Season 31 Play 5 – Stringer’s Last Stand by Stan Barstow & Alfred Bradley
Directed by
Cast
Gladys Stringer – Audrey Brown
Luther Stringer – Frank Breen
Bob Carter – David Helliwell
Jack Harper – Dennis Tetley
Marjorie Mather (nee Stringer) – Muriel Hainsworth
Carol Stringer – Elizabeth Parrish
Ann Fairchild – Elsie Forbes
Synopsis
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Directors Notes
They gave me Stringer’s Last Stand to read. At the end of Act 1 Scene 1 I was quite convinced I had a comedy on my hands. The more I read the more unsure I became; it was slowly unfolding into a drama. As the cover closed on the last page, I thoughtfully put the copy down and realised I had a real life tragedy to direct. Not a great big tragedy, just a very small one, but a tragedy nevertheless.
It’s possible Stan Barstow and Alfred Bradley had the same difficulty in defining the category to which their brain-child belonged. They have simply called it ‘a play’.
Two lines from the script:-Gladys: It only happened to other people, never to you. And, Luther: I might have thought it funny if it had happened to somebody else… indicate the true mood of the play.
In the short span of time since the authors wrote the play, I feel it has dated enough to be set in the late sixties, ‘see-through blouses’ being the least but not the last of my reasons. There are some very funny lines in the play; please laugh by all means.
Don’t let my tragedy talk inhibit you, but as the last curtain falls I’ll eat my hat if you don’t have at least the start of a lump in your throat.
