Questories

QUESTSTORIES
THE QUESTORS NEW PLAYS FESTIVALS
1st Festival 1960
THE HOUSE OF COWARDS

THE HOUSE OF COWARDS
by Dannie Abse

Directed by John Mcgrath
Cast:
Alan Drake, David Evans, Barbara Hutchins, Michael Hutton, Paul Imbusch, Joan Pyle, Eileen Shannon, Michael Simpson, Cyril Spencer

THE AUTHOR

Dannie Abse (1923–2014) was a Welsh poet, novelist, playwright and physician. Born into a Jewish family in Cardiff, he practised medicine for more than thirty years while establishing himself as one of Britain’s most admired contemporary poets.

Abse was a regular contributor to the New Plays Festival and a close friend of The Questors, which presented The House of Cowards (1960), Gone and The Joker (1962), Is the House Shut? (1964), The Dogs of Pavlov (1969) and Funland (1975).

The House of Cowards won the Charles Henry Foyle Award, while the publication of Three Questors Plays in 1967 reflected Abse’s particularly close association with the theatre.

The Questors later revived Gone in 1983 and presented Three Masks of “O” in 1997.

Alfred Emmet's Foreword to three of Dannie Abse's plays published in 1967
Dannie Abse on Wiklipedia
Dannie Abse Obituary (The Guardian)

THE PLAY

"The Speaker is due to address a great public meeting. Eager to hear the message he is to bring, the whole town is agog, not least the Higgs household, selected by the sponsoring newspapers as the place where the Speaker will lodge. Out of this situation Dannie Abse creates a haunting play, enriched with vivid characters, which is pertinent comment on our civilisation."

This play won the Charles Henry Foyle Trust Award in 1960.

Alfred Emmet and Dannie Abse receiving the Charles Henry Foyer Trust Award for
THE HOUSE OF COWARDS

THE DIRECTOR

This was John McGrath's one and only production at the Questors. He was already an established author in his own right, associated with The Royal Court.

John McGrath on Wikipedia

PRESS REACTION...

Critical reaction was sharply divided. The Stage hailed The House of Cowards as "a splendid and notable theatrical experience", praising both Dannie Abse's original conception and John McGrath's production, despite some reservations about its pacing. Douglas McVay, writing in the Middlesex County Times, was far less convinced, arguing that the play lost its way after a promising opening and became an over-complicated philosophical allegory that ultimately failed to fulfil its dramatic promise.

The Middlesex County Times

The Stage and Television Today

QUESTORS ARCHIVES
THE HOUSE OF COWARDS