A biographical play chronicling key moments in the life of the 16th US President.
This live television play dramatises key events in the political career of Abraham Lincoln (Malcolm Keen). The story includes historical figures central to the American Civil War, such as General Lee (Neil Porter) and General Grant (Norman Shelley), alongside members of Lincoln’s cabinet. The production also depicts Lincoln’s eventual assassin, John Wilkes Booth (Desmond Davis), setting the stage for the President’s tragic fate.
Adapted from John Drinkwater’s celebrated 1918 stage play, this production was an ambitious undertaking for the fledgling BBC Television Service. Broadcast live from Alexandra Palace just months after the service launched, the play’s historical sweep required a large cast and multiple sets, a considerable challenge for the era’s primitive studio technology. As was standard practice for major live dramas of the time, the production was performed twice on separate evenings, a necessity in an era before television recording existed. The ephemeral nature of these broadcasts means they survive only in programme records, a glimpse of the pioneering but fleeting work of television’s earliest years.
Broadcast: BBC, 2 Performances, 6 May – 8 May 1937
Written by: John Drinkwater
Production by: Stephen Thomas
Main Cast: Malcolm Keen (Abraham Lincoln), Neil Porter (Hook / General Lee), Norman Shelley (Seward / General Grant), J. Adrian Byrne (Cameron / Meade), Desmond Davis (Blair / Dennis / John Wilkes Booth), Geoffrey Keen (Slaney), Jack Allen (Messenger / Malins), Harding Steerman (Stanton)
