ENDS AND ECHOES: THREE PLAYS by James Saunders COMMITTAL BARNSTABLE RETURN TO A CITY
Directed by Peter Whelan Cast: Jo Arundel, Peter Browning, Patricia Hooper, Barbara Jackson, Vincent McQueen, Laurence Nixon, Victor Pompini
THE AUTHOR
James Saunders (1925–2004) was one of the most distinctive British dramatists to emerge in the late 1950s and became particularly closely associated with The Questors. His early work combined theatrical experiment, philosophical enquiry and an acute ear for the ambiguities of language, leading to his recognition as a British exponent of the Theatre of the Absurd.
"Barnstable " and " Return to a City." These two plays, though quite different in characters, time and place, as well as in mood, are intended by the author to be complementary and to be played together.
" Barnstable " has in fact had a separate radio performance, and is in richly comic vein, in the genre of inconsequential comedy.
In "Return to a City," the "after" of "Barnstable's" "before," the comedy takes on a more serious overtone.
THE DIRECTOR
This was the first of many plays that Peter Whelan directed at The Questors after having established himself as one of our major actors. He was soon to begin his own career as a successful playwright with close connections to The Royal Shakespeare Society, notably with The Accrington Pals, The Herbal Bed, Clay and The School of Night.
James Saunders' trilogy emerged as the critical success of the Festival. Douglas McVay, in the Middlesex County Times, admired Saunders' originality and surreal theatrical style, describing the work as a near-success whose wit and invention placed him firmly among the most promising experimental playwrights of the day. The Stage was equally enthusiastic, praising the trilogy's imagination and singled out Laurence Nixon's performance in Committal as a highlight of the Festival.
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James Saunders (1925–2004) was one of the most distinctive British dramatists to emerge in the late 1950s and became particularly closely associated with The Questors. His early work combined theatrical experiment, philosophical enquiry and an acute ear for the ambiguities of language, leading to his recognition as a British exponent of the Theatre of the Absurd. 