Anna Christie

Summary

1957 Associated Television production for ITV of Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie, described by the TV Times as a H. M. Tennent Globe Production.

Theatre play

Anna Christie by Eugene O’Neill [more information]

Play synopsis

'Anna Christie is the story of a former prostitute who falls in love, but runs into difficulty in turning her life around.' Anna hasn’t seen her father, a coal-barge captain, since she was five. They meet at a bar and she returns to the coal-barge with him. The crew rescues some men who were shipwrecked, and Anna falls in love with one of them, Mat. She tells the truth about her life: how she was raped and then became a prostitite. After much discussion, Anna forgives her father for not being part of her childhood and Mat accepts her former life as a prostitute. Chris and Mat promise to return to Anna after a sea-voyage to South Africa. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Christie.

Production history

'O’Neill’s first version of this play, begun in January 1919, was titled Chris Christopherson and performed as Chris in out-of-town tryouts. O’Neill revised it radically, changing the barge captain’s daughter Anna from a pure woman needing to be protected into a prostitute who finds reformation and love from life on the sea. The new version, now titled Anna Christie, had its premiere on Broadway at the Vanderbilt Theatre on 2 November 1921, and ran for 177 performances before closing in April 1923. O’Neill received the 1922 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for this work.' Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Christie.

Date of transmission

Thursday 29 August 1957

Time

9.15-10.15pm

Series

Television Playhouse

Channel

ITV

Production company

Associated Television (ATV, 1955-1982)

Credits

Director

Philip Saville

Producer

Philip Saville

Playwright

Eugene O’Neill

Adapted for Television by

Philip Saville

Sets / Settings

Paul Mayo

Cast

Van Boolen	unnamed part
Roland Brand	unnamed part
Diane Cilento	Anna Christopherson
Sean Connery	Mat Burke
Carl Conway	unnamed part
Basil Couloloas	unnamed part
Renée Houston	Marthy
Leo McKern	Chris Christopherson
Leon Stork	unnamed part
Julian Strange	unnamed part
Jerold Wells	Larry

Additional details

Play tags

American drama; nautical theme; prostitution; sea-faring; sexual violence

Audiovisual sources

Title

Anna Christie (ITV, 1957)

Print sources

Title

TV Times, 23 August 1957 (Magazine)

Linking notes

article, pp. 6-7, listing p. 29