Ordeal by Fire

Summary

1957 BBC production of Ordeal by Fire by Herman Closson.

Theatre play

Ordeal by Fire [L’Épreuve du feu] by Herman Closson [more information]

Play synopsis

Three-act play dealing with the period immediately following the execution of Joan of Arc, when a number of French women claimed to be the reincarnation of her. One of these women, a professional soldier who bears a striking resemblance to her, is persuaded to pass herself off as the martyr returned, and the plot that follows is full of tension.

Production history

Dated to 1944.

Date of transmission

Thursday 31 October 1957

Time

8.02-9.30pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Rudolph Cartier

Playwright

Herman Closson

Translator

E. J. King Bull

Cast

Reginald Barratt	Gervais
Brenda Bennett	Jacquotte
Jessica Cairns	Agnes Sorel
Beatrice Campbell	Martine
Robert Eddison	King Charles VII
William Fox	Maitre Jean Lombard
Michael Hawkins	Mirecourt
Graham Leaman	A Chamberlain
John Longden	De La Fayette
John McCarthy	Ferreol
Alan [or Allan] McClelland	Boissacq
Ronald Radd	Robechon
Christopher Rhodes	La Coulterie
Elizabeth Sellars	Françoise de Gaillemarde
Julian Sherrier	Buquet
Patrick Troughton	La Hire
André Van Gyseghem	Marquis de Saint-Avare
Peter Wyngarde	Jerome Taillard

Additional details

Notes

This programme is described in the Radio Times as a ‘play for television’ but it is attributed to the playwright Herman Closson, who wrote it for the stage in 1944.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

15th-century setting; Belgian drama; France, as theme or setting; historical drama

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 25 October 1957 (Magazine)

Linking notes

article, p. 6; listing, p. 23