Wuthering Heights (1956)

Author:
New Play:

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First performance:
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Final performance:
Jurneman Winch (Joan Winch)
Yes

Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre
Concert Room, Scarborough Library
Round

26 July 1956
26 July 1956
29 August 1956
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Stage Manager:
Asst. Stage Manager:
Asst. Stage Manager:
Stephen Joseph

Margaret Tabor
Irene Fisher
Charles Lewsen
Character
Joseph
Nellie
Earnshaw
Heathcliff
Catherine
Edgar Linton
Actor
Harry Hancock
Berry Cardno
Walter Hall
John Rees
Shirley Jacobs
Peter Bridgmont

Why is this play significant?

The first adaptation of an existing work to be commissioned and presented at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre. It also marked the first time a dedicated publicity shoot for the play took place outside the theatre with Stephen Joseph, John Rees and Shirley Jacobs photographed on the North Yorkshire Moors near Whitby.

Notes

○ Jurneman Winch was the pseudonym for Joan Winch; presumably used because it was relatively rare at the time for women to break into professional theatre as playwrights.
○ Joan Winch was a participant in one of Stephen Joseph's playwriting courses held at the Central School Of Speech And Drama, London, prior to Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre opening in 1955. She also wrote one of the four plays in the venue's inaugural season Turn Right At The Crossroads.
○ Publicity for the play included the first 'exterior' work with a series of photos taken on the North Yorkshire Moors with the company's founder, Stephen Joseph, 'directing' John Rees & Shirley Jacobs.
○ Wuthering Heights was the first adaptation of an existing work to be presented at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre and is an adaptation of Emily Brontë's famed novel.
○ In 1960, Wuthering Heights would be revived at the Library Theatre with Alan Ayckbourn playing the role of Heathcliff.
All research for this page by Simon Murgatroyd.