Play For Today Vol 3

Between 1970 and 1984, BBC’s acclaimed anthology series ‘Play For Today’ brought the country’s best writing, directing and acting talents into the nations’ living rooms – pushing boundaries and causing heated debates in the process. Fifty years on, some of the plays topics feel as relevant as ever despite a massive cultural, social and political shift. Newly restored and available as a 3-disc Blu-ray set, Vol 3 offers another six plays bound to get discussions started.

EDNA, THE INEBRIATE WOMAN (first broadcast on 21st Oct 1971) sees Patricia Hayes giving a terrific and terrifying performance as the play’s anti-heroine, a 60-year old homeless woman called Edna O’Casey (although during the course of the story she changes her name numerous times) who wanders from place to place in an alcoholic haze with only a plastic bag full of meagre belongings and ill-fitting, worn-out clothes on her emaciated body. With no fixed abode and no soul to care for her (and vice versa) Edna is always in search of the next meal, the next hostel, the next bed for the night though more often than not she’s forced to sleep rough on the streets along with fellow ‘vagrants’ or in barns scattered across the countryside. She washes her clothes in public lavatories, begs Joe Public for a few quid, scavenges in the bins for scraps of food and when greeted with hostility she angrily shouts “I am not a vagrant” while stomping her feet like a child who has been denied their dessert. Her only ‘friends’ are fellow homeless travellers she meets while on the road or at hostels, in other words, she and her newly found acquaintances usually part ways the following morning or shortly afterwards. Despite Edna’s foul temper, which lands her in the dock time and time again for disturbing the peace and being a public nuisance, which ultimately lands her in prison followed by a lengthy spell in the psychiatric ward, she continues with her annoying behaviour. On one occasion, she chucks her plate of haddock on the floor because the psychiatric nurse dared to serve up smoked fish: “I don’t like smoked fish” shouts Edna before going into her usual sulks and rants, only this time she is subjected to a dose of electro-convulsive shock-therapy to control her behaviour. Still – Edna doesn’t complain as it means the longer she stays in the psychiatric ward she doesn’t have to worry about finding a warm bed and food to eat (as long as it isn’t smoked fish) but when the doctor concludes that she’s not quite fit to be discharged anyway she decides to discharge herself (quite why we don’t know) and then she’s back on the road. Things finally seem to take a turn for the better when she encounters a hostel run by a charity organization called ‘Jesus Saves’ led by the sympathetic Josie Quinn (Barbara Jefford) who not only offers her a bed for the night (which Edna, in her usual drunken state, promptly wrecks) but a more permanent place to stay. As it turns out, the hostel in question is more of a permanent residence as opposed to a hostel for a few nights…until some of residents (the hostel is located in an residential street) complain about the noise some of the ‘vagrants’ cause. Despite the best efforts the council decides the hostel must shut down and gives Josie Quinn and her staff their marching orders though Edna, who is at the court when the fate of the ‘Jesus Saves’ hostel is decided, puts up an almighty ruckus upon hearing some neighbours complaining about the noisy vagrants. “I am not a vagrant” repeating her anthem until she is forcefully removed and brought under new care run by nuns. Here she has a complete breakdown crying out for her ‘mummy’ and through flashbacks we finally learn how Edna became the way she is, thanks to a traumatic childhood in which her father abandoned the family and the mother, suddenly forced to work all the hours under the sun to put food on the table, going to prison for child neglect. At the end Edna is seen on the road again, confessing to a fellow homeless woman that she prefers to flitter from place to place. While there is a good portion of gallows humour in this tale the film’s final twenty or so minutes highlight the true pathos of Edna and people like her who aren’t always to blame for their predicament but in fact heartless institutions, an uncaring society and continued failures by the social care system all contribute to Edna’s plight. Writer Jeremy Sandford researched the play by living rough himself for two weeks while director Ted Kotcheff talent’s ensured an authentic touch. At the 1972 British Academy Television Awards’ the play won in the category ‘Best Drama Production’ and Patricia Hayes’ deservedly received an award in the ‘Best Actress’ category.

JUST ANOTHER SATURDAY (first broadcast on 13th March 1975) is a very different beast altogether and just as thought-provoking as we follow the camera panning over the Glasgow skyline before the camera rests at the bed of young Glaswegian John (Jon Morrison) who, with his tousled curls, looks like a dead ringer for Marc Bolan or Sparks-frontman Russell Mael although what we hear is not rock music but the song ‘Bright, Orange and Blue’ associated with the controversial Orange Order founded by the Ulster Protestants in the late 18th century. Now it’s the 1970’s and Jon has been elected as ‘mace thrower’ for the annual Orange Walk – celebrating the British Union and causing the wrath of the Irish Fenians and the Scottish Nationalists. During the course of the film we follow Jon, his mates and the ‘Muirhill Flute Band’ as they march through the streets of Glasgow though Jon’s initial enthusiasm soon turns to scepticism when he witnesses his fellow Orange brethren consuming copious amounts of booze rather than observing Orange rituals. After a stop at Kelvingrove Park the Orange Walk continues until the parade reaches a street described as ‘Fenian Alley’ with Scots of Irish origin provoked by the display and hurling bottles and what have you at the Flute Band. Within minutes a bloody altercation takes place that even the police can’t stop. Running from the coppers in all directions, Jon later finds refuge in a pub where some punters are enjoying a pint. As it turns out, they are Catholic workmates and one of the lads, Paddy (Billy Connolly), invited Jon to join them despite being fully aware that he’s a Protestant – a gesture which further makes Jon doubt his involvement with the Orange Unionists, after all, the Catholics are Scottish just as he is. Later on at a bus stop Jon still gets a trashing and when he turns up back home in his parent’s place his Mum (Eileen McCallum) - a devoted Protestant – is initially angry at his soiled clothes and his having lost his expensive mace but ultimately she’s proud of her son while his Dad is inclined to take the ‘Catholics are Scottish just as us’ sentiment and thus taking his son’s stance. Directed by Edinburgh-born John Mackenzie, the screenplay was penned by Peter McDougall whose topics of 1970s Scottish working class culture and the back then popular Orange Walks might seem a trifle dated, however, Orange Walks still exist (though no longer on a regular basis) to this date and with the prospect of an independent Scotland and a post-Brexit Irish Union the themes of loyalism, national identity and violence under the guise of militarised rituals remain as potent as ever.

To ease the mood and the minds, Jack Rosenthal’s highly acclaimed BAR MITZVAH BOY (first broadcast on 14th September 1976) almost feels like a much needed comic relief though of course the story of 13-year old Elliot Green (Jeremy Steyn) who, on the very day of his Bar Mitzvah ritual decides that he doesn’t feel ready for the transition from boyhood to manhood (on grounds that all the men in his family are dull and act like children) had provoked many laughs (mainly from non-Jewish viewers) and angry reactions from Jewish viewers who felt insulted by the film’s depiction of a lower middle-class Jewish family who don’t always abide by their strict law. When Elliot’s Bar Mitzvah celebration nears, the entire family is spilling over with excitement including Elliot’s older sister Lesley (Adrienne Posta) and her dopey fiancé Harold (Jonathan Lyn). Meanwhile, father Victor (Bernard Spear) can’t understand why his wife and Elliot’s mum Rita (Maria Charles) can stop worrying about this, that and the other – driving everyone round the bend in the process. With her ridiculous hairstyle and garish make-up, Mum Rita demands that Elliott should get a haircut and be word-perfect when the moment arrives for him to recite passages from the Talmud in front of the congregation. But Elliot is like any other teenager of his age: he’d rather listen to rockers Slade (a big Slade poster adorns the outside of his door) and The Who when not playing with his toy trains and planes. The final nail in the coffin so to speak is the arrival of his patronising Grandad (Cyril Shaps) who will conduct part of the ceremony. The following day the family arrive at the synagogue (Elliot still sports his longish hair) and just when the moment of his speech draws closer Elliot decides to do a runner… and before you can say ‘mazel tov’ the boy buys a Micky Mouse mask from a joke shop and aimlessly wanders the streets of the London suburb of Willesden dressed as the famous Disney character before a fellow schoolmate whom he bumps into at the local park grasses him up by phoning his worried family – all of whom have by now returned to their house humiliated and with mother Rita unable to cope with the ‘shande’ (disgrace): “117 guests from all over the country on their way to the dance hall… 117 portions of chopped liver… 117 portions of gefilte fish… 117 portions of kosher chicken with potato dumplings… and WHERE is our Bar Mitzvah boy?” she moans… However, when sister Lesley fetches rebel Elliott from the park, things are pointing towards a happy ending after all… The play won the ‘1977 British Academy Television Award’ and has since been turned into a stage musical and radio play.

Last but not least we have the somewhat convoluted comedy THE MAYOR’S CHARITY (first broadcast on 29th November 1977) written by Henry Livings and directed by Mike Newell. It stars Thora Hird as headstrong Olive Major who is hell-bent that her year of office as mayor (set in the fictional English town Medburgh but filmed in Scottish Dundee) is a success. But the appointment of Ex-Warrant Officer, now mace bearer and pipe major of the local band, Higham (Frank Windsor) causes nothing but chaos and provides ample opportunity to satirize the workings of a local government – not least bumbling shenanigans when Monsieur and Madame Maripot (John F. Landry and Carol MacReady respectively) who represent Medburgh’s French twin town come to visit Mayor Olive, what with ‘court jester’ and dogsbody Mr. Destry (Phil Davis) putting his foot into just about everything and Olive’s brother-in-law Roderick (Roy Kinnear) in a continual sulk. Things get considerably worse during the annual charity ball when fellow pipe player ‘Bomber’ Harris (Ray Smith) first humiliates Higham with a kiss before an almighty standoff between Higham and Jourdemayne Griffith (Harry Landis) – Scotland’s answer to Liberace – brings the ballroom down! Despite its Gogolian humour ‘The Mayor’s Charity’ despite having its moments never really quite takes off.
A HOLE IN BABYLON (first broadcast on 29th November 1979) was written by Jim Hawkins and Horace Ové (who also contributed to the soundtrack and directed). The film dramatizes the real-life events of the 1975 Spaghetti House siege in London’s Knightsbridge which started as a bungled robbery but quickly descended into something far more political when it emerged that the robbers had been involved in black liberation organisations. T-Bone Wilson as Frank Davies, Archie Pool as Wes Dick and Trevor Thomas as Bonsu Monroe are perfectly cast as the three misunderstood individuals who end up in the slammer due to a mixture of unwise decisions and racial inequality in 1970’s Britain.
Finally, COMING OUT (first broadcast on 10th April 1979 – written by James Andrew Hall and directed by Carol Wiseman) sees Anton Rogers as cynical author Lewis Duncan – a closet gay who found fame with writing popular romances but never found the courage to ‘come out’, instead preferring to live a secret double-life with on/off lover Richie (Nigel Havers) and giving his long-suffering ‘secretary’ Cecilia Plasche (Lynda Marchal) a hard time. But when Duncan becomes even more successful with his articles for various gay publications which he pens under the name ‘Zippy Grimes’ one of the magazine’s editors, Harry Essendorf (Hywel Bennett) suggests it’s about high time Duncan set the record straight… This 3-disc release furthermore includes an exclusive 60-page info booklet.