''Badger's Green'' is a 1930 British

comedy play Comedy is a genre of dramatic performance having a light or humorous tone that depicts amusing incidents and in which the characters ultimately triumph over adversity. For ancient Greeks and Romans, a comedy was a stage-play with a happy endi ...

written by R.C. Sheriff. A company has ambitious plans to redevelop the quiet, picturesque village of Badger's Green. The inhabitants mount a resistance campaign and it is eventually decided to settle the future of the village by playing a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

match. The play originally opened in June 1930 at London's

Prince of Wales Theatre The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre in Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in London. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner. The theatre ...

, where it ran for only 35 performances. It has however, been adapted for the screen three times: a 1934 version starring

Valerie Hobson Babette Louisa Valerie Hobson (14 April 1917 – 13 November 1998) was a British actress whose film career spanned the 1930s to the early 1950s. Her second husband was John Profumo, a British government minister who became the subject of the Pro ...

, a 1938 version starring

Maurice Denham William Maurice Denham (23 December 1909 – 24 July 2002) was an English actor who appeared in over 100 films and television programmes in his long career. Early life Denham was born on 23 December 1909 in Beckenham, Kent, the son of Eleanor ...

and a 1949 version starring

Garry Marsh Garry Marsh (21 May 1902 – 6 March 1981) was an English stage and film actor. Biography Born Leslie March Gerahty on 21 May 1902 in St Margarets, Middlesex, his parents were George and Laura. His elder brothers were the author Digby George ...

. It was also adapted for television twice: a now-lost 1938 version on BBC television and a 1958 version as part of ''ITV Television Playhouse'', also lost.

Original West End cast

*Mr. Butler -

Felix Aylmer Sir Felix Edward Aylmer Jones (21 February 1889 – 2 September 1979) was an English stage actor who also appeared in the cinema and on television. Aylmer made appearances in films with comedians such as Will Hay and George Formby. Early life ...

*Mr. Rogers -

Frederick Burtwell Augustus Frederick Burtwell (23 December 1894 – 16 November 1948) was an English actor, on stage from 1914, who featured in supporting roles in over 40 British films of the 1930s and 1940s. Partial filmography * '' Other People's Sins'' ...

*Mr. Butler's secretary - Maisie Darrell *Dickie Wetherby - Robert Douglas *Ginger - George Elliston *Major Forrester - Louis Goodrich *Mary -

Kathleen Harrison Kathleen Harrison (23 February 1892 – 7 December 1995) was a prolific English character actress best remembered for her role as Mrs. Huggett (opposite Jack Warner and Petula Clark) in a trio of British post-war comedies about a working-cla ...

*Dr. Wetherby -

Horace Hodges Horace Hodges (19 December 1863 – 6 July 1951) was a British stage and film actor and writer. Hodges was the author (with Thomas Wigney Percyval) of the play ''Grumpy'' which saw a Broadway production in 1913, a silent film version in 1923, a ...

*Mrs Wetherby -

Margaret Scudamore Margaret Scudamore (13 November 1881 – 5 October 1958) was an English theatre and film actress who began in '' ingenue'' roles before achieving a prolonged career in stage and screen support roles. She and her first husband, Roy Redgrav ...

*Woman - Peggy Seton *Mrs. Forrester - Hilda Sims *Mr. Twigg -

Sebastian Smith ''Sebastian Smith'' (3 October 1869 – 15 January 1948) was a British stage and film actor. He was born in Southwell, Nottinghamshire. Filmography * ''Rescued by Rover'' (1905) * '' Prehistoric Peeps'' (1905) * ''The Tramp's Dream'' (190 ...

References

1930 plays Comedy plays Plays by R. C. Sherriff West End plays {{1930s-play-stub