206:, October 1951: "It is seldom that a play comes along that can grip like this one does. Perhaps it is just as well. The plight of dramatic critics whose emotions were weekly wrung with this sort of thing would be sad indeed. For here is a direct and sincere composition that, without possessing much artistic merit or beauty of line, tells, nevertheless, a story that grips the imagination from the outset and will not let it go. It does not demand much prescience to predict that it will duly gain a larger audience than it will see at Swiss Cottage ... Miss Rayman has etched a clear-cut and disturbing play in which the characters are extraordinarily well defined and endowed with a credibility that carries them unscathed through situations that verge at times perilously close to the melodramatic."
47:"The scene throughout is a semi-basement living room in a house near London, a grim and sordid place inhabited for sleeping and eating by a motley group of unmarried young women with babies - already born or about to be hustled into an unfriendly world. The 'proprietress' - a sadistic, unscrupulous woman called Helen Allistair - though a qualified nurse, exploits these unfortunate outcasts from society until one of them - the despairing girl Vivianne, whose gangster lover is hanged and who has nothing to lose - discovers this ghoulish creature's baby-farming activities. Vivianne, whose baby is shortly to be born, faces Mrs Allistair with her accusation, is brutally assaulted and almost loses her life. In the end justice is done, and Mrs Allistair gets her just desserts."
254:, June 1952: "Twice-nightly performance at a theatre so long associated with the antics of the Crazy Gang is hardly the ideal environment for a bold play about unmarried mothers ... One fears not so much for the play, which, leaving aside the worth of its subject, is no more than a tolerably good one; but rather for the subject itself, which is liable to be taken in the wrong spirit by the prude and prurient ... Anthony Hawtrey's production has made the transfer from the Vaudeville without any obvious hitches ... As the landlady, Freda Jackson conveys an admirably restrained sense of power in the earlier episodes, which she later develops into an impressive climax of malignant passion."
238:, November 1951: "The play well deserves its quick transfer to the West End ... Sylvia Rayman, whose first play this is and whose previous career has run on non-theatrical lines, piles on the agony more than somewhat. This is indeed a remarkable drama to come from an inexperienced pen; it would be praised if offered by an established dramatist ... Barbara Couper, as the baby-farmer and operator of the home, could not send a bigger thrill down our spines if she were appearing in the most horrible of avowed Grand Guignol sketches; and Rene Ray really moves us as poor Vivianne. But the whole company is first-class."
246:, January 1952: "This was a first play of highly melodramatic and even Grand Guignol proportions. But the characterisation was entirely convincing, so that, thanks to an exceedingly clever all-woman cast, one quickly lost one's sense that the story was over-coloured ... Improbable though it may seem, there is a considerable amount of humour in the play, thanks to the author's undoubted gift for character drawing, and Anthony Hawtrey's production made the most of every opportunity for light and shade. Mary Purvis's setting was painfully squalid in every detail."
222:, October 1951: "Miss Rayman has written her first play around a revolting character who makes a comfortable income by taking unmarried mothers and their infants into her Hampstead home ... Virtue triumphs on the Embassy stage but it does not always triumph outside the theatre, and one is left wondering just what does happen to such girls who have neither friends nor relatives to turn to and who escape the welfare of the State for some reason. The piece is very well acted by Barbara Couper, Vida Hope, Rene Ray and the rest of a company entirely of women."
74:'s office was dialogue relating to one character having been raped, plus the use of the Girl Guide motto "Be prepared" with an obvious sexual innuendo. The published text contains an introduction by Laurie ("This is a strong, forceful play calling for great sincerity both in production and acting"), plus the following note: "Sylvia Rayman gratefully acknowledges Miss Jean Shepeard's work in adapting the script for stage presentation, for finding its present title, and for first presenting it." The cast on this occasion included future playwright
158:
In the UK, the play began a long life on tour even while the
Vaudeville production was still running. It was also popular at regional repertory theatres. Freda Jackson, for example, spent much of 1954 guest-starring in the play at various reps, notably Windsor, Richmond and Northampton. Then in 1955,
61:
According to the play's
Broadway programme, "Sylvia Rayman's address, before she arrived in London, was Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. After she finished her schooling she worked in a factory and library and then went to London to become a writer. She supported herself as an usher, a nurse girl and
113:
on 7 November. Billed as 'London's most daring play', it was variously described by reviewers as "a disturbing but undeniably strong all-women drama", "a painful, compelling, horrific and dramatically gripping piece" and "a strong, lurid melodrama not for the squeamish". The production closed on 19
131:
newspaper, "Jack Hylton feels this play has a vast potential audience who will welcome the cheaper seats obtainable at the
Victoria Palace. There is no question of the play, which deals with the social problem of the unmarried mother, being sensationalised by its transference to a twice-nightly
101:), "Jean was reluctant to let us have the rights, but eventually I was able to make a deal with her. Tony was enthusiastic and got a strong cast, all women, most of whom had worked at the Embassy before." Having been taken up by impresario
69:
Presented by Jean
Shepeard and Evelyn Dysart at the Regent Theatre, Hayes on 30 July, Rayman's debut was advertised as 'an all-women play' and directed by Rona Laurie. Among material ordered cut by the
139:
on 3 March, was deemed "repulsive" by local critics and closed on 8 March after only eight performances. This production marked the only
Broadway appearance for such British actresses as
230:, October 1951: "Unrelieved femininity is popularly supposed to breed neurosis, and certainly this is the most hysterical play I have met for many years."
189:
on 3 October 2013 as part of its Lost
Classics Project. The production was itself revived, at the same venue, on 6 January 2014 and again, this time at
159:
director Rona Laurie and producer Jean
Shepeard reclaimed the property for a tour of provincial music halls; Shepeard also acted in this version.
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After a two-month break (during which the show went on tour and the film version was made), Hawtrey's production was revived at the
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135:
By this time, Hylton and
Hawtrey had already taken the play on an ill-fated excursion to New York, where it opened at the
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was picked up for production, she was working as a part-time waitress at a cafeteria on north London's
Finchley Road.
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on 18 June, playing twice-nightly until 1 November and achieving another 235 performances. For this run,
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214:, October 1951: "No one would put this among the Plays Pleasant, but it does seize the mind."
98:
725:"WOMEN OF TWILIGHT Transfers to the Pleasance from the White Bear Theatre; Runs April 14–27"
170:, first staged in April 1957 and March 1958 respectively. Neither repeated the success of
8:
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Tony
Aldgate, 'Women of Twilight, Cosh Boy and the advent of the 'X' certificate',
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Sylvia Rayman, meanwhile, had two further plays produced, both of them thrillers -
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125:, star of the yet to be released film, was added to the cast. Noted
545:. It was the first British film to receive the recently introduced
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Kicking Against the Pricks: A Theatre Producer Looks Back
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was the first play written by Sylvia Rayman (1923–86).
416:
525:
In 1952, the play was turned into a film directed by
556:, was broadcast as part of the Brazilian TV series
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472:Cast - White Bear and Pleasance Theatres 2013/14
304:Cast - Embassy and Vaudeville Theatres 1951/52
31:is a 1951 play by Sylvia Rayman that became a
257:
339:Veronica - Maureen Hurley , Maureen Glynne
62:a clerk in a ticket agency." By 1951, when
668:The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News
105:, Hawtrey's production transferred to the
552:Another screen version of Rayman's play,
510:nurse - Maggie Robson , Virge Gilchrist
618:, Evans Plays, Evans Brothers Ltd, 1952
579:, Rockliff Publishing Corporation, 1952
861:
362:Cast - Broadway: Plymouth Theatre 1952
640:'Our Critic's First-Night Journal',
616:Women of Twilight: An All-women Play
81:A different production, directed by
592:programme, Playbill Inc, March 1952
417:Cast - Victoria Palace Theatre 1952
114:April 1952 after 186 performances.
13:
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603:Journal of Popular British Cinema
263:Helen Allistair - Beatrix Mackey
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666:'London in Entertaining Mood',
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495:Vivianne - Claire Louise Amias
483:Christine - Elizabeth Donnelly
1:
577:Theatre World Annual (London)
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177:The first notable revival of
93:on 15 October. According to
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642:The Illustrated London News
10:
885:
707:"HOME - Women of Twilight"
694:Coventry Evening Telegraph
692:'British Play Repulsive',
518:
428:Christine - Joslin Parlane
315:Christine - Joslin Parlane
258:Cast - Hayes premiere 1951
18:
588:'Who's Who in the Cast',
501:Olga - Francesca Anderson
449:Veronica - Maureen Glynne
351:Molly - Jacqueline Seager
284:Veronica - Maureen Hurley
266:Christine - Delphine Muir
97:(later co-founder of the
521:Women of Twilight (film)
397:Veronica - Mary Matthews
21:Women of Twilight (film)
844:"Mulheres do Crepúculo"
541:, with a screenplay by
504:Sal - Emma Reade-Davies
412:nurse - Marjory Hawtrey
281:Vivianne - Shelley Lynn
185:and opened at London's
50:
42:
554:Mulheres do crepúsculo
507:Molly - Christie Banks
486:Jess - Vanessa Russell
431:Jess - Lorraine Clewes
379:Jess - Lorraine Clewes
330:Laura - Gwynne Whitby
498:Veronica - Amy Comper
492:Laura - Emma Spearing
461:Molly - Patricia Lett
440:Laura - Gwynne Whitby
388:Laura - Gwynne Whitby
299:nurse - Evelyn Dysart
296:Molly - Mary Newlands
99:English Stage Company
85:, was mounted at the
805:Frances Stephens in
655:West London Observer
560:on 13 January 1963.
409:Molly - Joan Forrest
781:The Daily Telegraph
543:Anatole de Grunwald
489:Rosie - Ailsa Ilott
272:Rosie - Ann Purkiss
191:Pleasance Islington
852:. 13 January 1963.
796:, 15 November 1951
713:on 13 August 2020.
670:, 28 November 1951
657:, 16 November 1951
627:Oscar Lewenstein,
575:Frances Stephens,
558:Grande Teatro Tupi
477:Helen Allistair -
422:Helen Allistair -
367:Helen Allistair -
309:Helen Allistair -
187:White Bear Theatre
107:Vaudeville Theatre
19:For the film, see
818:unsigned review,
792:unsigned review,
783:, 16 October 1951
779:unsigned review,
770:, 18 October 1951
766:Iain Hamilton in
757:, 21 October 1951
741:, 18 October 1951
737:unsigned review,
653:'Study in Evil',
644:, 27 October 1951
590:Women of Twilight
348:Sal - Lynda King
193:, from 14 April.
179:Women of Twilight
172:Women of Twilight
168:Justice in Heaven
64:Women of Twilight
56:Women of Twilight
28:Women of Twilight
16:1951 British play
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87:Embassy Theatre
83:Anthony Hawtrey
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277:Ann Jellicoe
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35:directed by
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443:Vivianne -
391:Vivianne -
333:Vivianne -
103:Jack Hylton
869:1951 plays
605:March 2000
564:References
132:theatre."
820:The Stage
794:The Stage
739:The Stage
681:The Stage
529:starring
320:Vida Hope
289:Olga Lowe
251:The Stage
235:The Stage
203:The Stage
128:The Stage
33:1952 film
863:Category
535:Rene Ray
464:nurse -
445:Rene Ray
434:Rosie -
382:Rosie -
354:nurse -
335:Rene Ray
324:Rosie -
275:Laura -
111:West End
832:BFI.org
452:Olga -
400:Olga -
342:Olga -
318:Jess -
287:Olga -
109:in the
849:IMDb
537:and
166:and
151:and
51:Play
43:Plot
753:in
89:in
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