Home by David Storey. Cast: Sir John Gielgud, Sir Ralph Richardson, Dandy Nichols, Mona Washbourne, Warren Clarke. Music by Alan Price Directed by Lindsay Anderson.
Saw this at the National Theatre London. Excellent. Became friends later with both Sir John and Sir Ralph. True Greats of the theatre. Always remember Sir John asking me if I thought I was talented. “Yes”, I replied....”Oh, not a wise thing to say........you should always be very modest in our profession”...he replied.
@@lucianopavarotti2843 what a shame you fantasise you are Pavarotti, yet are unable to relate to the real world. Envy is a terrible curse. What I said is the complete truth…if you cannot accept that other people live fantastic lives, that is your problem. I feel real sorry for you…..
@Chaim Mendel hi, I used to act years ago, culminating in being invited by Bryan Forbes to join his production of Macbeth with Peter O’Toole at the Old Vic. (1980) What is going to be more disconcerting for the sad person calling himself Luciano Pavarotti who commented on my post, is that I have counted as my friends Gielgud,, Guinness, Richardson and the Olivier family among many other illustrious names. Also, having lived in Los Angeles for 17 yrs, spent the afternoon with Fred Astaire, and have many letters from Bette Davis as we used to keep in contact. (She used to write to me in red ink, on red edged paper…)
@@rexamian8708 I was on the paid Buckingham palace tour a few years back. Spotted the Queen rushing down some distant stairs. A great Monarch. We became pals later, joshing over a victoria sponge cake and tea in her private apartments. 'Does one think one is regal?' she would ask me. 'Of course! ' I would say, and she would cry 'Off to the Tower with you!', collapsing into a pile of Corgis as she giggled....
@@lucianopavarotti2843 hi, I can understand your incredulity if you have led a more sheltered life. To someone who is in the acting profession it’s a very small world, and these people are just like anyone else. One is never a hero to their valet. You are absolutely entitled to your opinion, but what benefit do I derive from exaggerating? I will never meet those who read my post. I gave a genuine account, and feel elated that my life experiences can only be equated by you as elevated to the realms of fantasy. I never really appreciated that others would gaze on in awe. ps….your reply was really humorous. Should I take it at face value? All the very best. Peter Roberts
A wonderful play and great performances, by two of the greats of the 20th Century. Enjoy every moment, nuance, and subtlety. We no longer have actors of this calibre.
Those majestic voices! The dialogue of the opening scene is constructed like a song and, of course, the two great knights of theatre sing it in sublime harmony.
I grant you I cry easily, but the sight of Sir John Gielgud with tears running down his face was heart wrenching. I recall the line, 'God is very old and very tired'. This was a play, and performances, with full symbolic resonance. Tremendous.
Saw this play at a matinée in London in 1973-brilliant acting by Gielgud and Richardson. Will never forget it, and thank you for this rare televised performance.
True craftsmen of the art. Talent that will never be seen again. I looooove this show. Seen it many times and never tire of finding some small, new nuiance each time.
Loved this extraordinary piece of theater. You must be patient with the disjointed dialogue, focusing on their brilliant, effortlessly, sense of rhythm together as the piece slowly unfold to include more characters. Indeed a rare and priceless gem.
Thank you so much for posting this wonderful play with two of my favourite actors, Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud. Watching them is like listening to two great virtuosos on an instrument. The ladies were fabulous too. Never heard of the play. It's a gem. British theatre at its finest.
Holy Moses. I saw this great character play once as a contest between the two best Dutch actors, it was called, in Dutch "Fine weather today, isn't it?" (Mooi weer vandaag). It was on television, too. I was too young to see it then but I saw the recorded broadcast, just like this one. I did not know it was an English play. The Dutch actors were much like these. Richardson was played by Ko van Dijk, even more ebulliently because of the man's voice, but the Gielgud part was exactly like it. It must have been that the director had seen this English play with Gielgud and Richardson and thought it a good idea to simply imitate it.
So grateful for your posting. I was lucky enough to see No Man's Land at the National in 1975 - I was 14! - but regretted never seeing this. I didn't even know it had been televised. Can't thank you enough, just subscribed.
Yes, I agree. I'd also add Alan Bennett's The Old Country which alas doesn't seem to have been filmed. And anyway, it starred Alec Guinness! Although that's no bad thing.
Thank you for the opportunity to see something so rare! Two of the greatest 20th century actors working together, in a play first performed before I was born!
Saw it in its original run in London in 1970. Can't recall if it was at the Royal Court or after its transfer to the Apollo. (The latter, I suspect.) I was a teenager and was transfixed. Thanks for posting this.
Wonderful to see these two giants in the touching play "Home". I know the play performed in 1971 by the 2 most famed and celebrated actors in The Netherlands; Ko van Dijk and Paul Steenbergen. So it is wonderful to see the play performed by the brilliant John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson. Thank you for uploading this.
I seem to remember David Storey was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 about 25 years ago claiming to have not really known how to write a play, so he just sat down and wrote it, straight, by hand, more or less as it is. I'm surprised it isn't performed more often - it's so open to different interpretations, like much of the great writing. John Hardy, Cardiff, Cymru/Wales
For some reason Storey became slagged off. This is a beautiful, disturbing, puzzling piece of work. Just like life. Acting from all 5 of the highest quality.
Wonderful. Reminds me of Pinter and ‘No Man’s Land’ with these two amazing never to be seen again actors . But that was written post ‘Home’ but sense the influence of Pinter in the creation of these amazing characters.
This is a gem of a play by celebrated author and playwright David Storey. Interestingly, I don't think it's typical of his work in general, and from its non sequiturs and off-kilter dialogue, it could almost be a Pinter play at times. Ralph Richardson had this gloriously eccentric air which made him perfect for surreal comedy. I remember him in a performance of an Eduardo translation "Inner Voices" by renowned absurdist playwright NF Simpson.
Can somebody here who knows please help me as I found nothing on the internet about a play I saw on ABC Network in America or maybe it was PBS when I was a kid ... ... I could have sworn it was called home and it was about people in the near future in a very small space like a pod reminiscing about what it used to be like in the past and the scene that I always remembered was them reminiscing about what it used to be like when people could swim in the ocean and ride the waves . Please if anybody knows what I'm talking about please tell me the exact title and the playwright
It's not their fault, they are under-rehearsed. And one can't blame the director for that, as the two actors' agents or SOMEBODY should have insisted on it. Maybe once the two actors were 'booked' the rush to get it performed was inevitable. But SOMEHOW two intelligent actors didn't get the chance to give lines the time for which they all BEG. Sad, eh? J.
Interesting. IMDB also shows it as airing on February 11, 1968 in the US as Season 2 Episode 18 of NET Playhouse. Same cast. This date is before the premier of the play in the UK, so it's probably not correct. Possibly a confusion with another production of the same name.
Ralph Richardson towers above Gielgud: phrasing, intonation, movement, facial expressions--not to say diction. (Agreed that Gielgud's diction is also superb, but the rest repeats across characters and pieces, with very similar mannerisms and a peculiar vacant stare.)
Have to disagree there! The extremely emotionally suppressed character Sir John portrays is necessarily more limited in personal expression. The tears are his one outlet, but there are moments when his eyes convey a wealth of implication.
