Crime Passionnel

Summary

1949 BBC live studio production of Jean-Paul Sartre’s political drama Les Mains sales, under the title Crime Passionnel.

Theatre play

Les Mains sales by Jean-Paul Sartre [more information]

Play synopsis

'A political drama set in the fictional country of Illyria between 1943 and 1945, the story is about the assassination of a leading politician. The story is told mainly in the form of a flashback, with the killer describing how he carried out his mission. The killer’s identity is established from the beginning, but the question is whether his motivations were political or personal. Thus, the play’s main theme is not on who did it but on why it was done.' Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Hands.

Production history

First performed 2 April 1948 at the Theatre Antoine, Paris; performed later in the year at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.

Date of transmission

Sunday 12 June 1949

Time

8.30-10.00pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

George More O’Ferrall (1907-1982)

Playwright

Jean-Paul Sartre

Translator

Kitty Black

Sets / Settings

Barry Learoyd

Cast

Robert Berkeley	Leon
Bryan Coleman	Charles
Rosalie Crutchley	Olga
Charles Farrell	Slick
Adrian Frere	Frantz
Michael Gough	Hugo
Dulcie Gray	Jessica
Danny Green	Georges
André Morell	Hoederer
Olaf Olsen	Prince Paul
William Sherwood	Karsky
Richard Warner	Louis

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 8.30pm on Thursday 16 June 1949.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

crime; murder; politics; Second World War, as theme or setting; wartime, as theme or setting

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 10 June 1949 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing and photograph, p. 30; article by Lionel Hale, ‘Sartre’s Political Melodrama’, p. 29; brief article, p. 28