Eighty in the Shade [excerpt]

Summary

BBC presentation of a 45-minute excerpt from London’s Globe Theatre production of Eighty in the Shade, a play written by Clemence Dane especially for Sybil Thorndike.

Theatre play

Eighty in the Shade by Clemence Dane (1888-1965) [more information]

Play synopsis

Written by Clemence Dane especially for Sybil Thorndike. Thorndike’s role was that of Dame Sophia, a tyrannical elderly actor who appears happy on the surface but who has suffered an illness and is at the mercy of her dominating, unhappy daughter Blanche.

Production history

World premiere, in Newcastle on 24 November 1958, according to The Times, 16 October 1958, p. 4.

Date of transmission

Thursday 29 January 1959

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

Lionel Harris

Television Presentation by

John Vernon

Playwright

Clemence Dane (1888-1965)

Sets / Settings

Tom Lingwood

Cast

Lewis Casson	Sir Horace Darke
Robert Flemyng	Kevin Carrell
Valerie Taylor	Blanche Carrell
Sybil Thorndike	Dame Sophia Carrell
Ann Walford	Goody

Additional details

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

ageing; theatre or acting, as theme

Print sources

Title

A Bravura Part for Dame Sybil: Eighty in the Shade (Newspaper review)

Author/creator

Philip Hope-Wallace (Reviewer)

Reference

The Manchester Guardian, 10 January 1959, p. 2

Linking notes

n.b. this is a review of the stage production, not the televised excerpt.

Title

Radio Times, 23 January 1959 (Magazine)

Linking notes

article, p. 4; listing, p. 19