The Member of the Wedding [excerpt]

Summary

BBC presentation of an excerpt from a special performance of Carson McCullers’ The Member of the Wedding, staged before an invited audience at the Royal Court Theatre, London.

Theatre play

The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers [more information]

Play synopsis

The action takes place in a backyard and a kitchen in a small town in Georgia, August 1945. It focuses on the sense of not belonging felt by Frankie, a motherless adolescent girl who struggles with her appearance and sense of self, and Berenice, a middle-aged and incredibly lonely black woman who, as the family’s maid, comforts Frankie in her troubles.

Production history

McCullers published the story as a novel in 1946 and adapted the novel for a Broadway production in 1950. There was a film version in 1952 and a stage musical in 1971.

Date of transmission

Monday 18 February 1957

Time

8.00pm

Series

Theatre Night

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

Tony Richardson

Television Presentation by

Noble Wilson

Playwright

Carson McCullers

Sets / Settings

Alan Tagg

Cast

Ann Dickens	Schoolgirl
James Dyrenforth	Royal Addams
John Hall	John Henry West
Neville Jacobson	Soldier
Errol John	Honey Camden Brown
Orlando Martins	T. T. Williams
Geraldine McEwan	Frankie Addams
Garry Nesbitt	Barney McKean
Dudy Nimmo	Doris
Richard Pasco (1926-)	Jarvis
Bertice Reading	Berenice Sadie Brown
Greta Watson	Janice
Susan Westerby	Helen Fletcher

Additional details

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

adolescence; American drama; race relations

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 15 February 1957 (Magazine)

Linking notes

pp. 4 and 15

Title

Royal Court Theatre: The Member of the Wedding (Newspaper review)

Reference

The Times, 6 February 1957, p. 3

Linking notes

This is a review of the theatre production from which the televised extract came, not the televised extract itself.