Family Portrait

Summary

1955 BBC production for Easter Day of the biblical drama Family Portrait by Lenore Jackson Coffee and William Joyce Cowen.

Theatre play

Family Portrait by Lenore Jackson Coffee (1896-1984) and William Joyce Cowen [more information]

Play synopsis

The action takes place in Nazareth, Capernaum and Jerusalem. The playwrights are concerned with the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount and their acceptance or rejection by mankind. The play is based on verses from the New Testament.

Production history

Dated to 1939.

Date of transmission

Sunday 10 April 1955

Time

8.45-10.30pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Chloe Gibson

Playwright

William Joyce Cowen

Playwright

Lenore Jackson Coffee (1896-1984)

Designer

Stewart Marshall

Cast

Anne Allan	Naomi
Graham Ashley	Simon
James Beattie
Van Boolen	Mordecai
Stephen Boyd	Joseph
Madge Brindley
Edward Brooks	Amos
Paula Byrne	Reba
Donald Cashfield
Joyce Chancellor	Beulah
Robert Checksfield
Michael Collins	Nathan
Fay Compton	Mary
Rosalie Crutchley	Mary Magdalen
Glyn Davys	Fisherman
Richard Foat	Leban
Ann Gow
Kim Grant
Kenneth Haigh	Judah
Dafydd Havard
Marjory Hawtrey	Hepzibah
Joan Haythorne	Mary Cleophas
Christie Humphrey	Woman of Jerusalem
Stuart Hutchinson	Daniel
William Lucas	A Disciple
Jack MacGowran	Eben
Gillian Maude	Anna
Anthony Newlands	James
Dandy Nichols	Selima
Richard Price
Robert Raikes	Joshua
Leslie Sands (1921-2001)	Rabbi Samuel
John Scott
Charles Stapley	Appius Hadrian
Peter Stephens	Mendel
Sheila Stones
Peter Ventham
Michael Walker	Daniel
Juliet Winsor	Esther
Ronald Wood	Mathias

Additional details

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

biblical stories; Christianity

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 8 April 1955 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 14, with image; short article, p. 15