The Servant

Summary

1953 BBC live studio production of Marcelle Maurette’s historical drama about Joan of Arc, The Servant.

Theatre play

The Servant by Marcelle Maurette (1909-1972) [more information]

Play synopsis

A historical drama on of the life and death of Joan of Arc. ‘Marcelle-Maurette’s aim was, while leaving the mystery of her sainthood unchallenged, to recapture the real woman, the Frenchwoman, in Joan’ (H. J. Hunt, ‘Joan, Woman of France’, Radio Times, 24 June 1953, p. 14).

Production history

Presented at the Théâtre Edouard VII in Paris in February 1944.

Date of transmission

Sunday 28 June 1953

Time

8.50-10.30pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Douglas Allen

Playwright

Marcelle Maurette (1909-1972)

Designer

Barry Learoyd

Movement

Lydia Sokolova

Cast

Pamela Alan	Joan
James Beattie	Page / Tailor
Stephen Boyd
Edgar K. Bruce	Nicholas Loyseleur
Peter Copley (1915-2008)	Monseigneur Peter Cauchon
David Enders	Brother Maurice
Lee Fox	Father Richard
John Glen	Narrator
Paul Homer	Gilles de Rais
Emrys Leyshon	Duc d’Alencon
Marjorie Manning	Mother
Jonathan Meddings	Charles VII
Brian Moorehead
Conrad Phillips
Philip Ray	Father
Natasha Sokolova	A Drab
Job Stewart
Anthony Viccars	English Herald / D’Aulon
George Woodbridge
Arthur Young	Monseigneur the Grand Chancellor

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 7.15pm on Thursday 2 July 1953.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

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

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 26 June 1953 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing and article by H. J. Hunt, ‘Joan, Woman of France’, p. 14