The Dybbuk

Summary

1980 BBC production of The Dybbuk by S. Ansky.

Theatre play

The Dybbuk by S. Ansky [more information]

Play synopsis

'The story of a young bride possessed by a dybbuk—a malicious possessing spirit, believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person—on the eve of her wedding’ (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dybbuk).

Production history

'On December 9, 1920, the play opened at the Elyseum Theatre in Warsaw. A year after the Warsaw premiere the play was produced again by Maurice Schwartz in New York City’s Yiddish Art Theatre and several months later the Hebrew translation by H. N. Bialik was staged in Moscow by the Habima Theatre, under the direction of Yevgeny Vakhtangov, a protege of both Stanislavski’s and Meyerhold’s and director of the experimental "Studio One" of the Moscow Art Theatre. At that time, Habima was the Hebrew language unit of the MAT. They later emigrated to Palestine and after Israeli independence, became the state’s national theatre’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dybbuk#Production_history).

Date of transmission

Sunday 24 February 1980

Time

8.05-10.10pm

Series

Festival

Channel

BBC1

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

Jane Howell

Producer

Louis Marks

Playwright

S. Ansky

Adapted for Television by

Jane Howell

Translator

Henry G. Alsberg

Composer

Joseph Horovitz

Conductor

Joseph Horovitz

Designer

Richard Henry

Cast

Frank Baker	Chennoch
John Bennett	Messenger
Martin Benson	Rabbi Samson
Peter Benson	Berl
Gary Brown	Channon
John Burgess	Michoel
Simon Callow	Asher / Rabbi Mendel
Jeffrey Chiswick	Nisson Ben Rivke / Second Batlon / Man on Cart
Danielle Corgan	Batia
Harold Goldblatt	Azrael
Joseph Greig	Coachman
Stuart Griffiths
Louis Hammond	Menashe
Judith Harte	Hannah Esther; Pale Woman
Alfred Hoffman	Matchmaker
Leila Hoffman	Lame Woman
Caryn Hurwitz	Gittel
Leon Lissek	Third Batlon / Man on Crutches
Jack Lynn	First Batlon
Mercia Mansfield	Half-Blind Woman
Wolfe Morris	Meyer
Elizabeth Spriggs	Frade
David Swift	Sender
Clive Thomas
Gabor Vernon	Nachmon
Giselle Wolf	Leah

Additional details

Play tags

Judaism; marriage; supernatural; Yiddish drama

Audiovisual sources

Title

The Dybbuk (BBC, 1980)

Archive

BBC Information and Archives [more information]

Address

White City
London
UK

Telephone

+44 (0)20 8008 2288

Website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/informationandarchives/

Access

BBC Information and Archives is not open to the public.

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 21 February 1980 (Magazine)

Linking notes

illustrated listing, p. 30