Langrishe, Go Down
Langrishe, Go Down

Langrishe, Go Down (1978)

Langrishe, Go Down

Harold Pinter

TV script

English

Pinter's adaptation of Aidan Higgins' novel of the same name about three sisters living in a decaying mansion in the Ireland of the 30's. The arrival of a German student begins a subtle invasion of their private world.

Date of Composition: 25 January 1970 - 1978

Adapted From: Langrishe, Go Down (1966)

Adapted Work Note: Jack Emery asked Pinter whether he considered writing the screenplay in Ireland. Pinter replied: "I didn't need to. I had my Ireland in me. And I had Aidan Higgins's Ireland in me. There was no need to refresh myself...I was over there in '49, '50 and '51 with Anew McMaster (The Irish actor-manager and subject of the Pinter prose piece 'Mac'). In fact, by a pure coincidence, they shot the film in the Waterford area. So when I went there I actually hadn't been there for about 28 years." Pinter said of the adaptation: "An independent producer called Max Rosenberg came to me with Langrishe, Go Down, a novel by Aidan Higgins, on which he had taken an option. It was a brilliant, haunting book and I much enjoyed adapting it. Naturally, the finance could not easily be found and it languished as a project for some years. Finally, David Jones at the BBC came across the script and was determined to direct it. He did, in Ireland, in 1978. The film was true to both the script and the book and I thought it tough and delicate. Jeremy Irons scored a bull's-eye with his portrait of the unscrupulous German student."

Linked Works

Langrishe, Go Down

Linked Places

No Linked places have been added to this work record yet.

Publishers

Methuen on (1982)

First published in The French Lieutenant's Woman and Other Screenplays (The Last Tycoon, Langrishe, Go Down)

Faber and Faber Ltd on (1991)

Republication of The French Lieutenant’s Woman and Other Screenplays.

Characters

Otto Beck (Age: Unknown, Male)

Helen Langrishe (Age: Unknown, Female)

First Man on Bus (Age: Unknown, Male)

Second Man on Bus (Age: Unknown, Male)

Lily Langrishe (Age: Unknown, Female)

Imogen Langrishe (Age: Unknown, Female)

Joseph Feeney (Age: Unknown, Male)

Maureen Layde (Age: Unknown, Female)

Barry Shannon (Age: Unknown, Male)

Mr Langrishe (Age: Unknown, Male)

Mrs Langrishe (Age: Unknown, Female)

Priest (Age: Unknown, Male)

Resources

No resources have been added to this work record yet.

Sources

BFI Online

https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b737399dc

URL

Plot summary from BFI Online page.

British Library

https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/db837348-a698-3b39-8787-4e427d5e4931?terms=langrishe&component=3242535d-610e-3ce0-ba8f-f3e311f1f31d

URL

Harold Pinter's Official Website

http://www.haroldpinter.org/films/films_langrishe.shtml

URL

Source for Adapted Work Note.

A Harold Pinter Chronology

William Baker, A Harold Pinter Chronology, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2013.

Academic book

Composition dates.