''Sing Me No Lullaby'' is a 1954 play by

Robert Ardrey Robert Ardrey (October 16, 1908 – January 14, 1980) was an American playwright, screenwriter and science writer perhaps best known for ''The Territorial Imperative'' (1966). After a Broadway and Hollywood career, he returned to his academic tr ...

. It is about the treatment of accused communists in post-

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

America. It was originally presented at the off-Broadway Phoenix Theatre in New York City.

Synopsis

Brooks Atkinson Justin Brooks Atkinson (November 28, 1894 – January 14, 1984) was an American theatre critic. He worked for ''The New York Times'' from 1922 to 1960. In his obituary, the ''Times'' called him "the theater's most influential reviewer of his ...

gives the following description of ''Sing Me No Lullaby.''

Some Illinois college friends of 1938 have a country reunion at Christmas of the present time. As students, most of them had what were known as progressive political ideas in 1938. One of them, a brilliant mathematician, placed his faith in Soviet Russia then. The Stalin-Hitler pact shook all that faith out of him in 1939. By the present time he is one of the dispossessed. Because of his college political associations, no one will employ him, no one will rent him an apartment, no one will associate with him, no one will clear him, no one will adjudicate his case.Atkinson, Brooks. Quoted b
Dramatist Play Service

Reception

''Sing Me No Lullaby'' received praise for its political content. The

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

asserted that "The third act of ''Sing Me No Lullaby'' constitutes the most forceful statement anyone has made in the theatre for ages."

Richard Watts Richard Watts (1529–1579) was a successful businessman and MP for Rochester, South East England, in the 1570s. He supplied rations for the English Navy as deputy victualler and supervised the construction of Upnor Castle. After Queen Elizabe ...

wrote that Ardrey was "striving with the most obvious sincerity to probe the unhealthy and hysterical political climate of America in the wake of the cold war." Atkinson (quoted above) goes on:

Mr. Ardrey doesn't solve the problem. But the contribution he has made in the last act is a clear and perceptive statement of this nameless, formless situation and an estimation of what it is doing to America. ... Mr. Ardrey ... is a man of principle and taste. In ''Sing Me No Lullaby'' he has performed the function of a writer. He has found the words to describe something that is vague and elusive but ominous. And he has got far enough away from political recriminations to state it in terms of character and the life of the spirit.

In a later

review, Atkinson wrote that "After the triviality of a theatre that normally aims low and is satisfied with technical competence, it is heartening to see a play that is as adult, if not more adult, than the world outside the theatre."

Production

''Sing Me No Lullaby'' opened on October 14, 1954, at the Phoenix Theatre in the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buil ...

. It was the inaugural play of the Phoenix Theatre's second season. The production was directed by Paul Stewart and starred

Beatrice Straight Beatrice Whitney Straight (August 2, 1914 – April 7, 2001) was an American theatre, film and television actress and a member of the prominent Whitney family. She was an Academy Award and Tony Award winner as well as an Emmy Award nominee. ...

Richard Kiley Richard Paul Kiley (March 31, 1922 – March 5, 1999) was an American stage, film and television actor and singer. He is best known for his distinguished theatrical career in which he twice won the Tony Award for Best Actor In A Musical. Kiley ...

Jack Warden Jack Warden (born John Warden Lebzelter Jr.; September 18, 1920July 19, 2006) was an American character actor of film and television. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Shampoo'' (1975) and '' Heaven Can Wait ...

Larry Gates Lawrence Wheaton Gates (September 24, 1915December 12, 1996) was an American actor. His notable roles include H.B. Lewis on daytime's ''Guiding Light'' and Doc Baugh in the film version of ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' (1958). He played the role o ...

Michael Lipton Michael Lipton (born 13 February 1937) is a British economist specialising in rural poverty in developing countries, including issues relating to land reform and urban bias. He has spent much of his career at the University of Sussex, but also ...

Marian Winters Marian Winters (April 19, 1920 – November 3, 1978) was an American dramatist and actress of stage, film, and television. Biography Marian Winters was born Marian Weinstein, the eldest of four sisters born to Morris and Sophie Weinstein. He ...

Jessie Royce Landis Jessie Royce Landis (born Jessie Medbury, November 25, 1896 – February 2, 1972) was an American actress. Her name is also seen as Jesse Royce-Landis. She remains perhaps best-known for her mother roles in the Hitchcock films ''To Catch a Thief' ...

John Fiedler John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

, and

John Marley John Marley (born Mortimer Marlieb, October 17, 1907 – May 22, 1984) was an American actor who was known for his role as Phil Cavalleri in '' Love Story'' and as Jack Woltz—the defiant film mogul who awakens to find the severed head ...

. ''Sing Me No Lullaby'' is one of the two plays by Ardrey still made available for production by the

Dramatists Play Service Dramatists Play Service (also known as The Play Service) is a theatrical-publishing and licensing house, established in 1936 by members of the Dramatists Guild of America and the Society for Authors' Representatives. DPS publishes English-language ...

. The other is his most famous play, Thunder Rock.''Thunder Rock'' at th
Dramatists Play Service

References

External links

The Official Robert Ardrey Estate WebsitePlays at the Robert Ardrey Estate Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sing Me No Lullaby Plays by Robert Ardrey 1954 plays