British Universities Film & Video Council

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream [excerpt]

Summary
1957 BBC production of a 15-minute excerpt from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Theatre Flash series, presented directly from the stage of the Old Vic Theatre.
Theatre play
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare [more information]
Date of transmission
Tuesday 31 December 1957
Time
8.15pm-8.30pm
Series
Theatre Flash
Channel
BBC Television
Production company
BBC

Credits

Director
Michael Benthall
Television Presentation by
Derek Burrell-Davis
Playwright
William Shakespeare
Cast
Jean AtkinsonFourth Fairy
Gillian BosworthCobweb
Juliet CookeSecond Fairy
James CullifordSnug
Paul DanemanQuince
Judi DenchFirst Fairy
Derek FrancisSnout
Ronald FraserFlute
Valerie GibsonMustardseed
Frankie HowerdBottom
Nancy KwanThird Fairy
Stella OrtonMoth
Joyce RedmanTitania
Keith TaylorPuck
Daniel ThorndikeStarveling
Bridget WoodPeaseblossom

Additional details

Origination
Live from theatre
Extant status
No archival copy is known to exist.
Play tags
children’s drama; Elizabethan drama; Greece, as theme or setting; marriage; supernatural; theatre or acting, as theme

Print sources

Title
Old Vic: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Newspaper review)
Reference
The Times, 24 December 1957, p. 3
Linking notes
n.b. this is a review of the stage production, not the televised excerpt.
Title
Radio Times, 27 December 1957 (Magazine)
Linking notes
listing and photographs on p. 10

Record Stats

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