for, inter alia, a series of musical numbers, performed by the male lead, parodying the style of such performers as Noël Coward, Marlene Dietrich and Carmen Miranda.
Arthur Michael Shepley-Smith, known professionally as Michael Shepley, was a British actor, appearing in theatre, film and some television between 1929 and 1961.
Frederick Leister, was an English actor. He began his career in musical comedy and after serving in the First World War he played character roles in modern West End plays and in classic drama. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1922 and 1961.
St Helena: a play in twelve scenes is a play by the English author R. C. Sherriff and Jeanne de Casalis. It deals with the exile of Napoleon I on Saint Helena. In a production by Henry Cass, it premiered at the Old Vic on 4 February 1936 to poor reviews, but was rescued by a letter to The Times by Winston Churchill, calling it "a remarkable play" and "a work of art of a very high order"; though a West End transfer also proved unsuccessful.
The Chiltern Hundreds is a 1947 English-language stage comedy by William Douglas-Home, which ran for 651 performances at London's Vaudeville Theatre. It was adapted as a film in 1949, under the same title. Revivals of the play have included a 1999 production, also at the Vaudeville, starring Edward Fox.
A Phoenix Too Frequent is a one-act stage comedy in blank verse by Christopher Fry, originally produced at the Mercury Theatre, London in 1946. It has been adapted for television numerous times, in Britain and other countries, but has been less frequently revived in the theatre.
Waters of the Moon is a 1951 stage play by N. C. Hunter which originally ran for two years at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 1951 to 1953. It was adapted into a 1961 TV play broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. This version was directed by Christopher Muir. In 1977 it was revived at the Theatre Royal Haymarket with Ingrid Bergman as Helen Lancaster and Wendy Hiller, who had appeared in the original 1951 production, now playing the role of Mrs. Whyte.
A Sleep of Prisoners is a 1951 verse play by Christopher Fry. It concerns four English prisoners of war locked up in a church overnight, and the Old Testament style dreams they have springing from an argument between them.
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