The Dark Lady of the Sonnets

Summary: This BBC Sunday-Night Theatre production of Bernard Shaw’s The Dark Lady of the Sonnets immediately preceded a transmission of part of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre’s production of The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Theatre play: The Dark Lady of the Sonnets by [George] Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) [more information]
Play synopsis: This playlet, set in London around 1600, involves ‘an imaginary adventure between William Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth. Will goes to the palace to meet the Dark Lady to whom he addressed his sonnets of love, only to find instead the Queen herself taking a walk before retiring. He is so fascinated by her [...] that he does not notice the approach of the Dark Lady, who is furiously jealous and gives them both a drubbing in the dark. Both poet and prince meet in agreement that man does not live by bread alone’ (source: http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/3058/dark-lady-of-the-sonnets-the-shaw).
Production history: First presented at His Majesty’s Theatre, Haymarket, London, 24 November 1910; written to raise funds for the establishment of a National Theatre.
Date of transmission: Sunday 2 October 1955
Time: 8.30pm (30 mins)
Series: Sunday-Night Theatre
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

Producer

Douglas Allen

Playwright

[George] Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Designer

Reece Pemberton

Cast

Play tags: 16th-century setting; poetry and literature, as theme; royalty; theatre or acting, as theme

Title: The Dark Lady of the Sonnets (BBC, 1955)
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Title: Radio Times, 30 September 1955 (Magazine)
Linking notes: illustrated listing and article on pp. 14 and 15 respectively

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