John Hall (English playwright)

John Clifford Hall (26 June 1925 – 25 March 2001) was an English playwright who wrote over thirty plays for theatre, television and radio.^{[1][2]: 232}

John Hall in 1960

Biography

Hall was educated at Queens College, Oxford,^[3][4] where he studied under C. S. Lewis. Study for his MA was interrupted by service in the RNVR.  For this he studied Japanese and worked in Intelligence at Bletchley Park.^[5][6]

His first produced play World Behind Your Back, was in collaboration with actor William Eedle, at the Mercury Theatre in London in 1952.^[7][8]

Albert Finney starred in one of his most successful plays The Lizard on the Rock, at Birmingham Repertory Theatre^{[9]: dust jacket [10][11][12][13][14]} of which Michael Billington wrote: 'Above all, I remember him [Finney] in The Lizard on the Rock by John Hall, which required him to be shot at point-blank range in the stomach: as he suddenly crumpled, uttering cat-like cries, the critic Kenneth Tynan in The Observer described it as "the best fall since Feuillère", who was then queen of the French stage'.^[15]

The cover of The Lizard on the Rock, published by Methuen

The Lizard on the Rock was well-received.^[16][17][18] It is a story based around '...an industrialist – a Senator – who is prospecting for water...'^[14] '...in the Western Australian desert... the central character [is] outwardly a man of success and power, but faced with the collapse of his achievements...'^[11] and the realisation that 'Life cannot depend upon "the blandishments of power; the blind man groping among the useless treasure.'"^{[2]: 34 [9]: 22}

Sir John Gielgud was quoted as saying that the play contained 'a great deal of power and originality'.^{[9]: dust jacket} and the playwright Christopher Fry wrote: 'Mr Hall's mind is his own; what he has to say is his own...'^{[9]: dust jacket} The review in The Stage for the Birmingham production of the play read: 'an interesting journey through a variety of tense scenes, each peopled with characters that might in turn be the focal point of the play themselves... Mr. Hall... gives them an aura pregnant with possibilities.'^[10] The International Theatre Annual described the blank verse in The Lizard on the Rock as 'Eliotesque'.^[2]: 35

Hall wrote his play Exit, Joe, Running influenced by 'the marked contrasts of life at Oxford... and Keele [Universities]... The leading character – within a few months of leaving academia – writes a paper titled "39 Reasons Why University Is No Good"'.^[19]

Hall considered the most important playwrights of the 1960s were '...Harold Pinter, Christopher Fry, Robert Bolt, John Arden, John Osborne, Arnold Wesker, Peter Schaeffer and Charles Wood'.^[1] He was influenced by Christopher Fry during the resurrection of verse drama, and by Anton Chekhov. One of his own favourite plays was Everly, which never got beyond a rehearsed reading.^[1] Wrang-Gaites, written for his sons to enjoy,^[20]: 3 was originally performed by the York Theatre Royal Activists in 1973^[20]: 5 and was later set to music at Chichester University.^[21] Of Wrang-Gaites, playwright Christopher Fry wrote: 'It is as though the traditional Mummer's Play of St George and the Dragon had spread and ramified and leapt into the twentieth century.'^[20]: 7

Works

Stage plays

• 1957    The Strangers  –  Bristol Old Vic^[4][22][14]
• 1957    The Lizard on the Rock^[11] –  With Albert Finney (Augsberg theatre and Birmingham repertory company)^[23]
• 1958    The Holiday  –  No 1 tour with Sylvia Syms, Sian Phillips and Peter O’Toole
• 1959    The Net  –  Harrogate Opera House
• 1959    A Pennyworth of Love   –  Northampton Rep. theatre
• 1962    The Lizard on the Rock^[24][25][26]  –  tour and London Phoenix theatre with Sian Phillips, John Laurie and Harry Andrews^[27]
• 1963    I, John Brown^[28][29]  –  with Sir Ian McKellen, Ipswich Arts theatre
• 1965    Convolvulus^[30]  –  Theatre Royal, Windsor
• 1966    The Little Woman  –  Traverse theatre, Edinburgh^[31]
• 1973    Bondi's Dream  –  Pool Theatre, Edinburgh
• 1973    Alva the Widow  –  Netherbow, Edinburgh
• 1974    Grass and Sky  –  Strathclyde University theatre group
• 1976    Skin and Bones  –  Aberdeen University
• 1976    Wrang-Gaites  –  York and Aberdeen student productions
• 1977    Everly  –  workshop production for Scottish society of playwrights
• 1978    Any Horse looks Fast Going Past Trees  –  Lyceum. Edinburgh

Television plays

• 1961    The Break-Up, starring Rosalie Crutchley and James Donald  –  Play of the Week, ITV
• 1963    The Swindler  –  Armchair theatre, ABC TV
• 1964    Exit Joe, Running,^[32] starring Tim Preece  –  Armchair theatre, ABC TV
• 1984    Movie Queen,^[33] with Toyah Willcox and Annie Ross –  HTV
• 1985    Child Marlene^[34]  –  BBC2, Thirty Minute Theatre
• 1986    The Proposal  –  ITV, Love Story series

Radio plays

• 1982    Chrissie  –  Radio 4
• 1983    Jackie  –  Radio 4, Saturday Night theatre
• 1985    The Gaudy^[35][36]  –  Radio 3
• 1985    In the Venn Country^[37][38]  –  Radio 4
• 1986    Breakfast at Mother Brown's  –  Radio 4          
• 1987    The Bridge^[39]  –  Radio 4
• 1988    The Little House^[40]  –  Radio 3
• 1989    The Wedding of Jackie^[41]  –  Radio 4