No Time for Comedy

Summary: 1954 BBC production of No Time for Comedy by S. N. Behrman.
Theatre play: No Time for Comedy by S. N. [Samuel Nathaniel] Behrman (1893-1973) [more information]
Play synopsis: The play is ‘drawn in the shape of a triangle. A writer of expert comedy, married to an actress who appears in his plays, has fallen into the hands of a meddlesome woman who specializes in bringing out the latent possibilities of clever young men. She persuades him that this is no time for comedy; she purrs him into writing something about immortality with a few topical echoes of the Spanish revolt. But his wife is still in love with him, and sufficiently realistic to distinguish between philandering and profundity. All Mr. Behrman sets out to do, as a writer of comedy, is to resolve the triangle into the shape of the usual drawing-room conversation with the usual turns of phrase and plot circumlocutions.' Source: http://www.snbehrman.com/productions/plays/reviews/NTC1_times.htm.
Production history: 'S. N. Behrman’s play opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on April 17, 1939 and ran for 179 performances. The cast included Laurence Olivier as Gaylord Esterbrook and Katharine Cornell as Linda Paige, and was directed by Cornell’s husband Guthrie McClintic.' Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Time_for_Comedy.
Date of transmission: Sunday 25 April 1954
Time: 8.40-10.10pm
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

Producer

Leonard Brett

Playwright

S. N. [Samuel Nathaniel] Behrman (1893-1973)

Sets / Settings

Richard R. Greenhough

Cast

Extant status: No archival copy is known to exist.
Play tags: comedy; poetry and literature, as theme; theatre or acting, as theme

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British Universities Film & Video Council