In Search of Happiness

Summary

Granada Television production for ITV of In Search of Happiness, an English version of Viktor Rozov’s V poiskakh radosti.

Theatre play

In Search of Happiness [V poiskakh radosti] by Viktor Rozov [more information]

Play synopsis

'The story of a crowded day in the life of a modern Russian family - a day in which a young girl falls in love, a black marketeer is trapped by the police, and a few hasty words spark off a teenage rebellion. Romance and comedy are blended in this warmly human play’ (TV Times, 15 January 1960, p. 29).

Production history

First staged at the Moscow Central Children’s Theatre in 1957.

Date of transmission

Tuesday 19 January 1960

Time

9.35-11.05pm

Channel

ITV

Production company

Granada Television (1956-)

Credits

Director

Herbert Wise

Playwright

Viktor Rozov

Adaptor of Script

Gerald Savory (1909-1996)

Translator

Nina Froud (from Russian to English)

Designer

Paul Bernard

Cast

Mary Barclay	Taisia Nikolaevna
Judy Bloom	Fira Kantorovich
Donald Bradley	Nikolai
Kenneth Cope	Gennady
Joanna Dunham	Vera Tretyakova
Paul Endersby	Uncle Vasya
David Graham	Leonid
Irene Hamilton	Marina
Dilys Hamlett	Lena
Elspeth March	Klavdia Vasilyevna Savina
Jayne Muir	Tanya
Richard Palmer	Oleg
Wensley Pithey	Lapshin
William Squire	Fyodor

Additional details

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

adolescence; comedy; Russian drama

Print sources

Title

Plays for the Millions: The First 75. A Cross Index of Granada TV Play Productions (Book)

Reference

Published by Granada TV Network, 1960

Title

TV Times, 15 January 1960 (Magazine)

Linking notes

articles, pp. 6 and 7; listing, p. 29