Programme Index

Discover 11,128,835 listings and 292,952 playable programmes from the BBC

The Embassy Ballet (Directed by Molly Lake)
The story is of ballet a hundred years ago. Theophile Gautier, great ballet critic of the day. writes his impressions of the farewell performance of a famous ballerina, Emilienne Lagrange. He reads his words. The scene fades to part of Mlle. Lagrange's actual performance. The curtain falls. Dupont and the Ballet Master pay her homage. It rises again on preparation for the dress rehearsal of the ballerina who is to take over her part. All the usual trials of a dress rehearsal ensue, but the new ballerina acquits herself admirably, receiving the Ballet Master's approbation, even Lagrange's discarded bouquet. The tired company depart. The forgotten ballerina returns, looks around the empty stage and realises that it is indeed her Last Curtain.
(to 16.00)

Contributors

Music:
null Weber
Costumes:
Eva Melova
Choreography/director:
Molly Lake
Orchestra conductor:
Alan Bixter
Presented by:
D.H. Munro
Dancers:
The Embassy Ballet
Dancers:
Corps de Ballet
The Critic:
Michael Feacer
Emilienne Lagrange (The Retiring Ballerina):
Molly Lake
Alexis Dupont, her partner:
Travis Kemp
Ballet Master:
Jak Carter
Coryphee:
Avril Nairn
Coryphee:
Peggy Stevens
Mile Albertina:
Johanna Barrett
Stage hand:
Dennis Carey
Danseuse Travestie:
Pamela Sabine
Wardrobe Mistress:
Monica Boam

by Anton Chekhov.
Translated by S.S. Koteliansky.
The scene is Russia, and the action takes place at the country estate of Madame Ranevsky in the year 1890.
(Marian Spencer appears by permission of the Old Vic Company)

Contributors

Author:
Anton Chekhov
Translated by:
S.S. Koteliansky
The Orchestra:
Dale Rogers
The Orchestra:
Ronald Spurling
The Orchestra:
Stanley Platts
The Orchestra:
Leslie Linder
The Orchestra:
John Scott
Guitarist:
Geoffrey Sisley
Settings:
Barry Learoyd
Producer:
Fred O'Donovan
Mme. Ranevsky:
Marian Spencer
Anya:
Irmgard Spoliansky
Varya:
Patricia Hilliard
Gayev:
Richard Hurndall
Lopakhin:
Jack Livesey
Trofimov:
David Markham
Pischik:
Sebastian Cabot
Charlotta:
Rosemary Lomax
Yepikhodov:
Anthony Drake
Dounyasha:
Maria Britneva
Feers:
Gordon Phillott
Yasha:
Derek Elphinstone
Stranger:
Ronald Sidney
The station master:
Wilfrid Brambell
A post office clerk:
Michael Rose
The Guests:
Kyle Adair
The Guests:
Shirley Bagrit
The Guests:
Jane Orr
The Guests:
Mary Clayton
The Guests:
Hildur Kalman
The Guests:
Peter Dyer
The Guests:
David Stoll
The Guests:
Gunnar Ejolssen
The Guests:
Richard Coward

BBC Television

Appears in

About this data

This data is drawn from the Radio Times magazine between 1923 and 2009. It shows what was scheduled to be broadcast, meaning it was subject to change and may not be accurate. More