A Royal Shakespeare Company stage production is brought to the small screen, detailing a determined young woman’s quest to win the love of an unwilling nobleman.
Helena (Lynn Farleigh), the gifted daughter of a late physician, is the ward of the Countess of Roussillon (Catherine Lacey) and is secretly in love with the Countess’s son, the arrogant Bertram (Ian Richardson). When Bertram departs for the court of the ailing King of France (David Langton), Helena follows. She uses her father’s secret remedy to cure the King, who in gratitude allows her to choose any of his courtiers as her husband. She chooses Bertram, who is appalled at the prospect of marrying below his station. Forced into the union, he immediately abandons her for the Italian wars, vowing never to be a true husband until she can get his family ring from his finger and become pregnant with his child: two seemingly impossible tasks.
This production holds a significant place in broadcast history as the first Shakespeare play transmitted in colour on British television. John Barton’s celebrated Royal Shakespeare Company staging was instrumental in reclaiming a work long dismissed as one of Shakespeare’s difficult ‘problem plays.’ After receiving tremendous critical acclaim for its stage runs in Stratford, London, and on an international tour, the production was chosen to be recorded for television. The broadcast served a dual purpose: it preserved a landmark theatrical event and acted as a formidable showcase for the artistic potential of the BBC’s new colour service. The direction prioritises the psychological clarity of the performances, with Ian Richardson’s chillingly arrogant Bertram providing the drama’s cold, compelling centre.
Broadcast: BBC Two, 1 Episode, 28 April 1968
Written by: William Shakespeare
Director: John Barton
Producer: Michael Bakewell
Main Cast: Lynn Farleigh (Helena), Ian Richardson (Bertram), Catherine Lacey (Countess of Roussillon), Clive Swift (Parolles), Sebastian Shaw (Lafeu), David Langton (King of France), Brewster Mason (A Lord), Elizabeth Spriggs (A Widow)
