The Hasty Heart

Summary: from the BBC studios in Scotland.
Theatre play: The Hasty Heart by John Patrick [more information]
Play synopsis: Set in the convalescent hut of an Army hospital on the Assam-Burma front in World War II, where the inmates are a broad international mix. Sergeant Lachlen McLachlen - who, unlike everyone else, does not know that he has only six weeks to live - is allocated to this congenial ‘ward’.
Production history: 'Written in 1944 and first staged on January 3, 1945 with Richard Basehart and Anne Burr and Earl Jones as Basuto, The Hasty Heart grew out of the playwright’s experiences in an ambulance unit on the Burma front in World War II. The play was made into a movie in 1949 (with Richard Todd and Ronald Reagan) and was revived on Broadway in 1984’ (source: http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1345).
Date of transmission: Sunday 17 September 1961
Time: 7.55-9.25pm
Series: Sunday-Night Play
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

Producer

Finlay J. Macdonald

Playwright

John Patrick

Designer

Douglas Duncan

Cast

Extant status: No archival copy is known to exist.
Play tags: Burma, as theme or setting; comedy; India, as theme or setting; Second World War, as theme or setting; wartime, as theme or setting

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