22nd April 2025
John Wyver writes: The afternoon of Saturday 22 April 1939 saw the first performance of Dallas Bower's production of Katharine and Petruchio, a radically shortened 'acting version' of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew that had originally been
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13th March 2025
John Wyver writes: At 11pm on Monday 13 March 1933, the BBC's 30-line transmission from Studio BB in the basement of Broadcasting House featured selections from 'The British Theatrical Loan Exhibition' that was currently on view at Dudley House in
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25th February 2025
John Wyver writes: Today is the 93rd anniversary of the earliest Shakespeare performance on British television that I can identify. In the morning of Thursday 25 February 1932, producer Harold Bradly in the Baird studio in Covent Garden's Long Acre,
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5th February 2025
John Wyver writes: The evening of Sunday 5 February 1939 was taken up with a 105-minute version of Shakespeare's The Tempest, with John Abbott as Prospero and actor, writer and poet Stephen Haggard as Ariel. Playing Caliban was
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2nd January 2025
John Wyver writes: 'ls the 'straight from the theatre' stuff going to be satisfactory?' That was the question Grace Wyndham Goldie posed following the live broadcast of Twelfth Night from the Phoenix Theatre (above) on the evening of 2
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29th November 2024
John Wyver writes: OTD, Monday 29 November 1937, from the BBC's 'high definition' Television service... more Shakespeare. Scenes from Cymbeline, broadcast from 3.39pm to 4.24pm, and then again from 9.31pm to 9.55pm, was a presentation of minimally restaged elements
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27th November 2024
John Wyver writes: OTD in early British television, on 27 November 1938, the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company made its television debut with its production of The Wooing of Anne Hathaway. The tradition of a major drama production each Sunday evening
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4th January 2022
John Wyver writes: to start the new year after the holidays, don't forget my review of the year, and here's another selection of articles, videos and more that engaged or interested me over the past 10
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26th October 2020
John Wyver writes: Although Play for Today events are continuing, with showings on BBC Four and at BFI Southbank, our documentary Drama Out of a Crisis is happily installed on BBC iPlayer
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18th August 2020
We are delighted to announce that Matthew Bourne's Romeo + Juliet is released on DVD and Blu-ray on the 25 August. This is our fourth Matthew Bourne dance release and follows Swan Lake, The Car
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