Every Good Boy Deserves Favour

Every Good Boy Deserves Favour is a stage play by Tom Stoppard with music by André Previn. It was first performed in 1977 at the Royal Festival Hall with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by André Previn. The play criticises the Soviet practice of treating political dissidence as a form of mental illness. Its title derives from the popular mnemonic used by music students to remember the notes on the lines of the treble clef. The cast comprises six actors, but also a full orchestra, which not only provides music throughout the play but also forms an essential part of the action. A chamber-orchestra version exists. The play is dedicated to Viktor Fainberg and Vladimir Bukovsky, two Soviet dissidents expelled to the West.

Performance history in South Africa
1986: Directed by Dawn Lindberg for PACT in 1986, with Danny Keogh, Michael McCabe, Michael Richard, and Lynne White. It won the Vita Award for best production.

1987: Presented by the Loft Theatre Company and the National Philharmonic Orchestra at The Opera, directed by Stephen Coan, conducted by Graham Scott, from 16 to 18 January 1987 starring Nicholas Ellenbogen, Roger Dwyer, Stephen Gurney, Lynn Ellis, Charles Kinsman, Chris Boyder and Judy Broderick. Designs by Lisa del Monte.

1988: Directed by Fred Abrahamse at the Baxter Theatre (first performance 4 April 1988), starring Ralph Lawson, Roger Dwyer, James McCullagh, Russel Savadier Brenda Wood and Colin Duell. The Cape Town Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Terence Kern. Design and lighting by Brian Collins.

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