Dancing in the Chequered Shade

N.p. N.p., Circa 1955. Vintage script for the 1955 play. Working copy belonging to British-American playwright and director John van Druten, with his typeovers, tipped-in revisions, and substantive annotations in manuscript ink and pencil throughout, noting changes to dialogue and indicating blocking. With several production documents bound in at the rear of the script, including property lists, a stage design layout illustration, and a lighting cue sheet.

A four-character romantic comedy, with a title drawn from John Milton's 1645 pastoral poem "L'Allegro," the play opened for tryouts in December of 1955 at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, but ultimately closed before making its way to Broadway. A late-career effort by Druten, who would die two years later, in 1957.

Druten was one of the more successful playwrights working in London's West End in the early 1930s, gaining renown for his witty, sophisticated comedies. By 1940 he had emigrated to the US, where he wrote numerous Broadway plays, including "The Voice of the Turtle" (1943) and "I Remember Mama" (1944), both of which were later adapted for film. He is perhaps best remembered today for his 1951 play "I Am a Camera," based on the stories of Christopher Isherwood and later adapted for the 1966 Kander and Ebb musical "Cabaret."

Orange titled wrappers, with credit for Druten on the front wrapper, noted as "Production Copy" in manuscript ink. Title page present, undated, with credit for Druten. 130 leaves, with last page of text numbered III-2-13. Mimeograph duplication, rectos only, with undated typescript revision pages throughout. Pages Very Good plus, with some light foxing and toning throughout, wrappers Very Good plus, bound internally with three gold brads.

[Book #171975]