GREENE, Graham.

£1,875 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Living Room. Script for the author's first play. Greene "discovered that with a play the writing continues after the play goes into production... He thoroughly enjoyed rehearsals and was struck by the fact that the actors all played a part in suggesting improvements" (Sherry, p. 454). This script presents an early state of the text, with significant differences from the published version.Greene started writing The Living Room late in 1951 and finished the play on 8 January 1952. Within three months, he had secured a producer, and the play had its premiere in Stockholm in October 1952. In England the play went to Edinburgh, then Glasgow, and Brighton before the London premiere on 16 April 1953. The work was "a truly tremendous success" (Sherry, p. 456). Eric Portman was the established star, but the play owed much success to the performance "by the young, still untried actress Dorothy Tutin" (Sherry, p. 456).This script comprises preliminary blank, title page, list of characters, list of scenes, the script of Act 1, scene 1 (24 pages), Act 1, scene 2 (25 pages), Act 2, scene 1 (15 pages), Act 2, scene 2 (14 pages), and Act 2, scene 3 (8 pages). There are divisional titles (on green paper) before each scene.The play first appeared in print in a Swedish translation in 1952. The first English edition was published by Heinemann in May 1953. The published text is restructured with only two scenes in Act 2. Wobbe notes that "a mimeograph script of The Living Room bears a typing

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