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Previous Shows....Dangerous Corner |
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SUPER SUBS!
| Our production of Dangerous Corner was
notable for two late substitutions. Alex Jordan, pictured
in rehearsal, was forced to drop out due to her pregnancy
and her role was filled excellently by Kay Brough. Alex
subsequently produced bouncing twin boys, expected to
swell the society's ranks in future years. Lighting specialist Jessica Hobson had to be drafted in at the start of the production week to fill the place of the person originally expected. She too did an excellent job. |
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Boynton Priestley, born 13 September 1894 in Bradford; died 14 August 1984 in Alveston, near Stratford-upon Avon. Priestley served as a front line soldier in WW1 (1914-1918) where he was wounded by mortar fire and partly gassed. On leaving the army he studied modern history and political science at Trinity Hall, Cambridge before completing his degree in 1921. In 1919 he married Pat Tempest. He worked as a freelance writer, and a journalist; at the same time collecting a reputation as an essayist. He achieved enormous popular success with the publication of The Good Companions in 1929, and went on to become one of our most prolific writers; indeed in 1927 he published no fewer than five books. Throughout his career he published 39 plays, 20 novels and dozens of essays, novellas, criticism, talks, sketches, etc.
ABOUT THE PLAY
In 1932 with the outstanding successes of The Good Companions and Angel Pavement (1930) behind him, Priestley turned to the theatre. Dangerous Corner was written in a week. He writes in 'Margin Released'-"the play itself was a trick thing in which time is divided at the sound of a musical box". The characters are all in evening dress - there is Robert Caplan, the head of a successful family publishing firm, and his wife Freda; Betty Whitehouse, a pretty young thing and her husband Gordon a partner in the firm; Charles Stanton, another partner and Olwen Peel, an executive of the firm. Last of the group is Maud Mockridge, a woman novelist connected with their publishing house.
The play opens with the women waiting for the men to join them after dinner. They have all been listening to a play on the wireless when the curtain rises. They display a light and charming group of people - casual, friendly and eminently civilised. Maud Mockridge introduces a darker note to the setting, suggesting a time when this group were not so friendly and well-balanced, but the moment passes. Suddenly, however, the dangerous corner of the title is reached. Priestley at this point divides time in two; showing us what happened and what might have happened. Brilliant in its effect this masterstroke displays life's infinite possibilities - the lives we lead and the lives we might have led.
Priestley wrote about this play in 'Margin Released'
It then became the most popular play I have ever written. I doubt if there is any country in the world possessing a playhouse that has not seen Dangerous Come, or if any other play written in the last thirty years has had the same reception.
Susan Pont
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