A live studio production of Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a woman’s difficult past and her search for redemption at sea.
After a twenty-year absence, the world-weary Anna Christopherson (Monica McGrath) arrives in New York to find her estranged father, Chris (Frank Foster), the Swedish captain of a coal barge. Cynical and exhausted by a life she has kept hidden from him, Anna reluctantly joins her father on his vessel, seeking respite. Their isolated life is interrupted when they rescue a group of shipwrecked sailors, including the boisterous Irish stoker Mat Burke (Tommy Duggan). A powerful and volatile romance quickly develops between Anna and Mat, but the secrets of her past soon surface, threatening her chance at a new life.
Broadcast just seven weeks after the BBC Television Service resumed following the Second World War, this was an ambitious undertaking. Unlike the BBC’s 1937 broadcast, which presented a single act from a stage show, this was a full studio production from Alexandra Palace, mounted twice for live transmission. The choice of material was significant; O’Neill’s gritty, naturalistic drama represented a serious artistic statement for the newly revived service. The role of the grizzled barge captain Chris was taken by Frank Foster, an actor who had recently appeared for the BBC in its production of Saint Joan.
Broadcast: BBC, 2 Performances, 23 July – 31 July 1946
Written by: Eugene O’Neill
Production by: Fred O’Donovan
Main Cast: Monica McGrath (Anna Christopherson), Frank Foster (Chris Christopherson), Tommy Duggan (Mat Burke), Helen Misener (Marthy Owen), Roger Snowdon (Bar-Tender), George Dillon (Postman), Alan Crawley (Johnson)
