Stephen D

Summary

1963 BBC production of Hugh Leonard’s play Stephen D, an adaptation of James Joyce’s novels Stephen Hero and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. This television production is based substantially on the St Martin’s Theatre, London production which opened in February 1963. The Radio Times listing reads ‘for Gemini Productions, The Dublin Theatre Festival, and Bridge Productions Ltd, in association with Peter Katz and Greville Pake’ (24 October 1963, p. 39).

Theatre play

Stephen D by Hugh Leonard (1926-2009) [more information]

Play synopsis

This play is drawn from James Joyce’s novels Stephen Hero and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Stephen is James Joyce, and he ‘tells the story of his Dublin childhood and youth, ending with his once-for-all departure at twenty-two in two autobiographical novels. [...] The play iss by no means a formal record of Joyce’s Dublin life; he himself omitted many important events including the death of his mother. Rather, it is an "adventure of the spirit", tracing Joyce’s successive rejections of the values with which he had been brought up’ (Radio Times, 24 OCtober 1963, p. 37).

Production history

Stephen D was first presented at the Gate Theatre, Dublin on 24 September 1962 and subsequently at the St Martin’s Theatre, London, on 12 February 1963.

Date of transmission

Wednesday 30 October 1963

Time

9.10-10.15pm

Series

Festival

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Directors

Jim Fitzgerald ('original stage production by’), Anthony Page

Producer

Sydney Newman (1917-1997)

Playwright

Hugh Leonard (1926-2009)

Original Book by

James Joyce (1882-1941)

Composer

Richard Rodney Bennett

Conductor

John Hollingsworth

Singer

Rhona Woodcock

Designer

Robert Fuest

Telerecording Editor

Richard Barclay

Cast

Loretta Clark	Whore
Eileen Colgan	Whore
Elizabeth Davis	Whore
John Dunn-Hill	McCann
Ruth Durley	Mrs Dedalus
Maggie FitzGerald	Isobel
Kevin Flood	Mr Dedalus
Geoffrey Gilbert	Boy
Colin Goldring	Boy
Stewart Goldring	Boy
Kim Goodman	Stephen as a Boy
Tony Hayes	Athy
Joan Hurt	Whore
Marie Kean	Dante
David Blake Kelly	Mr Casey / Director of the College
Hugh Leonard (1926-2009)	Crony
Cliff Lown	Boy
Christopher Matthews	Stephen as a Youth
Kevin McHugh	Brother Michael / Davin
T. P. McKenna	Cranly
Joseph O’Connor (1916-2001)	Father Arnall
Desmond Perry	Father Dolan / Confessor
Derry Power	Johnny Cashman / Maurice
Dominic Roche	Uncle Charles / President of the University
Norman Rodway	Stephen Dedalus
Dennis Russo	Boy
Jacqueline Ryan	Emma
Gerry Sullivan	Temple
Brian Waldron	Dixon
Rhona Woodcock	Whore

Additional details

Origination

Recorded in studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Repeated on BBC2 at 9.35pm on 28 December 1963.

Play tags

adaptation of novel; Irish drama; Republic of Ireland, as theme or setting

Audiovisual sources

Title

Stephen D

Archive

BBC Information and Archives [more information]

Address

White City
London
UK

Telephone

+44 (0)20 8008 2288

Website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/informationandarchives/

Access

BBC Information and Archives is not open to the public.

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 24 October 1963 (Magazine)

Linking notes

article, with image, p. 37; listing, p. 39