Stray Cats and Empty Bottles

Summary

1964 BBC production of Stray Cats and Empty Bottles by Bernard Kops, presented under the First Night banner.

Theatre play

Stray Cats and Empty Bottles by Bernard Kops [more information]

Play synopsis

This ballad-like drama centres around four homeless people attempting to survive in a scrap-heap of a shed, which is about to be demolished, in Wapping. Jack gathers up stray cats so they may be skinned; Iris collects empty bottles. The plot centres around Jack and Iris’ plan to get Newton to marry The Crazy White Lady of Wapping for money, but it emerges that she is penniless, too.

Production history

First produced in Cambridge in 1961 and revived in London in 1967, as stated by William Baker and Jeanette Roberts Shumaker in their book Bernard Kops: Fantasist, London Jew, Apocalyptic Humorist (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2014), p. 36.

Date of transmission

Saturday 11 January 1964

Time

9.45-11.00pm

Series

First Night

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

John Jacobs

Producer

John Elliot

Playwright

Bernard Kops

Composer

Larry Adler

Designer

Barry Learoyd

Script Editor

Vincent Tilsley

Cast

James Booth	Newton
Ronald Fraser	Jack
Howard Goorney	Methy Boy
Julian Holloway	Policeman
Miriam Karlin	Iris
Gerald McAllister	Methy Boy
Bryan Pringle	Methy Boy
Jack Rodney	Methy Boy
Irene Worth (1916-2002)	White Lady

Additional details

Play tags

homelessness

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 9 January 1964 (Magazine)

Linking notes

article, with image, p. 7; illustrated listing, p. 9