Conflict at Kalanadi

Summary: 1960 studio recording of Arthur Swinson’s wartime drama, Conflict at Kalanadi, produced in the BBC’s West of England studio.
Theatre play: Conflict at Kalanadi by Arthur Swinson [more information]
Play synopsis: 'After months of quiet in an excitable city somewhere in the Middle East there is a sudden outbreak of violence. The mob storms the British Bank, attacks the railway station, cuts off communications with the outside world, and threatens still more trouble. But is this a "riot" or a national "insurrection"? This is the problem that faces Brigadier Guy Ruddock, for on his interpretation of the situation depends the degree of force that the army is permitted to use in order to quell the disturbance’ (Radio Times, 8 January 1960, p. 19).
Production history: Performed at The Leatherhead Theatre, 7 September 1959 by the Leatherhead Repertory Company.
Date of transmission: Saturday 16 January 1960
Time: 8.40-10.10pm
Series: Saturday Playhouse
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

Producer

Brandon Acton-Bond

Writer

Arthur Swinson

Designer

Desmond Chinn

Cast

Origination: Recorded in studio
Vision original: Monochrome
Extant status: No archival copy is known to exist.
Play tags: Middle East, as theme or setting; military / army / navy / air-force

Title: Television: Worse Confounded (Magazine review)
Author/creator: Peter Forster (Author)
Reference: The Spectator, 22 January 1960, p. 18
Notes: 'The Amritsar-like theme supposed a British Brigadier who orders his troops to fire on the mob in an Eastern town, and is subsequently recalled. No fewer than 253 people are said to have been killed, and 500 wounded, which seems a very handsome testimony to the effectiveness of the five soldiers we saw, bunched together to keep in camera, firing away rather languidly with revolvers and sten guns while papier mache stones bounced daintily off their helmets.'

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