Australian TV Plays: I Have Been Here Before (29 Jan 1964)

Adaptation of a JB Priestley play.

Plot

It is set at an inn on the Yorkshire moors. Hotelier Walter Ormond and daughter Janet are looking forward to a busy few days. One guest has already arrived, Oliver Farrant, a headmaster on leave. Oliver falls for Janet. Three women are expected.

Dr Gorthler, a professor driven into exile by the Nazis, arrives. Dr Gortler knows about their past and has a way of controlling their future.

Cast

Alistair Duncan as Dr Gortler
Alexander Archdale as Walter Ormond
Diana Perryman
Gordon Glenwright
John Unicomb as Oliver Farrant
Anne Haddy as Janet Ormond

Original play

Priestley's play debuted in 1937. It was published the following year in a volume that also included Time and the Conways. It was one of his "time" plays.

A complete copy of the play is here.

I listened to a radio version. Not bad. A time play. Felt long. No one dies. Married couple are there, unhappy, German professor person. Post war trauma. Wife meets her future lover. They go off at the end together which is interesting. Adultery is okay! Wise German is annoying. Felt it needed to be shorter or have another subplot.

Other productions

There was a production in Sydney in 1938.

It was adapted for Australian radio in 1952 and in 1955.

it was done by BBC TV in 1949 and 1960.

Production

It was shot at the ABC's studies at Gore Hill. Ken Hannam directed.

Reception

The Sydney Morning Herald said "Ken Hannam's production was throughout notable for its scrupulous craftsmanship of scene and effect" and called it "one of the ABC's most impressive local productions."

The production prompted a letter of complaint from Frank Roberts to the Sydney Morning Herald complaining about the ABC's tendency to present photographed stage plays in TV drama. Was this the same Frank Roberts of The Bulletin?