After a long wait, and thanks to The British Library Archives holding every one of the nation’s publications, we now have our first piece of information about our 1961 production of this One Act Comedy by Cyril Roberts; this including the cast list and a photograph of the script – with the latter showing it’s cost at the remarkable price of a whole 1s – yes, One Shilling – old money!
The character list is detailed below, but at this time the only member of the MDC cast that we know of is Valerie Poore – who played the part of Anne Shakespeare
Cast in order of appearnce.
- Anne Shakespeare – Valerie Poore
- Susannah Hall (Anne’s daughter)
- Judith Quiney (Anne’s daughter)
- Jeremy (her Servant)
- Henry Wriothesley (Earl of Southampton)
- Sir Francis Bacon (Lord Keeper of England)
The ‘Second Best Bed’ takes place in the Living Room of Anne Hathaway’s Cottage on a Summer’s afternoon in 1617