Berkeley Square

Berkeley Square (1926) is a play written by American playwright and screenwriter best known for his horror and fantasy scripts, John L. Balderston (1889-1954). which tells the story of a young American who is transported back to London in the time of the American Revolution and meets his ancestors. The plot is loosely based on Henry James's posthumous 1917 novel The Sense of the Past. The play premiered in London in 1926. The 1929 Broadway production was an enormous success with Leslie Howard (who also co-produced and co-directed the play with Gilbert Miller) in the role of time traveler Peter Standish and ran for 229 performances, a substantial run for its time. The play was later adapted into a 1933 film version with Howard repeating his stage role of Peter Standish, winning him an Academy Award nomination. The play was also produced for a 1959 BBC television production and the 1951 film The House in the Square (released in the United States as I'll Never Forget You).

South African productions

Presented by the University of Cape Town Dramatic Society, directed by Leonard Schach at the Little Theatre, February 1946, with Roland Pilcher, Hazel Casson, Dorothea Gibson, Joyce Grant, Zelda Marks, Leonard Schach, Mary Dean, Playton James, Diana Berliner, Charles Johnman. Set by Cecil Pym.

The play was once more produced by Leonard Schach for the Cockpit Players at the Labia Theatre in August 1950. In the cast were Hazel Casson, Edna Jacobson, Roland Pilcher, June Range, Melvin Simmers, Cecilia Sonnenberg, Jock Webster, Sydney Welch. Decor by Cecil Pym, costumes by Doreen Graves.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Square_(play).

South African Opinion, 3(1):22, 1946.

Trek, 10(16) :18, 1946.

Helikon, 2(10):65.

Inskip, 1977. p 121.

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