''A Night Out'' is a play written by

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...

in 1959. Albert Stokes, a loner in his late twenties lives with his emotionally suffocating mother and works in an office. After being falsely accused of groping a female at an office party, he wanders the streets until he meets a girl, who invites him to her flat, where he responds to her overtures by angrily demeaning her. Then he returns home to his mother. The play had its first performance on the

BBC Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and intellectual f ...

on 1 March 1960, with Pinter's acting-school classmate and friend Barry Foster as Albert Stokes,

as Seeley, and

Vivien Merchant Ada Brand Thomson (22 July 1929 – 3 October 1982), known professionally as Vivien Merchant, was an English actress. She began her career in 1942, and became known for dramatic roles on stage and in films. In 1956 she married the playwright H ...

, Pinter's first wife, as the Girl. (Full production details and "Radio Review" accessible at www.haroldpinter.org.) Its performance on television a month later, on 24 April 1960, was Pinter's first big success as a playwright in that medium. As presented on

ABC Weekend TV ABC Weekend TV was the popular name of the British broadcaster ABC Television Limited, which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one ...

's ''

Armchair Theatre ''Armchair Theatre'' is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968. The Canadi ...

'', it was viewed by 6.4 million households, at that time a record for a single television drama. Some other ABC production details (full cast and credits accessible at BFI Screenonline): *Director

Philip Saville Philip Saville (28 October 1927 – 22 December 2016) was a British director, screenwriter and former actor whose career lasted half a century. The British Film Institute's Screenonline website described Saville as "one of Britain's most prolifi ...

*Producer

Sydney Newman Sydney Cecil Newman (April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian film and television producer, who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, Newman w ...

*Designer

Assheton Gorton Assheton St George Gorton (10 July 1930 – 14 September 2014) was an English production designer. He was educated at Sedbergh School. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the film ''The French Lieuten ...

;Cast * Tom Bell – Albert Stokes *

Madge Ryan :''She is sometimes confused with American actress Fran Ryan.'' Madge Winifred Ryan (8 January 1919 – 9 January 1994) was an Australian actress, known for her stage and film roles in the United Kingdom, including London stage productions of ' ...

– Mrs Stokes *

(as David Baron) – Seeley *

– Girl * Arthur Lowe – Mr King *

Stanley Meadows Stanley Meadows (born 14 July 1931 in Stepney, London, England) is a British film and television actor. He graduated from RADA The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservat ...

– Gidney

References

External links

Screenonline on ABC production of 'A Night Out'
see "Full Synopsis."
''A Night Out'' at haroldpinter.org
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Night Out 1959 plays 1960 television plays Plays by Harold Pinter 1960 radio dramas Television shows produced by ABC Weekend TV