They Came to a City

They Came to a City is a play by J.B. Priestley (1894-1984). Published in Four Plays, Heinemann, 1944. (Contents: Music at Night; The Long Mirror; They Came to a City; Desert Highway.)

Performance history in South Africa

1944: Produced by Minna Schneier for New Theatre at the Library Theatre, Johannesburg, in 1944, featuring Doreen Hamshaw, Sydney Witkin, Shirley Hepburn, Anita Colman and others. Set designed by Ernest Ullman.

1944: Produced by Minna Millstein for the UCT Dramatic Society, 1944, featuring Mary Dean, Richard Buncher, Diana Rimer, Rowland Pilcher, Anthony Robinson, Pietro Nolte, Bronwen Mears, Dorothea Gibson. Set by Basil Warner.

June 26 - 28, 1947: The Walmer Club (Port Elizabeth) staged the play at the Walmer Town Hall. Produced by Elaine Tasker who also starred as "Alice Foster". Other actors included Jimmy Tasker as "Joe Dinmore," Dick Hidden as "Fred Cudworth," Mrs H S Exley as "Mrs Batley," Patricia Boswell as "?," Denniss Ruck as "her hen-pecked husband," and Elizabeth Holliday as "Lady Loxfield," Renee Benjamin as "Phillipa," and F N Ward-Able as "Sir George Gedney". BM Woods and J Heath were responsible for the setting and decor.

Sources

South African Opinion, 1(6):23; 1(7):20, 1944.

Trek, 9(3):18; 9(5):18, 1944.

Saturday Post, June 21, 1947.

Saturday Post, June 28, 1947.

Inskip, 1972.

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