"The Lady from the Sea" is a 1953 episode of ''

Sunday Night Theatre ''Sunday Night Theatre'' was a long-running series of televised live television plays screened by BBC Television from early 1950 until 1959. The productions for the first five years or so of the run were re-staged live the following Thursday, pa ...

'' that is significant as one of the earliest extant examples of British television drama, along with an earlier episode of the series titled "It is Midnight, Doctor Schweitzer" and the first two episodes of ''

The Quatermass Experiment ''The Quatermass Experiment'' is a British science fiction serial broadcast by BBC Television during the summer of 1953 and re-staged by BBC Four in 2005. Set in the near future against the background of a British space programme, it tells th ...

''. An adaptation of the 1888 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, it was performed twice, first on 10 May 1953 and again on the 14th. One of these live transmissions was recorded using the then-experimental

telerecording Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940 ...

process.

Cast

Irene Worth Irene Worth, CBE (June 23, 1916March 10, 2002) was an American stage and screen actress who became one of the leading stars of the British and American theatre. She pronounced her given name with three syllables: "I-REE-nee". Worth made her Bro ...

as Ellida * Robert Harris as Wangel * Hamlyn Benson as Ballested *

Eric Berry James Eric Berry (born December 29, 1988) is an American former football safety who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers, where he was a two-time unanimous All-American and recog ...

as Arnholm * Douglas Campbell as The Stranger * Paul Harding as Lyngstrand (as Brian Harding) * Sarah Lawson as Bolette * Jane Wenham as Hilda

Reception

John Wyver, reviewing the programme in 2011, said ''"even nearly sixty years on, few allowances have to be made for it to be enjoyed as small-screen drama of the first order"'' and ''"Irene Worth demands attention and captures the eye in just the way that I recall

Vanessa Redgrave Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, two ...

doing at the Roundhouse"''

References

External links

* British television plays Films based on works by Henrik Ibsen 1953 television plays Sunday Night Theatre {{tv-episode-stub