''Lord Arthur Savile's Crime'' is a 1952
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
thriller play
Thriller may refer to:
* Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television
** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre
Comics
* ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...
by the British writer
Constance Cox
Constance Cox (25 October 1912 – 8 July 1998) was a British script writer and playwright, born in Sutton, Surrey.
Life and career
Cox was born Constance Shaw in Sutton, Surrey, in 1912. She married Norman Cox, a fighter pilot, who was kill ...
, based on the short story ''
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime #REDIRECT Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories#Lord Arthur Savile's Crime
{{R to section
1887 short stories
Works originally published in The Court and Society Review ...
'' by
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
. After a
palm reader
Palmistry is the pseudoscientific practice of fortune-telling through the study of the palm. Also known as palm reading, chiromancy, chirology or cheirology, the practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations. Those wh ...
convinces him it is his destiny to commit murder before he can marry his fiancée, an
aristocrat
The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...
makes several inept attempts to kill people.
It premiered at the
Theatre Royal in
Aldershot
Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...
before transferring to the
Court Theatre in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
where it ran for 21 performances. The play was directed by
Jack Hulbert
John Norman Hulbert (24 April 189225 March 1978) was a British actor, director, screenwriter and singer, specializing primarily in comedy productions, and often working alongside his wife (Dame) Cicely Courtneidge.
Biography
Born in Ely, Ca ...
and starred his younger brother
Claude Hulbert
Claude Noel Hulbert (25 December 1900 – 23 January 1964) was a mid-20th century English stage, radio and cinema comic actor.
Early life
Claude Hulbert was born in Fulham in West London on Christmas Day 1900. He was the younger brother of J ...
in the title role, along with
Peter Haddon
Peter Haddon (31 March 1898 – 7 September 1962) was an English actor.
Personal life
Haddon was born Peter Haddon Tildsley in Rawtenstall, Lancashire. He was the son of Alfred and Mary Tildsley and he had a brother, Vincent Harvey (1894), an ...
and
Jean Lodge
Jean Margaret Lodge (born 4 August 1927) is an English stage, film and television actress.
Career
In 1952 she appeared alongside Claude Hulbert in the West End in Constance Cox's '' Lord Arthur Savile's Crime''. In 1954 she starred in William ...
.
[Kabatchnik p.67]
In 1960,
Gerald Savory
Gerald Douglas Savory (17 November 1909 – 9 February 1996) was an English writer and television producer specialising in comedies.
Biography
The son of Kenneth Douglas Savory and actress Grace Lane (1877–1956), he was educated at Bradfield C ...
adapted Cox's play into an episode of the ''
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 ...
'' anthology series on the
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
network in the UK.
References
Bibliography
* Kabatchnik, Amnon. ''Blood on the Stage, 1950-1975: Milestone Plays of Crime, Mystery, and Detection''. Scarecrow Press, 2011.
* Wearing, J.P. ''The London Stage 1950-1959: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.
1952 plays
Comedy plays
West End plays
Thriller plays
Plays by Constance Cox
Plays based on short fiction
{{1950s-play-stub