ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE
by David Pearson
Directed by David Gower
Cast:
Michael Bird, Jillyan Healey, John Holloway, Michael Langridge, Ted Scrivener
THE AUTHOR
Questopics June 1970
David Pearson joined Questors in 1962 as a student actor, his first part being Preacher Haggler in Dark of the Moon, the first student production in the new theatre.
Since successfully completing the student course, he has played Bill Walker in Major Barbara, Fainall in Way of the World, Joe in My Poll and Partner Joe and six characters in Fairy Tales of New York. His more recent appearances have been in The Comedy of Errors and Danny Abse's Dogs of Pavlov in last year's New Plays Festival. In the former when it was played at the Minack Theatre, one local paper described his performance as 'a little gem', which earned him the nickname of'Gemmy' from some of the less reverent members of the company. In the latter he met Sonia Dowden in the Grapevine (hardly a very romantic place, it's so uncomfortable), nevertheless they were married in January and are living happily ever after.
In Fond Memory of David Pearson
THE PLAY
Questopics June 1970
All The Lonely People is David's first full-length play. It was drafted during his student days as a development of the improvisations they were doing as part of the course. Originally it had only two characters, but when it was rewritten the number was increased to five. The author says that he felt like Frankenstein who could not control the monster he created, so the characters took possession of the play, like wayward children, leaving David to record what they said and did almost in the role of a spectator.
David feels that his play is sad yet describes it as a sex comedy without sex. He is fascinated by the odd things people do, like selling religion from door-to-door; starting private armies, pursuing strange unreal obsessions and his play is about these people. It has themes to suit all tastes—from the need for anger as a positive force in the human personality through the evils of correlating sex with religion, the nature of military dictatorships and the domination of the male by the female—to the problem of how to stop twenty-two tramps marching about in your billiard room. People resist but finally embrace the relationship which will destroy them. This last is the play's 'message', a sad contention presented in a humorous context.
PRODUCTION PHOTOS
PRESS RESPONSE
David Pearson's first full-length play impressed reviewers with its originality, wit and theatrical imagination, although all three believed it would benefit from greater economy. Frank Cox praised its inventive comic writing and memorable characters but felt the final section became over-explanatory and would profit from substantial cutting. The Stage similarly suggested that material suitable for an entertaining one-act play had been over-extended, while Amateur Stage considered the play overcrowded with themes and insufficiently unified in structure. Despite these reservations, reviewers recognised Pearson's considerable promise as a playwright and admired the freshness of his comic invention.
Amateur Stage
Plays and Players
The Stage and Television Today
QUESTORS ARCHIVES
ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE