The Playwrights Database
R C SHERRIFF (1896 - 1975)
Nationality:
English
email:
n/a
Website:
Click here
Literary Agent:
n/a
Robert Cedric Sherriff (6 June 1896 13 November 1975) was an English writer best known for his play Journey's End which was based on his experiences as a captain in World War I. He wrote several plays, novels, and screenplays, and was nominated for an Academy award and two BAFTA awards.
Research: Journey's End: the Classic War Play Explored by Robert Gore-Langton, Oberon Books (2013): http://oberonbooks.com/journeys-end
Buy Plays with Doollee
Each page of doollee.com has links to play/book outlets, either directly to the Publisher, through Stageplays.com and Amazon to the second hand and 1st editions of AbeBooks. These links will automatically take you to the relevant area obviating the need for further search.
AbeBooks.co.uk
AbeBooks.com
Stageplays.com
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.ca
whether you are a Playwright who wishes to make their entry definitive, an unlisted Playwright or a User with a tale to tell - we want to hear from you.
download WORD submission template
Badger's Green
A company has ambitious plans to redevelop the quiet, picturesque village of Badger's Green. the inhabitants mount a resistance campaign and it is eventually decided to settle the future of the village by playing a cricket match.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Victor Gollancz, London, 1930 -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
comedy
Parts:
Male: -  Female: -  Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Cornlow-in-the-Downs
Synopsis:
A village in Sussex where the inhabitants talk of apricots, croquet, fishing, but never money. it is the story of a village tradition versus modernization.
Notes:
amateur production
1st Produced:
the Gables, Surbiton circa 1924
Organisations:
Kingston Adventurers Dramatic Society
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: -  Female: -  Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Dark Evening
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
- 1949
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: -  Female: -  Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Feudal System, The
Synopsis:
A butler brings up a wastrel's heir after the wastrel shoots himself and a frightful vulgarian buys up the estate. the butler through canny land speculation makes enough money to buy back the estate and to carry on working for the lad he has raised as his own.
Notes:
amateur production
1st Produced:
the Gables, Surbiton 1925
Organisations:
Kingston Adventurers Dramatic Society
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
3 acts
Parts:
Male: -  Female: -  Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Hitch In the Proceedings, A
Synopsis:
a skit involving a coachload of trippers going on an outing to Brighton.
Notes:
amateur production
1st Produced:
the Gables, Surbiton Nov 1921
Organisations:
Kingston Adventurers Dramatic Society
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
one act farce
Parts:
Male: -  Female: -  Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Home at Seven
David Preston returns home from work to his wife Janet to find that 24 hours have elapsed without him even realising it, and it is now a day later than he thought. As hard as he tries - he cannot recall the previous day.
Notes:
In 1952 the play was Adapted As A film Home At Seven directed by And starring Ralph Richardson
1st Produced:
Brighton, Theatre Royal 06 Feb 1950
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Victor Gollancz, London, 1950 -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
3 act play
Parts:
Male: 5  Female: 2  Other: -
Further Reference:
Wearing - the London Stage 50.46
Top of Page
Journey's End
Second Lieutenant Raleigh, the new officer assigned to C Company, is welcomed by everyone except, apparently, Captain Stanhope, who reveals, later, that Raleigh was at school with him and hero-worshipped him. What neither of them knows is that if "Stanhope went up those steps into the front line without being doped with whisky, he'd go mad with fright." the Drama of the personal relationships between the men is played out against the larger tragedy raging around them.
Notes:
Journey's End: the Classic War Play Explored by Robert Gore-Langton, Oberon Books (2013) >>> R C Sherriffs Journeys End is a syllabus text and the most famous play about World War One. First staged in 1928, this book tells the story of what went into the making of this extraordinary and powerful trench drama. It outlines Sherriffs career from humble insurance clerk to infantry officer and his unforgettable 10 months on the western front before he was invalided home, lucky to be alive. Sherriff poured into his first professional play his personal experience of living in a front-line dug-out. Using his diary and letters home, the book charts his emotional life under fire and relates it directly to the play, its events and its characters. It also tells the story of Journeys Ends incredible box office success across the world, a triumph which made its shy young author famous overnight. Taking in the history of the show right up to the most recent productions, Journeys End: the Classic War Play Explored is a meditation on Journeys Ends achievement as a war document, its fascination for audiences when it was first staged and its continuing grip on theatregoers and students today.
1st Produced:
Apollo Theatre, London 09 Dec 1928
Organisations:
Incorporated Stage Society
1st Published:
London: Victor Gollancz: First Edition, 1929 -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 11  Female: -  Other: -
Further Reference:
Top of Page
Kite, The
Synopsis:
It has lower-class mama's boy postal clerk George Cole marrying against his overbearing mother's (Hermione Baddeley) wishes to the ordinary Susan Shaw. Because wifey objects to his Saturday afternoon kiting outing with his parents on the common, they have a spat and separate. When in anger she destroys his valued new experimental kite, he's so obsessed over kites that he cuts off any support. This lands him in jail. Intervening is 'prison visitor' Bernard Lee, who tries to bring the couple together by getting Susan to take up flying a kite. It's all meant as a parody of marriage.
Notes:
based on story by W Somerset Maugham
1st Produced:
- 1952
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
in Action:beacon Lights of Literature edited by Georgia G Winn and others. Syracuse, New York, Iroquois, 1952 -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: -  Female: -  Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Long Sunset, The
Drama set among romans who stayed behind when the legions left in 410 AD
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Manchester 1955
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Samuel French Limited; 1st edition (1955) B00CP8WLV6
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: -  Female: -  Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Miss Mabel
Synopsis:
comedy with murder and a twist
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Duchess Theatre, London 1948
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Victor Gollancz, London, 1949 -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
3 act play
Parts:
Male: -  Female: -  Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Mr Bridie's Finger
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
amateur production
1st Produced:
the Gables, Surbiton 1926
Organisations:
Kingston Adventurers Dramatic Society
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: -  Female: -  Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Profit and Loss
Synopsis:
set in Mayfair between 1913-1919, about a building foreman who makes a fortune making entenching tools during the war and gets a knighthood.
Notes:
amateur production
1st Produced:
the Gables, Surbiton 1923
Organisations:
Kingston Adventurers Dramatic Society
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
3 act comedy
Parts:
Male: -  Female: -  Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Shred Of Evidence, A
Synopsis:
melodrama about a man who can't remember if he killed someone on the way home from a rugby club dinner.
Notes:
transferred to the Duchess, london
1st Produced:
Royal, Brighton 27 Apr 1960
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Samuel French Limited; 1961 -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
play
Parts:
Male: 6  Female: 3  Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
St Helena
Synopsis:
It deals with the exile of Napoleon I on Saint Helena and his last days
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Old Vic, London 04 Feb 1936
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Victor Gollancz, London, 1934 -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
play in 12 scenes
Parts:
Male: -  Female: -  Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Telescope, The
Set in London Docklands about a go ahead vicar. the play was later musicalised by Antony Hopkins as Johnny the Priest (1960)
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Guildford theatre 1957
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1957 B0000CJV0H
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
3 act play
Parts:
Male: -  Female: -  Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Two Hearts Doubled
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
- 1934
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1934 -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
playlet
Parts:
Male: -  Female: -  Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
White Carnation, The
A lady librarian becomes the love object of a gentlemanly ghost emanating from a bombsite.
Notes:
transfered to Globe theatre, London
1st Produced:
Brighton, Theatre Royal 05 Jan 1953
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Heinemann, London, 1953 B0000CII9E
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: 10  Female: 6  Other: -
Further Reference:
Top of Page
Windfall
Mr Spooner wins a fortune and his friends and family won't let him live his old life.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Embassy theatre 1933
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: -  Female: -  Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Woods of Meadowside, The
Synopsis:
Mrs Pepper is anxious to improve the fortunes of her daughter by marrying money
Notes:
amateur production
1st Produced:
the Gables, Surbiton Apr 1922
Organisations:
Kingston Adventurers Dramatic Society
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: -  Female: -  Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page