FrankFinlay.Net
Weapons of Happiness
By Howard Brenton
Directed by David Hare
The National Theatre
First Performance: Lyttelton Theatre 14 July 1976
Closed 23 Oct 1976.
Total 41 Performances.
Weapons of Happiness was the first commissioned play to be staged at the South Bank
1976 Evening Standard Theatre Awards - Best Play
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Josef Frank : Frank Finlay
Ralph Makepeace : Michael Medwin Billy : Derek Thompson Ken : Billy Colvil Stacky : Nick Brimble Janice : Julie Covington Liz : Annie Hayes Alf : Frederick Radley Sylvia Makepeace : Thelma Whiteley Mr Stanley : Bernard Gallagher Inspector Miller : Maurice O' Connell Doubek, interrogator : Matthew Guinness Kohoutek, interrogator : Maurice O' Connell Russian Adviser : Michael Medwin Clementis : William Russell NKVD Men : Pat Connell, Martin Friend, Shaun Scott, Jeremy Truelove Stalin : Geoffrey Bateman Waiter : Chris Hunter Commentator : Geoffrey Bateman Guards : Martin Friend, Chris Hunter Constables : Pat Connell, Martin Friend, Jeremy Truelove |
 Frank In Rehearsal |
'All the bright weapons of happiness wait only for a sign' Vasko Popa 'I find it impossible to be a moralist, like Shaw. I hate that kind of moral pressure. Writers of my group all sense the enormous upheaval that is going to come. It is difficult to define the nature of that upheaval, but if you write a scene set in London today - about any class - that future upheaval will be present in that scene. A good playwright doesn't know any more. It is only by obsession and by craft and by personal accident that he can set down his vision of the world, and it shouldn't matter that some people may be offended by it.' Howard Brenton |
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