Tobias and the Angel

Summary

1938 BBC studio production of Tobias and the Angel by James Bridie.

Theatre play

Tobias and the Angel by James Bridie (1888-1951) [more information]

Play synopsis

Comedy. ‘Tobias is the son of Tobit, a blind old Jewish beggar who lives in a hovel in Nineveh with his wife Anna. The disguised archangel Raphael, who has been hospitably received by Tobit, volunteers to accompany Tobias on a journey to Media. They stop in Ecbatana at the home of Sarah, whom Tobias marries despite a warning that seven previous bridegrooms were murdered by the demon Asmoday (Asmodeus). After driving off this menace, Raphael escorts the couple to Nineveh, where he cures Tobit’s blindness. Raphael then reveals himself as the mighty Archangel and disappears.'
(http://www.4-wall.com/authors/authors_b/bridie/tobias_angels.htm; accessed 10 January 2014)

Production history

First performed in Cambridge in November 1930.

Date of transmission

Sunday 1 May 1938

Time

9.20pm (80 mins)

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Moultrie R. Kelsall (1901-1980)

Playwright

James Bridie (1888-1951)

Cast

Frederick Bennett	Tobias
Jean Cadell	Anna
Morland Graham	Tobit
Tyrone Guthrie	Archangel Raphael
Joan White	Sara

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 3.30pm on Friday 6 May 1938.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

comedy; Scottish drama

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 29 April 1938 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 18

Title

Televised Drama:Tobias and the Angel (Newspaper review)

Reference

The Times, 9 May 1938, p. 21

Notes

'Two scenes stood out specially well in this version, the opening scene at Tobit’s house at Nineveh and the scene on the banks of the Tigris when Tobias catches his fish. It seems that the television screen can give us the intimate atmosphere of an interior or the illusion of being in the open air more successfully than the theatre can... The charm of the simple setting of this scene, with the half-silhouetted figures showing up against the river, suggests that there is quite a future for designing television scenery.'