John Hall (English Playwright)

John Clifford Hall (26 June 1925 – 25 March 2001) was an English playwright who wrote over thirty plays for theatre, television and radio.

Biography

Hall was educated at Queens College, Oxford, where he studied under C. S. Lewis. Study for his MA was interrupted by service in the RNVR.  For this he studied Japanese and worked in Intelligence at Bletchley Park.

His first produced play ''World Behind Your Back'', was in collaboration with actor William Eedle, at the Mercury Theatre in London in 1952.

Albert Finney starred in one of his most successful plays ''The Lizard on the Rock'', at Birmingham Repertory Theatre of which Michael Billington wrote: 'Above all, I remember him inneyin ''The Lizard on the Rock'' by John Hall, which required him to be shot at point-blank range in the stomach: as he suddenly crumpled, uttering cat-like cries, the critic Kenneth Tynan in The Observer described it as "the best fall since Feuillère", who was then queen of the French stage'.

''The Lizard on the Rock'' was well-received. It is a story based around '...an industrialist – a Senator – who is prospecting for water...' '...in the Western Australian desert... the central character soutwardly a man of success and power, but faced with the collapse of his achievements...' and the realisation that 'Life cannot depend upon "the blandishments of power; the blind man groping among the useless treasure.'"

Sir John Gielgud was quoted as saying that the play contained 'a great deal of power and originality'. and the playwright Christopher Fry wrote: 'Mr Hall's mind is his own; what he has to say is his own...' The review in The Stage for the Birmingham production of the play read: 'an interesting journey through a variety of tense scenes, each peopled with characters that might in turn be the focal point of the play themselves... Mr. Hall... gives them an aura pregnant with possibilities.' The ''International Theatre Annual'' described the blank verse in ''The Lizard on the Rock'' as 'Eliotesque'.

Hall wrote his play ''Exit, Joe, Running'' influenced by 'the marked contrasts of life at Oxford... and Keele niversities.. The leading character – within a few months of leaving academia – writes a paper titled "39 Reasons Why University Is No Good"'.

Hall considered the most important playwrights of the 1960s were '...Harold Pinter, Christopher Fry, Robert Bolt, John Arden, John Osborne, Arnold Wesker, Peter Schaeffer and Charles Wood'. He was influenced by Christopher Fry during the resurrection of verse drama, and by Anton Chekhov. One of his own favourite plays was ''Everly'', which never got beyond a rehearsed reading. ''Wrang-Gaites'', written for his sons to enjoy, was originally performed by the York Theatre Royal Activists in 1973 and was later set to music at Chichester University. Of ''Wrang-Gaites'', playwright Christopher Fry wrote: 'It is as though the traditional Mummer's Play of St George and the Dragon had spread and ramified and leapt into the twentieth century.'

Works

Stage plays

* 1957    ''The Strangers''  –  Bristol Old Vic
* 1957    ''The Lizard on the Rock'' –  With Albert Finney (Augsberg theatre and Birmingham repertory company)
* 1958    ''The Holiday''  –  No 1 tour with Sylvia Syms, Sian Phillips and Peter O’Toole
* 1959    ''The Net''  –  Harrogate Opera House
* 1959    ''A Pennyworth of Love''   –  Northampton Rep. theatre
* 1962    ''The Lizard on the Rock''  –  tour and London Phoenix theatre with Sian Phillips, John Laurie and Harry Andrews
* 1963    ''I, John Brown''  –  with Sir Ian McKellen, Ipswich Arts theatre
* 1965    ''Convolvulus''  –  Theatre Royal, Windsor
* 1966    ''The Little Woman''  –  Traverse theatre, Edinburgh
* 1973    ''Bondi's Dream''  –  Pool Theatre, Edinburgh
* 1973    ''Alva the Widow''  –  Netherbow, Edinburgh
* 1974    ''Grass and Sky''  –  Strathclyde University theatre group
* 1976    ''Skin and Bones''  –  Aberdeen University
* 1976    ''Wrang-Gaites''  –  York and Aberdeen student productions
* 1977    ''Everly''  –  workshop production for Scottish society of playwrights
* 1978    ''Any Horse looks Fast Going Past Trees''  –  Lyceum. Edinburgh

Television plays

* 1961    ''The Break-Up'', starring  Rosalie Crutchley and James Donald  –  Play of the Week, ITV
* 1963    ''The Swindler''  –  Armchair theatre, ABC TV
* 1964    ''Exit Joe, Running'', starring  Tim Preece  –  Armchair theatre, ABC TV
* 1984    ''Movie Queen'', with  Toyah Willcox and Annie Ross –  HTV
* 1985    ''Child Marlene''  –  BBC2, Thirty Minute Theatre
* 1986    ''The Proposal''  –  ITV, Love Story series

Radio plays

* 1982    ''Chrissie''  –  Radio 4
* 1983    ''Jackie''  –  Radio 4, Saturday Night theatre
* 1985    ''The Gaudy''  –  Radio 3
* 1985    ''In the Venn Country''  –  Radio 4
* 1986    ''Breakfast at Mother Brown's''  –  Radio 4          
* 1987    ''The Bridge''  –  Radio 4
* 1988    ''The Little House''  –  Radio 3
* 1989    ''The Wedding of Jackie''  –  Radio 4

References

External links

John Hall Papers
at Columbia University

John Hall Collection
at the Harry Ransom Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, John
1925 births
2001 deaths