A prompt copy, with extensive annotations throughout, adapting the text for use in a performance of the play. The annotations consist of numerous pencil underlinings, highlighting the various printed stage directions in addition to scattered verbal additions and alterations to these, as well as prompts for sound, lighting, and visual effects, and for stage curtains. These are boldly highlighted using pasted-in squares of paper with red typed text bearing phrases such as “Clock strike eleven. Lights up”, “Warn door slam”, and “Warn gas flicker”, with red (for curtain) and blue (for sound) ink lines directing the reader to the relevant point in the text. In addition to this are pencil notes to the endpapers listing props required for the play, actors’ initials in blue ink beside the printed character list, and an additional typed paper slip tipped-in between pp.58-59, inserting a new line of dialogue. Interestingly, there are also numerous instances where pencil additions have been erased or altered, demonstrating the ongoing development of the production. An excellent example of a thoroughly utilised play script, meticulously annotated and personalised, and which doubtless saw many performances.
First edition. Publisher’s original red card wrappers. Illustrated with six drawings of the stage setting and scenery at the rear. A good working copy with typical signs of use. The binding secure with tape and brown paper reinforcement to the hinges, the spine reinforced with blue cloth, an old staple to the upper cover, and little wear to the extremities. The contents with an old paper repair to the margin of one page (affecting a single word of text) and light scattered finger-marking are otherwise in good order.
THE PLAY:
A comedy charting the life of a family over forty years by the playwright Lionel Brown. Although somewhat obscure today, Brown’s plays during the 1930s and 1940s met with great critical acclaim, including the present work, as demonstrated by the long list of enthusiastic press notices at the front of the text.
