Cema

Alternative title: C.E.M.A.
Synopsis: A documentary about the precursor to the Arts Council, the wartime Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), featuring an introduction by education minister R A Butler, an art exhibition in a factory and live music and theatre performances in various English locations.

One sequence shows a view of Burnley, in Lancashire and a shot of a poster advertising a play by William Shakespeare performed by the Old Vic Company. Inside the local theatre, a female stage director supervises a line rehearsal by the actresses playing the parts of Mistress Ford and Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor whilst carpenters and stage hands prepare the set. The actor playing Sir John Falstaff rehearses a scene with Mistress Ford, fluffs one of his lines and calls for the female prompter to correct him. As the two actors continue rehearsing their lines, stagehands are seen backstage sorting out the curtains and moving stage props. A woman cleaning and polishing the seats in the stalls pauses from her work to look at a scene in which Falstaff cosies up to Mistress Page, at which point a boy actor steps forward to announce that Mistress Page has arrived. The director interrupts the boy and comes up on stage to give him some direction. The cleaning woman watches this going on and then continues her cleaning and polishing. An unseen stage manager’s voice calls out, "OK. Right through, please!" [With acknowledgement to the cataloguers of the Imperial War Museum, Film and Television Archive for the synopsis].
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Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Film
Technical information: Black-and-white / Sound
Year of release: 1942
Subjects: Drama
Keywords: propaganda; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Rehearsals

Cema

Credits

Production Company

Strand Film Company

Sponsor

Ministry of Information

Archive

BFI National Archive

Imperial War Museum, Film and Video Archive

Record Stats

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