The Cardinals’ Collation

Summary

1938 BBC Television studio production of The Cardinals’ Collation, H. A. Saintsbury’s free adaptation of Júlio Dantas’ Portuguese play A Ceia dos cardeis.

Theatre play

A Ceia dos cardeis by Júlio Dantas (1876-1962) [more information]

Play synopsis

Set in the Vatican at Rome, during the Pontificate of Benedict the Fourteenth, 1740-1758.

Production history

Originally written in Portuguese. First performed in Lisbon in 1902, and first performed in England in a Green Room Rag at the Globe Theatre in February 1926. H. A. Saintsbury’s ‘freely adapted’ translation was published in London by Cecil Palmer, 1926.

Date of transmission

Friday 10 June 1938

Time

3.30-4.00pm (30 mins)

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

George More O’Ferrall (1907-1982)

Playwright

Júlio Dantas (1876-1962)

Adapted for Television by

H. A. Saintsbury (1869-1939)

Cast

H. A. Saintsbury (1869-1939)
Robert Speaight
Francis L. Sullivan

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 9.45pm on Tuesday 14 June 1938.

Notes

Radio Times announced the second presentation of drama on 14 June for 8.40pm but because of the cancellation of a boxing match transmission was delayed until 9.45pm (source: ‘Foord-Phillips Fight Postponed’, The Times, 14 June 1938, p. 16).

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

18th-century setting; historical drama; Portuguese drama; Vatican, as theme or setting

Print sources

Title

Broadcasting: The First Test Match (Newspaper listing)

Reference

The Times, 10 June 1938, p. 7

Title

Radio Times, 3 June 1938 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 20