The Breadwinner

Summary

1960 BBC production of The Breadwinner by W. Somerset Maugham, from the BBC’s Midland television studio.

Theatre play

The Breadwinner by W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) [more information]

Play synopsis

Comedy. ‘Charles Battle has been "hammered" in the London Stock Exchange, to the point where he may be bankrupted. Maugham keeps his audience ignorant of the disaster facing Charles for much of the play, at which point we learn what the effect would be on his wife and teenage son and daughter. Charles’ good friend Alfred Granger and his wife and son and daughter, all of whom are a similar age to their Battle counterparts, fill the scenes in the Battles’ house at Golders Green in London’. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bread-Winner_(play); accessed 12 February 2014.)

Production history

First produced at the Vaudeville Theatre, London, in September 1930.

Date of transmission

Saturday 18 June 1960

Time

8.40-10.10pm

Series

Saturday Playhouse

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Harold Clayton

Playwright

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)

Sets / Settings

Charles Carroll

Cast

Heather Chasen	Dorothy Granger
Margaret Courtenay	Margery Battle
Scot Finch	Patrick Battle
Patricia Garwood	Judy Battle
William Kendall	Alfred Granger
Nigel Lambert	Timothy Granger
Lesley Nunnerley	Diana Granger
Brian Reece	Charles Battle

Additional details

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

comedy

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 10 June 1960 (Magazine)

Linking notes

article and illustrated listing on pp. 4 and 19