In this single play by Clive Exton, a travelling actor finds himself lodging in a house of secrets where a young woman lives in isolation.
Richard (Ian Hendry), a voluble Irish actor, arrives at a rambling house to take up lodgings. He soon discovers another resident: a young woman named Serena (Ann Lynn) who lives in a state of arrested development, locked away with old books, films, and records. She has been shielded from the outside world and remains fixated on the past, particularly the memory of her deceased parents. Richard, an intruder from the modern world, attempts to understand the reasons for her strange, secluded existence.
Clive Exton’s teleplay is constructed as a modern fairy tale, an unsettling chamber piece built around two central performances. The drama derives its tension from the collision of its two protagonists: the loud, shambling, theatrical Richard and the reclusive, almost spectral Serena. Ian Hendry’s performance as the “ham Irish actor” injects a boisterous, disruptive energy into the play’s quietly mysterious atmosphere. The script avoids easy explanations for Serena’s situation, instead creating a weirdly fascinating character study about the prisons, both real and psychological, that people build for themselves.
Broadcast: BBC One, 1 Episode, Wednesday, 29 September 1965
Written by: Clive Exton
Director: Alan Cooke
Producer: Michael Bakewell
Main Cast: Ian Hendry (Richard), Ann Lynn (Serena), Tony Steedman (Henry), John Carlin (Simon), Frederick Danner (David), Geraldine Moffatt (April), Julie Allan (Anne), Anthony Roye (Director), Marigold Sharman (Actress), Douglas Ditta (Doctor), Richard Cuthbert, Forbes Douglas, Kenneth Poitevin
