The History of Production of the Works of Harold Pinter
A Night Out (1960)
A Night Out (1960)
| Channel | BBC Third Programme |
| Broadcast Date | 1 March 1960 |
| Broadcast time | 21:50:00 |
| Length (minutes) | 60 |
| Series | None |
| Episode | |
| Description | Billed as 'A new play for radio' (Radio Times, 26 February 1960, p. 31), this radio production was recorded in the studio on 25 February 1960. The 1 March 1960 production was followed at 9.05pm on Thursday 3 March by a critical discussion by T. G. Rosenthal on the 'Comment: A Weekly Review of the Arts' programme on BBC Radio's Third Programme. On 24 April 1960, it was televised in the Armchair Theatre series (ABC for ITV). The broadcast was repeated on 20 March 1960. It was broadcast again on 25 February 1970 as part of a 'Harold Pinter Festival'. A note on the script: the work here is a play produced for television that is being relayed on radio. We are unaware of any differences in dialogue between the broadcast text and the published text of the play. A radio script would have been prepared for the broadcast, but we are not aware of any archival resource that has retained this to consult. A typescript of the radio play, dated 1961, is held at Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (see 'resources') but we do not believe this to be the original BBC script. |
| Language | English |
Linked Productions
No linked Production have been added to this production record yet.
Linked People
Donald McWhinnie (1920 - 1987)
Creative | Producer (radio/television)
Linked Organisations
BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) (Cultural Institution | Est. 1922)
Characters
Albert Stokes (Age: Not specified, Male)
Performer: Barry Foster (1931 - 2002)
Mrs Stokes (Age: Not specified, Female)
Performer: Mary O'Farrell (1892 - 1968)
Seeley (Age: Not specified, Male)
Pinter is listed in the cast under the stage-name David Baron.
Performer: Harold Pinter (1930 - 2008)
Kedge (Age: Not specified, Male)
Performer: John Rye
Barman (Age: Not specified, Male)
Character given as 'The barman at the coffee stall' in Radio Times. Hall played Barrow in the ITV broadcast the month after. He went on to play Kedge in the stage debut in 1961.
Performer: Walter Hall (1931)
Mr King (Age: Not specified, Male)
Performer: David Bird
Mr Ryan (Age: Not specified, Male)
Performer: Norman Wynne (1909 - 1968)
Old Man (A Night Out) (Age: Not specified, Male)
Character given as 'The old man at the coffee stall' in Radio Times.
Performer: Norman Wynne (1909 - 1968)
Gidney (Age: Not specified, Male)
Performer: Nicholas Selby (1925 - 2010)
Joyce (Age: Not specified, Female)
Performer: Jane Jordan Rogers (1931)
Eileen (Age: Not specified, Female)
Performer: Auriol Smith (1939)
Barrow (Age: Not specified, Male)
Performer: David Spenser
Horne (Age: Not specified, Male)
Performer: Hugh Dickson
Betty (Age: Not Specified, Female)
Performer: Margaret Hotine
Girl, The (Age: Not specified, Female)
Performer: Vivien Merchant (1929 - 1982)
Linked Awards
No award have been added to this production record yet.
Resources
A Night Out listing, Radio Times, 26 February 1960, p. 31 (Image)
Type: Image
Kenneth A. Hurren, 'Two Promising Young Playwrights', Radio Times, 26 February 1960, p. 3 (Image)
Type: Review
A Night Out typescript, Harold Pinter Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, Austin, Texas, USA. (Paper-based)
Type: Archival holding
External Link: https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00108
Box 1 folder 9. The holding includes 'bound typescript, in Italian and English, [1961]'.
The British Library Manuscript Collections. Pinter Archive. ’Book 2’ (Pinter’s scrapbook); April 1960-Oct. 1961. Add MS 88880/8/2 (Paper-based)
Type: Archival holding
External Link: https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb58-addms88880/addms88880/8/2
Pinter’s scrapbook contains the Audience Research Report and the Text of Comments on the broadcast by T.G. Rosenthal. Reviews from the Sunday Times, The Times, The Listener and The Observer are also collated.
Paul Ferris, ‘Fresh and Bloody’, Observer, 6 March 1960 (URL)
Type: Review
External Link: https://www.proquest.com/docview/475476379/D851035B55664FE7PQ/29?accountid=14664
Subscription required
Crozier, ‘Radio’, Guardian, 25 March 1960, p. 11 (URL)
Type: Review
External Link: https://www.proquest.com/docview/184642145/D851035B55664FE7PQ/39?accountid=14664
Subscription required
Sources
A Night Out listing
Radio Times, 26 February 1960, p. 31
Magazine
Michael Billington's biography of Harold Pinter
Michael Billington, Harold Pinter, 2nd edn (London: Faber & Faber, 2007)
Biography
Mentioned on pp. 110-113.
Newspaper review
Paul Ferris, 'Fresh and Bloody', The Observer, 6 March 1960, p. 23
Newspaper review
Magazine article
Kenneth A. Hurren, 'Two Promising Young Playwrights', Radio Times, 26 February 1960, p. 3
Magazine
A Night Out Listing
Radio Times, 19 February 1970, p. 39
Magazine