The Workhouse Ward

Summary

Live BBC production of Lady Gregory’s comedy The Workhouse Ward, performed by the Irish Players, the touring company of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, which was founded c. 1908 by Lady Gregory and W. B. Yeats.

Theatre play

The Workhouse Ward by [Lady] Augusta Gregory (1852-1932) [more information]

Play synopsis

A one-act comedy: ‘Two paupers, Mike MacInerney and Michael Miskell, both confined to their adjacent beds in a hospital ward, are bitter enemies. However when the sister of Mike MacInerney arrives and offers to take him home to work on her farm, he suggests she bring the other Michael also, as they never synchronise their periods of illness, thus she would always have an able hand. She refuses to take the two, and Mike MacInerney insists on staying with his "companion". As soon as her back is turned to go out the door, they begin their bitter arguments once again’ (source: http://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=2203).

Production history

First performed in 1908. The Radio Times, 25 December 1936, p. 62 states that ‘The Workhouse Ward was one of the most famous of the plays that Lady Gregory wrote for the Irish National Theatre, of which she was one of the founders and inspirers. It has been revived many times at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and it was produced in London at the Little Theatre in April 1935, with Fred O’Donovan as Mike Mclnerny, the part he will play today’.

Date of transmission

Monday 28 December 1936

Time

3.04pm (19 mins)

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Theatre company

Irish Players

Credits

Producer

George More O’Ferrall (1907-1982)

Playwright

[Lady] Augusta Gregory (1852-1932)

Cast

Kathleen Drago (?-1938)	Mrs Donohoe
Fred O’Donovan (1889-1952)	Michael Miskell
Tony Quinn	Mike MacInerny

Additional details

Later transmissions

Repeated live at 9.03-9.22pm on Monday 28 December 1936; broadcast again at 3.01pm and 9.18pm on Saturday 9 January 1937 (with Fred O’Donovan and Jack Bland); and on Tuesday 17 August at 9pm (both later times with Sara Allgood instead of Kathleen Drago), and again at 3pm on Friday 31 December 1937 with Fred O’Donovan and Harry Hutchinson.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

comedy; Irish drama

Print sources

Title

BBC Programme Records: 1936 (Book)

Reference

London: British Broadcasting Corporation

Linking notes

listing on p. 290

Title

BBC Television Programme Records: vol. 1, 1937-38 (Book)

Reference

London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1938

Linking notes

listing on p. 3

Title

Radio Times, 1 January 1937 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 63

Title

Radio Times, 19 March 1937 (Magazine)

Linking notes

image across pp. 4-5 in ‘The Televising of Drama’, an article by George More O’Ferrall

Title

Radio Times, 25 December 1936 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing on p. 62

Title

Televised Drama: The Tragic Muse (Newspaper review)

Reference

The Times, 3 January 1938, p. 19

Linking notes

review of 31 December presentation