Troilus and Cressida

Summary

1954 live BBC studio production of Shakespeare’s tragi-comedy Troilus and Cressida.

Theatre play

Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare [more information]

Play synopsis

'Troilus and Cressida is set during the later years of the Trojan War, faithfully following the plotline of the Iliad from Achilles’ refusal to participate in battle to Hector’s death. Essentially, two plots are followed in this play. In one, Troilus, a Trojan prince (son of Priam), woos Cressida, another Trojan. They have sex, professing their undying love, before Cressida is exchanged for a Trojan prisoner of war. As he attempts to visit her in the Greek camp, Troilus glimpses Diomedes flirting with his beloved Cressida, and decides to avenge her perfidy... The majority of the play revolves around the leaders of the Greek and Trojan forces, Agamemnon and Priam respectively. Agamemnon and his cohorts attempt to get the proud Achilles to return to battle and face Hector, who sends the Greeks a letter telling them of his willingness to engage in one-on-one combat with a Greek soldier. Ajax is originally chosen as this combatant, but makes peace with Hector before they are able to fight. Achilles is prompted to return to battle only after his friend and (according to some of the Greeks) lover, Patroclus, is killed by Hector before the Trojan walls. A series of skirmishes conclude the play, during which Achilles catches Hector and has the Myrmidons kill him. The conquest of Troy is left unfinished, as the Trojans learn of the death of their beloved hero.' (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troilus_and_Cressida; accessed 3 May 2015.)

Production history

Believed to have been written in 1602.

Date of transmission

Sunday 19 September 1954

Time

8.25-10.45pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producers

Douglas Allen, George H. W. Rylands

Playwright

William Shakespeare

Designer

Michael Yates

Fight Arranger

Victor Adams

Cast

Jill Balcon	Cassandra
Timothy Bateson	Calchas / Alexander
Michael Brennan	Ajax
Leo Ciceri	Patroclus
James Culliford	Servant to Troilus
Robert Delkyrke
Donald Eccles	Priam
John Fraser	Troilus
Paul Hansard	Aeneas
Ivan Hiller
Paul Homer	Helenus / Margareleon
Walter Hudd	Ulysses
Robert Hunter
Ken James
Simon Lack	Paris
Oswald Lawrence
Andrew Leigh	Nestor
Victor Lucas	Diomedes
Cavan Malone	Servant to Paris
Arthur Mason
Desmond Montgomery
Joseph O’Conor	Agamemnon
Frank Pettingell	Pandarus
Rex Robinson
Jeff Shane
Helen Shingler	Helen
William Squire	Hector
Geoffrey Toone	Achilles
John Vere	Menelaus
Mary Watson	Cressida
Richard Wordsworth	Thersites

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 8.45pm on Thursday 23 September 1954.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

ancient Greece; Elizabethan drama; Greek myth; wartime, as theme or setting

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 17 September 1954 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 14; article by George Rylands, ‘The Death of Chivalry’, p. 4