Add MS 78954-78956

NICHOLS PAPERS. Vols. XI-XIII. ‘A Day in the Death of Joe Egg’; 8 April 1963-15 April 1993, n.d. Mostly typewritten. First performed at the Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, on 9 May 1967, and transferred to the Comedy Theatre, London on 20 July 1967. On both occasions the play was directed by Michael Blakemore. The production won the Evening Standard Drama Awards Best Play of the Year and the John Whiting Award. American premiere at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York, on 1 Feb. 1968. For the film adaptation, see Add. 79057-79058. For the monologue from which the opening scene of the play originates, see Add. 79089, ff. 68-78. For the copy of the play submitted to the Lord Chamberlain’s office and the related correspondence, see LCP. 1967/17 and LC Corr. 1967/1507. The correspondence file also contains newspaper cuttings of reviews of the Citizens’ Theatre production. For the entry in the Register of Lord Chamberlain’s Plays, see Add. 61970, ff. 52v.-53 r. For ‘Blue Murder’, which was partly inspired by Peter Nichols’s experiences of the licensing of ‘A Day in the Death of Joe Egg’ in 1967, see Add. 78948-78949. For an account of the licensing of the play, written by a Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, see John Johnston, The Lord Chamberlain’s Blue Pencil (1990), pp. 200-201. The Theatre Museum, Covent Garden, London, holds a typewritten prompt book with autograph revisions for the Comedy Theatre production, as well as a copy submitted to the Lord Chamberlain. Published as A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1967) and Plays: One (1991).

Three volumes.