The Living Room (play)

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The Living Room (play) - Wikipedia

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The Living Room
Heinemann first edition: Dorothy Tutin & Eric Portman in the original production
Written by	Graham Greene
Date premiered	10 February 1953
Place premiered	Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
Original language	English
Genre	Drama

The Living Room is a 1953 play by Graham Greene

Synopsis

The play consists of two acts, each of two scenes and is set entirely in the living room of Rose Pemberton and her two elderly aunts who live with the aunts' brother James, a disabled Roman Catholic priest. The aunts have a long-running fear of death in the house, with any bedroom being locked away from further use following a death of its resident family member. The story revolves around the introduction of Rose's new lover, Michael Dennis, to the family. It later transpires that Michael is married when his suicidal wife arrives at the house.

Premiere

After premiering at the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh it transferred to the West End where it ran for 308 performances at Wyndham's Theatre between 16 April 1953 and 9 January 1954.^[1]

Original cast

Mary, the daily woman – Dorothy Dewhurst
Michael Dennis – John Robinson
Rose Pemberton – Dorothy Tutin
Miss Teresa Browne – Mary Jerrold
Miss Helen Browne – Violet Farebrother
Father James Browne – Eric Portman
Mrs Dennis – Valerie Taylor

Broadway

A Broadway production followed in November 1954 at Henry Miller's Theatre, where it ran for just 22 performances.^[2]

Broadway cast

Mary, the daily woman – Hazel Jones
Michael Dennis – Michael Goodliffe
Rose Pemberton – Barbara Bel Geddes
Miss Teresa Browne – Nora Nicholson
Miss Helen Browne – Ann Shoemaker
Father James Browne – Walter Fitzgerald
Mrs Dennis – Carol Goodner

Critical reception

The Sunday Express found the drama's central relationship "basically revolting," though concluded that the play would run and run, "because nothing is so appealing to a British audience as sex with an odour of sanctity and the glow of highbrowism"; whereas despite reservations, Kenneth Tynan called it "the best first play of its generation."^[3] The New York Times however, noted "a literate and rather bloodless drama...Although dramatic form often eludes novelists who are used to more time and space, Mr. Greene has made the transition competently."^[4]

Revivals

The Living Room was revived at the Jermyn Street Theatre in March 2013, with a cast including Christopher Timothy and Tuppence Middleton.^[5]

References

^ Wearing p.223
^ League, The Broadway. "The Living Room – Broadway Play – Original | IBDB". www.ibdb.com.
^ "The Living Room, London, April 1953". the Guardian. 12 November 2003.
^ Atkinson, Brooks (17 April 1953). "AT THE THEATRE; ' The Living Room,' New Play by Graham Greene, Presented at Wyndham's Theatre in London" – via NYTimes.com.
^ "The Living Room – review". the Guardian. 13 March 2013.

Bibliography

Wearing, J.P. The London Stage 1950–1959: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.

External links

The Living Room at the Internet Broadway Database

v t e Graham Greene
Bibliography
Novels	The Man Within (1929) The Name of Action (1930) Rumour at Nightfall (1932) Stamboul Train (1932) It's a Battlefield (1934) England Made Me (1935) A Gun for Sale (1936) Brighton Rock (1938) The Confidential Agent (1939) The Power and the Glory (1940) The Ministry of Fear (1943) The Heart of the Matter (1948) The Third Man (novella; 1949) The End of the Affair (1951) The Quiet American (1955) Loser Takes All (1955) Our Man in Havana (1958) A Burnt-Out Case (1960) The Comedians (1966) Travels with My Aunt (1969) The Honorary Consul (1973) The Human Factor (1978) Doctor Fischer of Geneva (1980) Monsignor Quixote (1982) The Tenth Man (1985) The Captain and the Enemy (1988) No Man's Land (2005)
Non-fiction	Journey Without Maps (1936) The Lawless Roads (1939) The Lost Childhood and Other Essays (1951) In Search of a Character (1961) A Sort of Life (1971) Ways of Escape (1980) Getting to Know the General: The Story of an Involvement (1984)
Plays	The Living Room (1953) The Potting Shed (1957) The Complaisant Lover (1959) Carving a Statue (1964) The Return of A. J. Raffles (1975) The Great Jowett (1981) Yes and No (1983) For Whom the Bell Chimes (1983)
Story collections	Twenty-One Stories (1954) A Sense of Reality (1963) May We Borrow Your Husband? (1967) The Last Word and Other Stories (1990)
Short stories	"The End of the Party" (1929) "Proof Positive" (1930) "The Basement Room" (1936) "Across the Bridge" (1938) "Alas, Poor Maling" (1940) "The Blue Film" (1954) "The Destructors" (1954) "A Shocking Accident" "The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen" "The Last Word"
Screenplays	21 Days (1940) Brighton Rock (1948) The Fallen Idol (1948) The Third Man (1949) Loser Takes All (1956) Saint Joan (1957) Our Man in Havana (1959) The Comedians (1967) Monsignor Quixote (1985)
Adaptations	Orient Express (1934) The Green Cockatoo (1937) This Gun for Hire (1942) Went the Day Well? (1942) Ministry of Fear (1944) The Heart of the Matter (1953) The End of the Affair (1955) The Quiet American (1958) Travels with My Aunt (1972) The Human Factor (1979) The Honorary Consul (1983) The End of the Affair (1999) The Quiet American (2002) Brighton Rock (2010)
Other	Brighton Rock (play) Shades of Greene
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