The Complete Plays: Wuthering Heights (1956)

Production Details
Title:
Author / Adaptor:
New Play:

Venue:
Location:
Staging:
Wuthering Heights
Jurneman Winch (Joan Winch)
Yes

The Library Theatre, Scarborough
Concert Room
Round
Original Work:
Author:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:
Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë

26 July 1956
26 July 1956
29 August 1956
Company Details
Director:

Stage Manager:
Assistant Stage Manager:
Assistant 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?
Wuthering Heights was 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 an adaptation of Emily Brontë's famed novel.
○ In 1960, Wuthering Heights would be revived at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre with Alan Ayckbourn playing the role of Heathcliff.
○ Wuthering Heights had only a short interval between scenes 4 & 5 to allow for a scenery change.
All research for this page by Simon Murgatroyd. Image copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust