A filmed version of the acclaimed stage play, chronicling the brutal disintegration of a marriage.
E. A. Whitehead’s corrosive two-character play is confined to the living room of Mr and Mrs Elliot. Frank Elliot (Albert Finney) and his wife, Nora (Rachel Roberts), are locked in a battle of attrition, their domestic life a suffocating arena for recrimination and psychological warfare. The drama observes their relationship at three crucial points, separated by years: a bitter argument reveals the cracks in their union, a later confrontation shows the marriage has become a prison of mutual resentment, and a final meeting confirms its total collapse. The action is an unsparing depiction of two people who cannot live together yet are unable to part.
This television production was a direct transfer of the celebrated Royal Court Theatre staging, reuniting its original actors and director. Broadcast as the first in a series of BBC presentations highlighting the work of major theatre companies, it was an uncompromising piece of programming. Director Anthony Page made the crucial decision to shoot on film inside a real suburban house rather than a studio set, a choice that amplified the claustrophobia inherent in the text. The result is a raw, airless, and intensely focused drama, stripping away any theatrical artifice to become a savage dissection of marital failure, powered by two devastating central performances.
Broadcast: BBC Two, 1 Episode, Tuesday, 1 January 1974
Written by: E. A. Whitehead
Director: Anthony Page
Producer: Timothy Burrill
Main Cast: Albert Finney (Frank Elliot), Rachel Roberts (Nora Elliot)
