- 148
CUMMINGS, 'HOW ABOUT THIS PLAY...', INK AND WATERCOLOUR, 1967
Estimate
1,000 - 1,500 GBP
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Description
- Michael Cummings
- ‘How about this play by another German, Sir Lawrence? A revolutionary new concept which should go down well with the British!’
- paper
260 by 395mm., pen ink and watercolour, signed and inscribed with title, mounted, framed and glazed, a few creases
Provenance
EXHIBITED: ‘Images of Power: From the Jeffrey Archer Cartoon Collection', Monnow Valley Arts, 3 September - 30 October 2011; ‘National Theatre Lampoon’, National Theatre, September 2013-January 2014
Literature
Daily Express, 1 May 1967, page 10
Catalogue Note
In 1962 Laurence Olivier was appointed the first director of the National Theatre. In 1967, against the wishes of Olivier, the National’s board of governors refused to allow a permit for the performance of Soldaten: Nekrolog auf Genf (Soldiers: An Obituary of Geneva), by German playwright Rolf Hochhuth. In 1963, Hochhuth’s first play Der Stellvertreter (The Deputy) had attracted international controversy by attacking Pope Pius XII’s political abstinence during the war. In his 1967 play, the leading figure is that of Winston Churchill, who is taken to task for the extensive bombing and destruction of Dresden in 1945.