The White Carnation

The White Carnation is a 1953 play by English playwright R. C. Sherriff. Its premiere production had a cast led by Ralph Richardson, but it was not revived until a 2013 Finborough Theatre production featuring Aden Gillett and Benjamin Whitrow.[1]

For the television episode of this title, see Climax!.
The White Carnation
Written byR.C. Sheriff
Date premiered1953
Original languageEnglish

In 2014, the play was performed at the Jermyn Street Theatre [2]

Plot

John Greenwood says goodbye to the guests from he and his wife's Christmas Eve, but a gust of wind shuts the front door and leaves him locked out of his own house. He breaks a window to gain entry and finds the house ruined and deserted. A policeman questions him what he is doing in the house, all of whose inhabitants were killed by a V-1 flying bomb during a Christmas Eve party in 1944, but Greenwood indignantly insists that he is in his own house. A coroner and doctor are summoned and inform Greenwood that he was one of the inhabitants killed and that he has returned to the house as a ghost - and that is now 1951.

Greenwood is visited by Lydia Truscott, niece of the town clerk, who agrees to help him in his attempts at self-education and returning to the spirit-world. He also meets with a welcome from the local vicar Mr Pendlebury and his next door neighbour Mrs Carter, but also has to deal with the coroner and the Home Office, who are determined to move Greenwood out, knock the house down and build new flats on the site.

As the house's demolition begins, Greenwood finally vanishes and in a final scene re-runs his last Christmas Eve party, reconciling with his wife, whom during his haunting he had realised that he had emotionally ill-treated during his lifetime.

Critical reaction

Writing in The Sunday Times, the critic Harold Hobson called the original production of the play "extremely and touchingly human".[3] Of the revival Dominic Cavendish writing in the Telegraph observed, "what a neglected little treasure it proves: not life-changing, maybe, but life-affirming".[3] However, writing in The Guardian, Michael Billington called the play "passably entertaining, but much of its feels like quilted padding."[4]

1963 Australian TV version
The White Carnation
Advertisement from The Age 1 May 1963
Directed byChristopher Muir
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
Production
Running time60 mins[5]
Production companyAustralian Broadcasting Commission
Release
Original release1 May 1963 (Melbourne, live)[6]
29 May 1963[7]

The play was adapted for Australian TV in 1963 directed by Christopher Muir.[8] Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.[9]

Plot

A group of ghosts gather to re-enact the time they were killed by a bomb.

Cast
  • Michael Duffield as John Greenwood the ghost
  • Stewart Weller
  • Neville Thurgood
  • Roly Barlee
  • Barbara Brandon
  • Margaret Cruikshank
  • Brian Gilmar
  • Edward Hepple
  • Jane Oehr as Lydia
  • Alwyn Owen
  • Hugh Stewart
  • Leslie Wright
  • Felicity Young

Production

The set was designed by Kevin Bartlett.[10]

Chris Muir says while filming it the set caught fire. They kept filming it while the studio hands put out the fire with extinguishers before the sprinklers went on.[11]

See also
  • List of television plays broadcast on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1960s)

References
  1. "The White Carnation - 2013". Finborough Theatre. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
  2. "What's On - Jermyn Street TheatreJermyn Street Theatre". Jermynstreettheatre.co.uk. 2016-09-07. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
  3. "The White Carnation". Finborough Theatre. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  4. Billington, Michael (29 November 2013). "The White Carnation - review". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  5. "TV Guide". Sydney Morning Herald. 27 May 1963. p. 15.
  6. "Untitled". The Age. 25 April 1963. p. 19.
  7. "Ghost Theme for Play". Sydney Morning Herald. 20 May 1963. p. 11.
  8. The White Carnation at IMDb
  9. Vagg, Stephen (February 18, 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  10. "TV Guide". The Age. 25 April 1963. p. 27.
  11. Day, Christopher (1981). "TV Drama". In Peter Beilby (ed.). Australian TV: The First 25 Years. Thomas Nelson. p. 138.
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