''The Linden Tree'' is a 1947 play by the English dramatist

J. B. Priestley John Boynton Priestley (; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in ''The Good Compa ...

. It was first produced at the

Duchess Theatre The Duchess Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, London, located in Catherine Street near Aldwych. The theatre opened on 25 November 1929 and is one of the smallest West End theatres with a proscenium arch. It has 494 se ...

, London on 15 August 1947, and ran for 422 performances."Duchess Theatre", ''The Times'' 16 August 1947, p. 6''The Linden Tree''
J B Priestley Society. Retrieved 26 November 2017 The play had a brief run on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in New York in March 1948 in a production directed by George Schaefer and using costumes designed by

Frank Thompson Frank Thompson Jr. (July 26, 1918 – July 22, 1989) was an American politician. He represented in the United States House of Representatives as a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat from 1955 to 1980, and was chairman of the United State ...

Original cast

*Professor Robert Linden –

Lewis Casson Sir Lewis Thomas Casson MC (26 October 187516 May 1969) was an English actor and theatre director, and the husband of actress Dame Sybil Thorndike.Devlin, DianaCasson, Sir Lewis Thomas (1875–1969) ''The Oxford Dictionary of National Biograph ...

*Isabel Linden (his wife) –

Sybil Thorndike Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson (24 October 18829 June 1976) was an English actress whose stage career lasted from 1904 to 1969. Trained in her youth as a concert pianist, Thorndike turned to the stage when a medical problem with her ...

*Rex Linden (his son) – John Dodsworth *Dr Jean Linden (his eldest daughter) – Freda Gaye *Marion de Saint Vaury (his daughter) – Sonia Williams *Dinah Linden (his youngest daughter) – Tilsa Page *Alfred Lockhart (university secretary) – J. Leslie Frith *Edith Westmore (a student) –

Carmel McSharry Carmel Evelyn McSharry (18 August 1926 – 4 March 2018) was an Irish character actress, best known for her roles as Beryl Humphries in '' Beryl's Lot'' (1973–77), a daytime ITV serial, and as Mrs. Hollingbery in ''In Sickness and in Health''. ...

*Bernard Fawcell (a student) –

Terence Soall Terence Soall (22 March 1920 – 10 August 2006) was an English actor who appeared in numerous television productions over a 50-year period and in over 100 films. Early life He was born into a working-class family in Tottenham, North London. Aft ...

*Mrs Cotton (housekeeper) –

Everley Gregg Everley Gregg (26 October 1903, in Bishopstoke, Hampshire – 9 June 1959, in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire) was an English actress. Early in her career, she became associated especially with plays of Noël Coward. She began making films in ...

The play was directed by Michael Macowan.

Plot

The play takes place in 1947 England in the home of Professor Robert Linden, who holds the chair of modern history at the provincial University of Burmanley. Rationing and austerity seem to have fostered opportunism, escapism and confrontation within the Linden family, who have gathered to celebrate Professor Linden's 65th birthday and each of whom is struggling with their own crises. Linden wants only to continue teaching in a world that no longer seems to share his quiet ideals. The new vice-chancellor of the university is pressing Linden to retire, and family itself divides along political lines, the worldly versus the idealists. The critic Michael Billington summarises it thus: "Linden's put-upon wife, super-

spiv In the United Kingdom, the word spiv is slang for a type of petty criminal who deals in illicit, typically black market, goods. The word was particularly used during the Second World War and in the post-war period when many goods were rationed du ...

son and expatriate daughter all press him to opt for retirement. But his other daughters – a dedicated NHS doctor and a 17-year-old cello-playing student – urge him to fight on."

Critical reception

Reviewing the first production,

Philip Hope-Wallace Philip Adrian Hope-Wallace CBE (6 November 1911 – 3 September 1979) was an English music and theatre critic, whose career was mostly with ''The Manchester Guardian'' (later known as ''The Guardian''). From university he went into journalism afte ...

of ''

The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', thought it a good play, but one that "remains obstinately on this side of greatness", because the central character, Professor Linden, is "good and dogged" rather than heroic. The reviewer in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' also considered that the play was good but not great. After a 2006 revival of the play, Billington, reviewing it in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' thought it "a key work in the immediate post-war theatre".

Revivals and adaptations

The play was revived at the

Orange Tree Theatre The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style. Th ...

in 2006, and at the

Pentameters Theatre The Pentameters Theatre was founded in 1968 and is still run by artistic director Leonie Scott-Matthews, a well known Hampstead resident. It is a 60-seat venue and is a fringe theatre in the London Borough of Camden, located above the Three Horse ...

in 2011.Billington, Michael
"The Linden Tree"
''The Guardian'', 23 February 2006 A television version was broadcast in the ''

Play of the Month ''Play of the Month'' is a BBC television anthology series, which ran from 1965 to 1983 featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays (or adaptations) which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different wor ...

'' series in September 1974.

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

broadcast an adaptation by Mollie Greenhalgh directed by Kay Patrick in 1997, with Geoffrey Banks as Professor Linden, Kathleen Helme as Isabel, Christopher Godwin as Rex Linden, Carole Hayman as Dr Jean Linden, Joanna Wake as Marion de Saint Vaury, Penelope Reynolds as Dinah Linden and David Mahlowe as Alfred Lockhart. It was re-broadcast in 2017 on

BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a day. It is the sister station of BBC Radio 4 and the p ...

."J B Priestley - The Linden Tree - BBC Radio 4 Extra"
''BBC''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linden Tree, The 1947 plays Plays by J. B. Priestley West End plays