Special Providence

Summary

1954 BBC live studio production of Armand Salacrou’s World War Two drama, Special Providence, set in Le Havre.

Theatre play

Special Providence by Armand Salacrou (1899-1989) [more information]

Play synopsis

'Set in a bombed house in Le Havre in the autumn of 1944. The war is still going on up North. But the Germans have left the city, and the inhabitants are slowly trickling back. Among the first to arrive is Aziza Mathieu, a widow whose hus- band was tortured and shot by the Gestapo. With her come her two children and her grandmother, an old lady of ninety-five, who lives almost entirely in the past. To keep her grandmother company Aziza invites to the house an old refugee, Armand Germain. At first he seems innocuous. But, as the cleverly constructed story unfolds, the mystery of her husband’s death and the true nature of the other characters are slowly revealed to Aziza through the old man’s gossip.' (Source: Basil Bartlett, ‘A grim family play’, Radio Times, 28 May 1954, p. 24.)

Production history

Stage premiere information to be added.

Date of transmission

Tuesday 1 June 1954

Time

8.20-9.50pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

Campbell Logan

Producer

Campbell Logan

Playwright

Armand Salacrou (1899-1989)

Translator

Basil Bartlett

Sets / Settings

Frederick Knapman

Cast

Michael Aldridge	Michel Doublet
Jill Dixon	Thérèse
Barbara Everest	Mathilde Campion
Walter Fitzgerald	Armand Germain
Kenneth Hyde	Dr Louis Gros
Ray Jackson	Maurice
Harry Lane	Officer
Margaret Rawlings (1906-1996)	Aziza Mathieu
Robert Rietty	Léon Bonnet

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

France, as theme or setting; French drama; Second World War, as theme or setting

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 28 May 1954 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing and article by Basil Bartlett, ‘A Grim Family Play’, p. 26