John Hall (English playwright)
John Clifford Hall (26 June 1925 – 25 March 2001) was an English playwright who wrote over thirty plays for theatre, television and radio.[1][2]
Hall was educated at Queens College, Oxford,[3][4] where he studied under C. S. Lewis. Study for his MA was interrupted by service in the RNVR. For this he studied Japanese and worked in Intelligence at Bletchley Park.[5][6]
His first produced play World Behind Your Back, was in collaboration with actor William Eedle, at the Mercury Theatre in London in 1952.[7][8]
Albert Finney starred in one of his most successful plays The Lizard on the Rock, at Birmingham Repertory Theatre[9][10][11][12] [13][14] of which Michael Billington wrote: 'Above all, I remember him [Finney] in The Lizard on the Rock by John Hall, which required him to be shot at point-blank range in the stomach: as he suddenly crumpled, uttering cat-like cries, the critic Kenneth Tynan in The Observer described it as "the best fall since Feuillère", who was then queen of the French stage'.[15]
The Lizard on the Rock was well-received.[16][17][18] It is a story based around '...an industrialist - a Senator - who is prospecting for water...'[19] '...in the Western Australian desert... the central character [is] outwardly a man of success and power, but faced with the collapse of his achievements...'[11] and the realisation that 'Life cannot depend upon "the blandishments of power; the blind man groping among the useless treasure.'"[20][21]
Sir John Gielgud was quoted as saying that the play contained 'a great deal of power and originality'.[9] and the playwright Christopher Fry wrote: 'Mr Hall's mind is his own; what he has to say is his own...'[9] The review in The Stage for the Birmingham production of the play read: 'an interesting journey through a variety of tense scenes, each peopled with characters that might in turn be the focal point of the play themselves... Mr. Hall... gives them an aura pregnant with possibilities.'[10] The International Theatre Annual described the blank verse in The Lizard on the Rock as 'Eliotesque'.[22]
Hall wrote his play Exit, Joe, Running influenced by 'the marked contrasts of life at Oxford... and Keele [Universities]... The leading character - within a few months of leaving academia - writes a paper titled "39 Reasons Why University Is No Good"'.[23]
Hall considered the most important playwrights of the 1960s were '...Harold Pinter, Christopher Fry, Robert Bolt, John Arden, John Osborne, Arnold Wesker, Peter Schaeffer and Charles Wood'.[1] He was influenced by Christopher Fry during the resurrection of verse drama, and by Anton Chekhov. One of his own favourite plays was Everly, which never got beyond a rehearsed reading.[1] Wrang-Gaites, written for his sons to enjoy,[24] was originally performed by the York Theatre Royal Activists in 1973[25] and was later set to music at Chichester University.[26] Of Wrang-Gaites, playwright Christopher Fry wrote: 'It is as though the traditional Mummer's Play of St George and the Dragon had spread and ramified and leapt into the twentieth century.'[27]
An archive of his letters and works can be found in Columbia University Library's Archival Collection[28] and at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas.[6]
Works
Stage Plays
- 1957 The Strangers - Bristol Old Vic[4][29][30]
- 1957 The Lizard on the Rock[11] - With Albert Finney (Augsberg theatre and Birmingham repertory company)[31]
- 1958 The Holiday - No 1 tour with Sylvia Syms, Sian Phillips and Peter O’Toole
- 1959 The Net - Harrogate Opera House
- 1959 A Pennyworth of Love - Northampton Rep. theatre
- 1962 The Lizard on the Rock[32][33][34] - tour and London Phoenix theatre with Sian Phillips, John Laurie and Harry Andrews[35]
- 1963 I, John Brown[36][37] - with Sir Ian McKellen, Ipswich Arts theatre
- 1965 Convolvulus[38] - Theatre Royal, Windsor
- 1967 The Little Woman - Traverse theatre, Edinburgh
- 1973 Bondi’s Dream - Pool Theatre, Edinburgh
- 1973 Alva the Widow - Netherbow, Edinburgh
- 1974 Grass and Sky - Strathclyde University theatre group
- 1976 Skin and Bones - Aberdeen University
- 1976 Wrang-Gaites - York and Aberdeen student productions
- 1977 Everly - workshop production for Scottish society of playwrights
- 1978 Any Horse looks Fast Going Past Trees - Lyceum. Edinburgh
Television plays
- 1961 The Break-Up, starring Rosalie Crutchley and James Donald - Play of the Week, ITV
- 1963 The Swindler - Armchair theatre, ABC TV
- 1964 Exit Joe, Running[39], starring Tim Preece - Armchair theatre, ABC TV
- 1984 Movie Queen[40], with Toyah Wilcox and Annie Ross - HTV
- 1985 Child Marlene[41] - BBC2, Thirty Minute Theatre
- 1986 The Proposal - ITV, Love Story series
Radio plays
- 1982 Chrissie - Radio 4
- 1983 Jackie - Radio 4, Saturday Night theatre
- 1985 The Gaudy[42][43] - Radio 3
- 1985 In the Venn Country[44][45] - Radio 4
- 1986 Breakfast at Mother Brown’s - Radio 4
- 1987 The Bridge[46] - Radio 4
- 1988 The Little House[47] - Radio 3
- 1989 The Wedding of Jackie[48] - Radio 4
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Ransom, Harry H. (Summer 1967). "British Drama in the Sixties - A Note from London". The Texas Quarterly, Volume X: Number 2. X: Number 2: 15 – via Book.
- ↑ Hobson, Harold (1958). International Theatre Annual No. 3. London: John Calder (Ltd). p. 232. Search this book on
- ↑
Certicate of MA from Oxford University, John Hall - ↑ 4.0 4.1 "UoB Calmview5: Search results". calmview.bham.ac.uk. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
- ↑ Statement of Service, Royal Naval Service Records John Clifford HALL DOB: 26 June 1925, Saltford, Somerset Official service number: JX 679401. Promoted to Officer in the RNVR: 03-03-44 Date of commencement of service: 3 November 1943 Date and cause of discharge: 30 December 1946. Released in Clas "A". Rank or Rating held: Ordinary Seaman, Temporary Midshipman, Temporary Acting Sub-Lieutenant, Temporary Sub-Lieutenant Source: Departmental Records Ministry of Defence Bourne Avenue Hayes Middlesex UB3 1RF Accessed 29 May 1997
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "John Hall: An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Center". norman.hrc.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
- ↑ "Review: World Behind Your Back". The Stage, London. 10 July 1952. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
- ↑ Wearing, J. P. (2014). The London Stage 1950-1959: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 698. Search this book on
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Hall, John (1956). The Lizard on the Rock. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. pp. Cover. Search this book on
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "The Lizard On The Rock, Review". The Stage. 18 July 1957. Retrieved 10 Oct 2021.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "REPERTORY: THREE WORLD PREMIERES FOR BIRMINGHAM". The Stage. 24 January 1957. Retrieved 10 Oct 2021.
- ↑ V&A Images. "Albert Finney, Rosamund Hall, Lizard on the Rock". V&A Images. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Production of Lizard on the Rock | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
- ↑ FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (July 10, 1957). "John Hall's The Lizard on The Rock at Birmingham Rep". The Times (London). p. 5. Archived from the original on 18 April 2024. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- ↑ Billington, Michael (2020-01-29). "A tribute to the four great theatre talents we lost in 2019". Country Life. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
- ↑ Gibbs, Patrick (10 July 1957). "New Play of Scope & Power". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- ↑ The Stage (18 July 1957). "The Lizard on the Rock". The Stage. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- ↑ N.S. (11 July 1957). "The Lizard on the Rock, John Hall's Tragedy". The Manchester Guardian. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- ↑ FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (July 10, 1957). "John Hall's The Lizard on The Rock at Birmingham Rep". The Times (London). p. 5. Archived from the original on 18 April 2024. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- ↑ Hobson, Harold (1958). International Theatre Annual No.3. London: John Calder, London. p. 34. Search this book on
- ↑ Hall, John (1956). The Lizard on the Rock. London: Methuen. p. 22. Search this book on
- ↑ Hobson, Harold (1958). International Theatre Annual No.3. London: John Calder (Ltd). p. 35. Search this book on
- ↑ White, Leonard (2003). Armchair theatre : the lost years. Tiverton: Kelly Publications. ISBN 1-903053-18-8. OCLC 53030738. Search this book on
- ↑ Hall, John (1973). Wrang-Gaites. Kirkhill, Dyce.: The Lizard Press. p. 3. Search this book on
- ↑ Hall, John (1973). Wrang-Gaites. Kirkhill, Dyce: The Lizard Press. p. 5. Search this book on
- ↑ Pierce, Parker (November 27, 2017). "Painted musical representation and mnemonics". CIM04 Conference on Interdisciplinary Musicology: 102.
- ↑ Hall, John (1973). Wrang-Gaites. Kirkhill, Dyce: The Lizard Press. p. 7. Search this book on
- ↑ "John Hall papers, 1950-1997 | Rare Book & Manuscript Library | Columbia University Libraries Finding Aids". findingaids.library.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
- ↑ "Programme for 'The Strangers' by John Hall". Mercury Theatre. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
- ↑ FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (July 10, 1957). "John Hall's The Lizard on The Rock at Birmingham Rep". The Times (London). p. 5. Archived from the original on 18 April 2024. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- ↑ "John Hall's The Lizard on the Rock at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, photo Lisel Haas. England, 1957 | V&A Images". V & A Images. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
- ↑ "Phillips, Siân 1934- | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ↑ "Schedule - BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ↑ "Dalzell & Beresford Ltd - Dame Siân Phillips". www.dalzellandberesford.com. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ↑ The Times correspondent (19 May 1962). "Mr. John Hall's Play For The Phoenix". The Times (London). p. 4. Archived from the original on 18 April 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
- ↑ "I, JOHN BROWN with Ian McKellen". mckellen.com. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ↑ "Sir Ian McKellen | Stage | Plays |Theatre | Ipswich". mckellen.com. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ↑ "Production of Convolvulus | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ↑ "Exit Joe - Running (1964)". BFI. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
- ↑ "Movie Queen, Toyah Wilcox". Toyah.net. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Child Marlene (1967)". BFI. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
- ↑ "Schedule - BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ↑ "BBC Radio Drama, Radio 3 , 1985,DIVERSITY website". www.suttonelms.org.uk. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ↑ "radio plays drama,bbc,The Monday Play, DIVERSITY website". www.suttonelms.org.uk. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ↑ "Schedule - BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ↑ Gillard, David (16–22 January 1988). "Hear This! Radio Highlights with David Gillard (Pg 14)". Radio Times 16-22 January 1988.CS1 maint: Date format (link)
- ↑ "radio plays drama,bbc,Alec Reid, DIVERSITY website". www.suttonelms.org.uk. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ↑ "radio plays 1990,bbc,radio drama,DIVERSITY WEBSITE,english,british,uk,classic". www.suttonelms.org.uk. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
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