The White Carnation

{{Short description|1963 play by R. C. Sherriff}} {{For|the 1954 TV episode|Climax!}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox play | image = | image_size = | caption = | writer = [[R.C. Sheriff]] | characters = | setting = | premiere = 5 January 1953 | place = [[Theatre Royal, Brighton]] | orig_lang = English | subject = | genre = Drama }} '''''The White Carnation''''' is a 1953 play by English playwright [[R. C. Sherriff]]. Its premiere production had a cast led by [[Ralph Richardson]], but it was not revived until a 2013 [[Finborough Theatre]] production featuring [[Aden Gillett]] and [[Benjamin Whitrow]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/productions/2013/the-white-carnation.php |title=The White Carnation - 2013 |publisher=Finborough Theatre |access-date=2016-11-17}}</ref>

In 2014, the play was performed at the [[Jermyn Street Theatre]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk/whatson.html#thewhitecarnation |title=What's On - Jermyn Street TheatreJermyn Street Theatre |website=Jermynstreettheatre.co.uk |date=2016-09-07 |access-date=2016-11-17}}</ref>

==Plot== John Greenwood says goodbye to the guests from his and his wife's [[Christmas Eve]], but a gust of wind shuts the front door and leaves him locked out of his own house. He breaks a window to gain entry and finds the house ruined and deserted. A policeman questions him what he is doing in the house, all of whose inhabitants were killed by a [[V-1 flying bomb]] during a Christmas Eve party in 1944, but Greenwood indignantly insists that he is in his own house. A [[coroner]] and doctor are summoned and inform Greenwood that he was one of the inhabitants killed and that he has returned to the house as a ghost - and that is now 1951.

Greenwood is visited by Lydia Truscott, niece of the town clerk, who agrees to help him in his attempts at self-education and returning to the spirit-world. He also meets with a welcome from the local vicar Mr. Pendlebury and his next door neighbour Mrs. Carter, but also has to deal with the coroner and the Home Office, who are determined to move Greenwood out, knock the house down and build new flats on the site.

As the house's demolition begins, Greenwood finally vanishes and in a final scene re-runs his last Christmas Eve party, reconciling with his wife, whom during his haunting he had realised that he had emotionally ill-treated during his lifetime.

==Critical reaction == Writing in ''[[The Sunday Times]]'', the critic [[Harold Hobson]] called the original production of the play "extremely and touchingly human".<ref name="finboroughtheatre1">{{cite web|title=The White Carnation|url=http://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/productions/2013/the-white-carnation.php|work=Finborough Theatre|access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref> Of the revival [[Dominic Cavendish]] writing in the ''[[Daily Telegraph|Telegraph]]'' observed, "what a neglected little treasure it proves: not life-changing, maybe, but life-affirming".<ref name="finboroughtheatre1"/> However, writing in ''[[The Guardian]]'', [[Michael Billington (critic)|Michael Billington]] called the play "passably entertaining, but much of its feels like quilted padding."<ref>{{cite news|last=Billington|first=Michael|title=The White Carnation - review|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/nov/29/white-carnation-review|access-date=29 December 2013|newspaper=The Guardian|date=29 November 2013}}</ref>

==Adaptations== {{Infobox television | image = White_Carnation.png | image_upright = 1.0 | image_alt = | caption = Advertisement from The Age 1 May 1963 | genre = | creator = | based_on = | writer = | screenplay = | story = | director = [[Christopher Muir]] | starring = | narrator = | music = | country = Australia | language = English | num_episodes = | producer = | editor = | cinematography = | runtime = 60 mins<ref>{{cite news|date=27 May 1963|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/121249282/?terms=%22white%2Bcarnation%22|title=TV Guide|page=15}}</ref> | company = [[Australian Broadcasting Commission]] | budget = | network = | released = {{Start date|1963|05|01|df=y}} (Melbourne, live)<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|title=Untitled|date=25 April 1963|page=19|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OVBVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YpUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6792%2C3617347}}</ref> | released2 = {{Start date|1963|05|29|df=y}}<ref>{{cite news|title=Ghost Theme for Play|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=20 May 1963|page=11|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/121238541/?terms=%22white%2Bcarnation%22}}</ref> }}

=== Australian TV version === The play was adapted for Australian TV in 1963 directed by [[Christopher Muir]].<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4080752/ ''The White Carnation''] at [[IMDb]]</ref> Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/60-australian-tv-plays-1950s-60s/|magazine=Filmink|title=60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s|date=February 18, 2019}}</ref> The play starred [[Michael Duffield]] as John Greenwood, and featured Stewart Weller, Neville Thurgood, Roly Barlee, Barbara Brandon, Margaret Cruikshank, Brian Gilmar, Edward Hepple, Jane Oehr as Lydia, Alwyn Owen, Hugh Stewart, Leslie Wright and Felicity Young. The set was designed by Kevin Bartlett.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|date=25 April 1963|page=27|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122051583/?terms=%22white%2Bcarnation%22|title=TV Guide}}</ref> Chris Muir stated while filming it the set caught fire. They kept filming it while the studio hands put out the fire with extinguishers before the sprinklers went on.<ref name="day">{{cite book|page=138|first=Christopher|last=Day|chapter=TV Drama|editor=Peter Beilby|title=Australian TV: The First 25 Years|year=1981|publisher=Thomas Nelson}}</ref>

=== BBC Radio version === The [[BBC World Service]] broadcast an audio adaptation by Penny Leicester in December 1990, starring [[Philip Voss]] as John Greenwood. The recording has been repeated on [[BBC Radio 4 Extra]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 Extra - The White Carnation by RC Sherriff |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002nkmw |access-date=2026-01-09 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==See also== *[[List of television plays broadcast on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1960s)]]

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:White Carnation, The}} [[Category:1953 plays]] [[Category:Plays by R. C. Sherriff]] [[Category:Australian plays adapted for television]] [[Category:Plays about ghosts]] [[Category:Plays set in London]] [[Category:Plays set in the 1950s]] [[Category:1963 Australian television plays]] [[Category:West End plays]] [[Category:Australian Broadcasting Corporation television plays]] [[Category:Television plays filmed in Melbourne]] [[Category:Television plays directed by Chris Muir]]