Witness for the Prosecution (play)
Encyclopedia
Witness for the Prosecution is a play adapted by Agatha Christie
based upon her short story
titled "The Witness for the Prosecution
". The play opened in London
on October 28, 1953 at the Winter Garden Theatre
(although the first performance had actually been in Nottingham
on September 28). It was produced by Peter Saunders
.
of October 29, 1953 was enthusiastic in its praise stating, "The author has two ends in view, and she attains them both. She takes us now into the Old Bailey
during an exciting trial for murder, now into chambers where the human reactions of the lawyers engaged in the case may be studied; and when the trial is over and there seems no more to be said, she swiftly ravels again the skein which the law has confidently unravelled and leaves herself with a denouement which is at once surprising and credible." The reviewer outlined the basics of the plot, commenting that Patricia Jessel's performance in the dock was "cold-bloodied" and that she "makes a clear-cut image of hatred releasing itself suddenly from inhibitions which have become intolerable" and that Derek Blomfield was "equally good". The greatest praise was reserved for the climax; "Mrs Christie has by this time got the audience in her pocket. A timely intervention of a woman of the streets offering new evidence seems precisely what the trial needs and when it is resumed the evidence brings it triumphantly to a satisfying conclusion. It is only then that the accomplished thriller writer shows her real hand."
Ivor Brown
of The Observer
said in the issue of November 1, 1953 that the play had, "all the usual advantages of Counsel in conflict, agonised outbreak in the dock, and back-answers from the witness-box. To these are added a considerable and ingenious appendix; the jury's verdict is only the beginning of a story that has as many twists as a pigtail." He summed up with a comment on the performance of Patricia Jessel who, "takes the title-part with cool efficiency. Whether she is snake in the grass or butterfly on the wheel playgoers must find out for themselves. There will be plenty doing that."
Philip Hope-Wallace in The Guardian
s issue of October 30, 1953 said of the ending, "Justice has been done and has been seen to be done. We nod approvingly, at which moment Mrs Christie says in effect "Oh, so you thought that did you?" and with an unforeseen twist of the cards lets us see how wrong we were. This is satisfying, but it makes criticism almost impossible; first, one must not give away the clue and second, one must reconsider whether those witnesses who seemed the most plausible were not, in fact, less good players than those who seemed somehow not quite 'in character'". Nevertheless, Hope-Wallace did admit that the opening night was, "a great success" and stated that the play presented a, "well-made, humorous, exciting case".
The character of The Other Woman was, as the play revealed Romaine in disguise. Therefore, although credited, Rosemary Wallace was a pseudonym used to preserve the play's ending.
, New York
on December 16, 1954. It was produced by Gilbert Miller and Peter Saunders. Patricia Jessel was the only member of the cast to transfer from the London production.The Times
reported on the success of the production in its issue of December 23, 1954 when they quoted a review in the New York Herald Tribune
which said that the play should be, "A walloping success. The finish is done with such dedicated conviction, such patent plausibility, such respect for the medium as a thing of beauty that you are apt to find yourself gasping out loud."
Sullivan and Jessel both won Tony Award
's for their roles. The play ran for 645 performances, closing on June 30, 1956.
As with the London production, Dawn Steinkamp was a pseudonym.
in 1954. The first printing in the US was in the same year in a paperback edition by Samuel French Ltd. French also published the play in the UK in 1957 as French's Acting Edition No 648 priced at five shillings
. It was reprinted in hardback for the US market in The Mousetrap and Other Plays by Dodd, Mead and Company
in 1993 (ISBN 0-39-607631-9) and in the UK by Harper Collins in 1993 (ISBN 0-00-243344-X).
The very first performance of the story, just pre-dating the debut of Christie's play, was in the form of a live telecast
which aired on CBS
's Lux Video Theatre
on 17 September 1953 and which starred Edward G. Robinson
(making his television debut), Andrea King
and Tom Drake
.
The film version, based on Christie's play, was released on February 6, 1958
and directed by Billy Wilder
. Charles Laughton
played Sir Wilfred, Marlene Dietrich
played Romaine (renamed Christine) and Tyrone Power
played Vole in his second to last role. A character not in the play, Sir Wilfred's nurse Miss Plimsoll, was created for the film and played by Laughton's wife Elsa Lanchester
. Una O'Connor who had played Janet MacKenzie, the housekeeper of the murder victim, on the New York stage, reprised her role in the film. Laughton and Lanchester were nominated for Academy Awards
.
A later adaptation was made for television in 1982
with Ralph Richardson
, Deborah Kerr
, Beau Bridges
, Donald Pleasence
, Wendy Hiller
, and Diana Rigg
. It was adapted by Lawrence B. Marcus and John Gay from the original screenplay and directed by Alan Gibson.
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
based upon her short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
titled "The Witness for the Prosecution
The Witness for the Prosecution
"The Witness for the Prosecution" is a famous short story by Agatha Christie, initially published as Traitor Hands in Flynn's Weekly edition of January 31, 1925. In 1933 the story was published for the first time in the collection The Hound of Death that appeared only in the United Kingdom...
". The play opened in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on October 28, 1953 at the Winter Garden Theatre
New London Theatre
The New London Theatre is a West End theatre located on the corner of Drury Lane and Parker Street in Covent Garden, in the London Borough of Camden...
(although the first performance had actually been in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
on September 28). It was produced by Peter Saunders
Peter Saunders
Pete or Peter Saunders may refer to:* Peter Gordon Saunders, Australian social researcher* Peter Robert Saunders, Australian social researcher* Peter Saunders , English theatre impresario* Pete Saunders , musician...
.
Reception of London production
The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
of October 29, 1953 was enthusiastic in its praise stating, "The author has two ends in view, and she attains them both. She takes us now into the Old Bailey
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
during an exciting trial for murder, now into chambers where the human reactions of the lawyers engaged in the case may be studied; and when the trial is over and there seems no more to be said, she swiftly ravels again the skein which the law has confidently unravelled and leaves herself with a denouement which is at once surprising and credible." The reviewer outlined the basics of the plot, commenting that Patricia Jessel's performance in the dock was "cold-bloodied" and that she "makes a clear-cut image of hatred releasing itself suddenly from inhibitions which have become intolerable" and that Derek Blomfield was "equally good". The greatest praise was reserved for the climax; "Mrs Christie has by this time got the audience in her pocket. A timely intervention of a woman of the streets offering new evidence seems precisely what the trial needs and when it is resumed the evidence brings it triumphantly to a satisfying conclusion. It is only then that the accomplished thriller writer shows her real hand."
Ivor Brown
Ivor Brown
Ivor John Carnegie Brown was a British journalist and man of letters.-Biography:Born in Penang, Malaya, Brown was the younger of two sons of Dr. William Carnegie Brown, a specialist in tropical diseases, and his wife Jean Carnegie. At an early age he was sent to Britain, where he attended Suffolk...
of The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
said in the issue of November 1, 1953 that the play had, "all the usual advantages of Counsel in conflict, agonised outbreak in the dock, and back-answers from the witness-box. To these are added a considerable and ingenious appendix; the jury's verdict is only the beginning of a story that has as many twists as a pigtail." He summed up with a comment on the performance of Patricia Jessel who, "takes the title-part with cool efficiency. Whether she is snake in the grass or butterfly on the wheel playgoers must find out for themselves. There will be plenty doing that."
Philip Hope-Wallace in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s issue of October 30, 1953 said of the ending, "Justice has been done and has been seen to be done. We nod approvingly, at which moment Mrs Christie says in effect "Oh, so you thought that did you?" and with an unforeseen twist of the cards lets us see how wrong we were. This is satisfying, but it makes criticism almost impossible; first, one must not give away the clue and second, one must reconsider whether those witnesses who seemed the most plausible were not, in fact, less good players than those who seemed somehow not quite 'in character'". Nevertheless, Hope-Wallace did admit that the opening night was, "a great success" and stated that the play presented a, "well-made, humorous, exciting case".
Credits of London production
- Director: Wallace Douglas
- Cast:
- Rosalie Westwater as Greta, typist to Sir Wilfred
- Walter Horsbrugh as Carter, Sir Wilfred's Chief Clerk / Alderman
- Milton Rosmer as Mr Mayhew, a solicitor
- Derek BlomfieldDerek BlomfieldDerek Blomfield was a British actor who appeared in a number of film and television productions between 1935 and his death in 1964.-Career:...
as Leonard Vole - David Horne as Sir Wilfred Robarts, QC
- David Raven as Inspector Hearne
- Kenn Kennedy as Plain-Clothes Detective / Third Member of the Jury
- Patricia Jessel as Romaine
- Philip Holles as Clerk of the Court
- Percy Marmont as Mr Justice Wainright
- D. A. Clarke-Smith as Mr Myers, QC
- Nicolas Tannar as Court Usher
- John Bryning as Court Stenographer
- Denzil Ellis as Warder
- Muir Little as The Judge's Clerk
- George Dudley as First Barrister
- Jack Bulloch as Second Barrister
- Lionel Gadsen as Third Barrister
- John Farries Moss as Fourth Barrister
- Richard Coke as Fifth Barrister
- Agnes Fraser as Sixth Barrister
- Lauderdale Beckett as First Member of the Jury
- Iris Fraser Foss as Second Member of the Jury
- David Homewood as a Policeman
- Graham Stuart as Dr. Wyatt, a Police Surgeon
- Jean Stewart as Janet MacKenzie
- Peter Franklin as Mr. Clegg, a laboratory assistant
- Rosemary Wallace as The Other Woman
The character of The Other Woman was, as the play revealed Romaine in disguise. Therefore, although credited, Rosemary Wallace was a pseudonym used to preserve the play's ending.
Broadway production
The play opened in America at Henry Miller's TheatreHenry Miller's Theatre
The Stephen Sondheim Theatre, formerly Henry Miller's Theatre, is a Broadway theatre located at 124 West 43rd Street, between Broadway and 6th Avenue, in Manhattan's Theatre District.-History:...
, New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on December 16, 1954. It was produced by Gilbert Miller and Peter Saunders. Patricia Jessel was the only member of the cast to transfer from the London production.The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
reported on the success of the production in its issue of December 23, 1954 when they quoted a review in the New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
which said that the play should be, "A walloping success. The finish is done with such dedicated conviction, such patent plausibility, such respect for the medium as a thing of beauty that you are apt to find yourself gasping out loud."
Sullivan and Jessel both won Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
's for their roles. The play ran for 645 performances, closing on June 30, 1956.
Credits of Broadway production
- Director: Robert Lewis
- Cast:
- Gordon Nelson as Carter
- Mary Barclay as Greta
- Francis L. SullivanFrancis L. SullivanFrancis Loftus Sullivan was an English film and stage actor. He attended Stonyhurst, the Jesuit public school in Lancashire, England whose alumni include Charles Laughton and Arthur Conan Doyle.A heavily built man with a striking double-chin and a deep voice, Sullivan made his acting debut at the...
as Sir Wilfred Robarts, QC - Robin Craven as Mr Mayhew
- Gene Lyons as Leonard Vole
- Claude Horton as Inspector Hearne
- Ralph Leonard as Plain-Clothes Detective
- Patricia Jessel as Romaine
- Dolores Rashid as Third Juror
- Andrew George as Second Juror
- Jack Bittner as Foreman of the Jury
- Arthur Oshlag as Court Usher
- Ronald Dawson as Clerk of the Court
- Ernest ClarkErnest ClarkErnest Clark was a British actor of stage, television and film.-Early life:Clark was the son of a master builder in Maida Vale, and was educated nearby at St Marylebone Grammar School. After leaving school he became a reporter on a local newspaper in Croydon...
as Mr Myers, QC - Horace Braham as Mr Justice Wainwright
- R. Cobden-Smith as Alderman
- Harold Webster as Judge's Clerk
- W. H. Thomas as Court Stenographer
- Ralph Roberts as Warder
- Henry Craig Nelso as Barrister
- Brace Conning as Barrister
- Ruth Greene as Barrister
- Albert Richards as Barrister
- Franklyn Monroe as Barrister
- Sam Kramer as Barrister
- Bryan Herbert as Policeman
- Guy Spaull as Dr Wyatt
- Una O'ConnorUna O'ConnorUna O'Connor was an Irish actress who worked extensively in theatre before becoming a notable character actress in film.-Life and work:...
as Janet MacKenzie - Michael McAloney as Mr Clegg
- Dawn Steinkamp as The Other Woman
As with the London production, Dawn Steinkamp was a pseudonym.
Publication and further adaptations
The play was first published in the UK in Famous Plays of 1954 by Victor Gollancz LtdVictor Gollancz Ltd
Victor Gollancz Ltd was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century. It was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz and specialised in the publication of high quality literature, nonfiction and popular fiction, including science fiction. Upon Gollancz's death in 1967, ownership...
in 1954. The first printing in the US was in the same year in a paperback edition by Samuel French Ltd. French also published the play in the UK in 1957 as French's Acting Edition No 648 priced at five shillings
Shilling (United Kingdom)
The British shilling is an historic British coin from the eras of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the later United Kingdom; also adopted as a Scot denomination upon the 1707 Treaty of Union....
. It was reprinted in hardback for the US market in The Mousetrap and Other Plays by Dodd, Mead and Company
Dodd, Mead and Company
Dodd, Mead and Company was one of the pioneer publishing houses of the United States, based in New York City. Under several names, the firm operated from 1839 until 1990. Its history properly began in 1870, with the retirement of its founder, Moses Woodruff Dodd. Control passed to his son Frank...
in 1993 (ISBN 0-39-607631-9) and in the UK by Harper Collins in 1993 (ISBN 0-00-243344-X).
The very first performance of the story, just pre-dating the debut of Christie's play, was in the form of a live telecast
Telecast
Telecast may refer to:*television broadcast*Telecast , a Christian band from the United States...
which aired on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's Lux Video Theatre
Lux Video Theatre
Lux Video Theatre, is a weekly television anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays....
on 17 September 1953 and which starred Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
(making his television debut), Andrea King
Andrea King
Andrea King was an American film and stage actress. She was sometimes billed as Georgette McKee.-Early life:Andrea King was born Georgette André Barry in Paris, France...
and Tom Drake
Tom Drake
Tom Drake , born Alfred Sinclair Alderdice in Brooklyn, New York, was an American actor. Drake made films starting in 1940 and continuing until the mid-1970s, and also made TV acting appearances....
.
The film version, based on Christie's play, was released on February 6, 1958
1958 in film
The year 1958 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 16- "In the Money" by William Beaudine is released on this date. It would be the last installment of The Bowery Boys series which began back in 1946....
and directed by Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
. Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
played Sir Wilfred, Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
played Romaine (renamed Christine) and Tyrone Power
Tyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan,...
played Vole in his second to last role. A character not in the play, Sir Wilfred's nurse Miss Plimsoll, was created for the film and played by Laughton's wife Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester was an English-American character actress with a long career in theatre, film and television....
. Una O'Connor who had played Janet MacKenzie, the housekeeper of the murder victim, on the New York stage, reprised her role in the film. Laughton and Lanchester were nominated for Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
.
A later adaptation was made for television in 1982
1982 in film
-Events:* March 26 = I Ought to Be in Pictures, starring Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret and Dinah Manoff is released. Manoff would not appear in another movie until 1987's Backfire.* June = PG-rated film E.T...
with Ralph Richardson
Ralph Richardson
Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
, Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...
, Beau Bridges
Beau Bridges
Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III is an American actor and director.- Early life :Bridges was born in Los Angeles, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Bridges . He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes's son in Gone with the Wind, the book...
, Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence
Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
, Wendy Hiller
Wendy Hiller
Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller DBE was an Academy Award-winning English film and stage actress, who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly sixty years. The writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation Rating the Movie Stars, described her as "a no-nonsense actress who literally took...
, and Diana Rigg
Diana Rigg
Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service....
. It was adapted by Lawrence B. Marcus and John Gay from the original screenplay and directed by Alan Gibson.