The Lovebirds [excerpt]

Summary

BBC presentation of a 35-minute excerpt from Basil Thomas’ farce The Lovebirds, a special performance from the Adelphi Theatre, London.

Theatre play

The Lovebirds by Basil Thomas [more information]

Play synopsis

The Lovebirds is a farce in which a widow and a widower starting married life again whilst lodging with her family. The jealous spirit of her first husband has passed into a budgerigar which goes on to frighten all members of the family, leading to amusing complications.

Production history

http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsT/thomas-basil.html states that the premiere took place in Stratford-upon-Avon on 5 February 1957.

Date of transmission

Tuesday 4 June 1957

Time

8.10pm

Series

Theatre Night

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

Wallace Douglas

Television Presentation by

Michael Henderson

Playwright

Basil Thomas

Sets / Settings

Paul Mayo

Cast

Juliet Aubrey	Fay Sellars
Dorothy Blythe	Auntie Dollie
Dora Bryan	Julie Skidmore
Julian d’Albie	Doctor Vincent
Douglas Hayes	Cecil Gibson
Billie Hill	Helen Sellars
John Scott	Victor Sellars
James Sharkey	Ben Green
Ronald Shiner	Bertie Skidmore

Additional details

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

farce; supernatural

Print sources

Title

Adelphi Theatre: The Lovebirds (Newspaper review)

Reference

The Times, 22 April 1957, p. 10

Linking notes

n.b. a review of the stage production, not the excerpt shown on television

Title

Radio Times, 31 May 1957 (Magazine)

Linking notes

p. 15, article with photograph