Othello

Synopsis

First full-length radio production of Shakespeare’s tragedy by the BBC. Adapted for broadcasting in eight scenes by E. A. Harding and produced by Val Gielgud. This special studio performance includes Henry Ainley (Othello), Peggy Ashcroft (Desdemona) and John Gielgud (Iago).

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Medium

Radio

Transmission details

13 Mar 1932 at 16:20 (Channel: BBC National Programme)

Duration

90 (approximately)

Availability

No copy extant

Credits

Producer

Val Gielgud

Writer

William Shakespeare

Adaptor for Radio

E. A. Harding

Cast

Henry Ainley	Othello
Peggy Ashcroft	Desdemona
John Gielgud	Iago
Gwendolen Evans	Emilia
Andrew Churchman
Arthur Goullet
Franklyn Bellamy
Harman Grisewood
Leslie French	Roderigo
Rudolph de Cordova
Stanley Vine

Additional Details

Production type

Television and Radio Drama

Plays

Othello

Subjects

Drama

Keywords

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

Notes

According to The Times, the sound effects were produced in seven separate studios (14 March 1932, p. 12).

General

Recollecting the circumstances of producing this play in his book on British Radio Drama 1922-1956, Val Gielgud describes how "the importance of reasonable proximity to the microphone was so lost on Henry Ainley that it was necessary to station a couple of Effects boys, one at each elbow, to lead him back into position whenever he moved to address an imaginary auditorium from an imagined stage at lest as large as Drury Lane" (London: George G. Harrap, 1957, p. 123).

History

A serious overrun in the transmission time meant that the popular Joan and Betty’s Bible Story in the ‘Children’s Hour’ slot had to be cancelled.

Textual information

In a Radio Times article on the ‘Broadcast of Othello’ , the decision to abridge the play to 90 minutes is justified with the observation that ‘Othello can well stand "cutting"; it contains a fair amount of padding and some of the worst verse of Shakespeare ever perpetrated" (19 February 1932, p. 432).

Reviews

The Times devoted a full review to this broadcast (14 March 1932, p.12). The reviewer, critical of the success of the production as a whole, nevertheless comments that "To hear Mr. Ainley say: - O Desdemona! Desdemona! Dead! ... is to discover, as one might not on the stage, new subtlety and new emotion in the dying fall of the human voice."
Source: BBC Programme Records 1929-1932, The Times.

Production Company

Name

BBC

Notes

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)