The Complete Plays: Necessary Doubt (1963)
Note: Necessary Doubt was advertised in the Library Theatre's 1963 summer season brochure as well as in the press. However, the play was never produced. This page contains what details were announced of the production for historical research. Dates, company members and staging details are included to indicate what was planned for the play had it been performed.
Production Details
Title:
Author:
New Play:
Venue:
Location:
Staging:
Author:
New Play:
Venue:
Location:
Staging:
Necessary Doubt
Colin Wilson
Yes
The Library Theatre, Scarborough
Concert Room
Round
Colin Wilson
Yes
The Library Theatre, Scarborough
Concert Room
Round
Advertised opening:
Advertised closing:
Director:
Advertised closing:
Director:
25 July 1963
28 August 1963
Stephen Joseph (TBC)
28 August 1963
Stephen Joseph (TBC)
Notes
○ Necessary Doubt was an (unwritten) new play advertised for the 1963 summer season but was not produced and instead replaced with Three Plays by James Saunders.
○ The play was to have been written by Colin Wilson, who had achieved fame in 1956 with his book The Outsider and had been encouraged by Stephen Joseph to try his hand at playwriting. This produced the one act play Viennese Interlude in 1959 and would have presumably led to the full-length play Necessary Doubt. Stephen was keen to encourage the writer as he hoped he would attract attention to the work being done at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre.
○ Although we do not know the intended director of the production, it was more than likely to be Stephen Joseph, given it was he who had built up the relationship with Colin Wilson.
○ Necessary Doubt was described in the brochure as "a thriller, which is more than a 'whodunit', by Colin Wilson, author of The Outsider." No reason was officially given for why the theatre did not go ahead with the production, although it is known Colin Wilson never completed the play. Intriguingly, in 1964, he published a novel called Necessary Doubt which was a thriller with a sci-fi twist and which seems likely to have elements of the abandoned play.
○ The play was to have been written by Colin Wilson, who had achieved fame in 1956 with his book The Outsider and had been encouraged by Stephen Joseph to try his hand at playwriting. This produced the one act play Viennese Interlude in 1959 and would have presumably led to the full-length play Necessary Doubt. Stephen was keen to encourage the writer as he hoped he would attract attention to the work being done at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre.
○ Although we do not know the intended director of the production, it was more than likely to be Stephen Joseph, given it was he who had built up the relationship with Colin Wilson.
○ Necessary Doubt was described in the brochure as "a thriller, which is more than a 'whodunit', by Colin Wilson, author of The Outsider." No reason was officially given for why the theatre did not go ahead with the production, although it is known Colin Wilson never completed the play. Intriguingly, in 1964, he published a novel called Necessary Doubt which was a thriller with a sci-fi twist and which seems likely to have elements of the abandoned play.
All research for this page by Simon Murgatroyd.