Cymbeline Refinished

Synopsis
Radio broadcast of G.B. Shaw’s rewriting of Act V of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline (Cymbeline Refinished, 1937). Produced by Wilfrid Grantham. Richard Hutton narrates. With music composed and conducted by Francis Collinson.
Language
English
Country
Great Britain
Medium
Radio
Transmission details
5 Oct 1951 at 20:15 (Channel: BBC Third Programme)
Duration
30 mins
Availability
No archive copy known

Credits

Producer
Wilfrid Grantham
Writer
George Bernard Shaw
Cast
Edmund WillardCymbeline, King of Britain
Fay ComptonImogen
Robert HarrisPosthumus Leonatus
Anthony JacobsIachimo
Basil DignamCaius Lucius
Charles LenoPisanio
Gabriel WoolfGuiderius
Noel IliffPhilario
Norman ShelleyBelarius
Philip LeveneCaptain
Richard BebbArviragus
Richard HuttonNarrator

Additional Details

Production type
Television and Radio Drama
Plays
Cymbeline
Subjects
Drama
Keywords
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Literary adaptation

Notes

Notes
A BBC recording.
General
Shaw’s version consists of a single scene in which he "presents Imogen as a modern woman, Posthumus as a complacent bourgeois, and Guiderius and Arviragus as independent-minded fellows who reject the chance to become Cymbeline’s heirs" ("Cymbeline", Shakespearean Criticism, Vol. 15, Detroit and London: Gale, 1991), p. 2.
History
Shaw’s Cymbeline Refinished was first performed at the Embassy Theatre, London, in 1937, where Shaw’s version was substituted in place of Shakespeare’s final act.

Shaw’s Foreword to Cymbeline Refinished had been broadcast on the Third Programme the previous day. A radio adaptation of Shakespeare’s play was broadcast on the same channel on 30/09/1951 (see separate entries).
Textual information
George Bernard Shaw. Cymbeline Refinished (Edinburgh: Privately printed, 1937).

Production Company

Name

BBC

Notes
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

How to cite this record

Shakespeare, "Cymbeline Refinished". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av67672 (Accessed 06 Dec 2024)