The Ghost Sonata The Illustrated Gazette

Synopsis

“In the imagination, anything may happen. Everything is

possible and probable. Time and space do not exist. On an
insignificant background of reality, imagination designs and
embroiders novel patterns. A medley of memories,
experiences, free fancies, absurdities and improvisations.
The characters split, double, multiply, vanish, solidify, blur,
clarify but one consciousness reigns above them all - that of
the dreamer. And before it there are no secrets, no
incongruities, no scruples, no laws...”

In a street, The Old Man sits next to a drinking fountain in

his wheelchair. The ghost of The Milkmaid appears and
walks past him but he cannot see her. The Student also
appears - he has been helping to rescue people from a
collapsed house and is both dirty and thirsty. The Student
drinks from the fountain and asks The Milkmaid to wipe his
eyes for him. The Old Man can see no one apart from The
Student.

The Old Man recognises The Student as the son of an old

business acquaintance. The Student, in turn, recognises The
Old Man as the person responsible for bankrupting his
father. Convincing The Student that he was not at fault, The
Old Man takes advantage of The Student's admitted
financial embarrassment and offers him a job. The Student
agrees and, immediately, The Old Man starts scheming - he
will use him to gain entrance to The Colonel's house (which
they are standing in front of) by bringing him to The
Colonel's notice at the next performance of The Valkyrie.

The Old Man discovers that The Student is a 'Sunday Child'

and he can see things that other people cannot see. The
Student tells him of The Milkmaid and The Old Man
becomes visibly agitated.

That evening, inside The Colonel's house, his Daughter sits

in The Hyacinth Room, leading off from the main Salon. She
sits at her harp. Two servants - Bengttson and Johansson -
enter the room and set it up for the usual tea-party, or
“Spook Supper”. Bengtsson tells him that the Colonel's wife
is mad - she lives in a cupboard. He opens the cupboard to Jeremy Brett as The Student (© BBC)
reveal The Mummy, as they call her, sitting on a chair,
Background Notes, Investigation and Scrutiny used as a stylistic device throughout this play, whether
surrounded by cobwebs and making parrot noises. She has
focussing on a single actor or as an element in a framed
been like this for forty years. Bengtsson also points out a
Strindberg is no ordinary playwright. By turns pauper, manic shot - the characters (and audience) are spared no emotion
black Japanese screen in the corner of the salon. It is a
depressive, failed suicide, occultist, misanthrope, political - it is written large on the screen.
“death screen” - it is used when someone is due to die.
vacillator and paranoiac he was a prolific writer (novels,
plays, poetry and over 7,000 letters) and is credited with The street set is excellent - a house front with steps and
The Old Man appears behind them, personally uninvited but
being one of the “fathers of modern drama”. He is bay windows, a street leading to a bridge and a water
there nonetheless. He demands to see The Colonel. The
Sweden's national poet. fountain. The backdrop beyond the bridge is painted - and
Mummy appears from the cupboard and he is appalled at
obviously so. In a play this surreal, however, the false
what she has now become, as she was once beautiful. She
The Ghost Sonata, written in 1907, is a chamber play (a backdrop is perfectly in tune with the (largely) false
asks him why he has come here. He has come for their
theatrical piece written specifically for ‘intimate’ staging) in characters that we encounter throughout the play.
daughter - The Colonel's Daughter. She goes back into the
three sections (paralleling the three movements of a
cupboard as The Colonel approaches.
sonata). Described as a “pioneering … non-realistic play”, it There is one set for the second and third acts (the salon and
showcases both Strindberg's talent as an observer of the Hyacinth Room). The salon is centre stage and radiating
The Colonel says he is aware that all his 'notes of hand'
mannerisms and of dialogue - he excels in the use of from it (left to right) are the Hyacinth Room, an area with a
have been bought up by The Old Man and he wants to know
language and its delivery - and The Ghost Sonata is statue of The Mummy as a beautiful young woman, the main
his business with him. The Old Man systematically destroys
acknowledged by many to be his finest play. entrance to the room and the door to the cupboard. The
the Colonel by disproving his rank, his status and his family
entire set can almost be seen in one wide-angle shot and is
name, leaving him with nothing. Invited to dinner, The
Referred to in early (1959) documentation as The Spook truly a product of the skill of gifted designer Clifford Hatts.
Student arrives and he is asked to introduce himself to The
Sonata, outside rehearsals for the play took place on 2nd- Having previously designed such productions as Rudolph
Colonel's Daughter while The Colonel and The Old Man
5th, 8th-12th and 16th-18th January 1962 between Cartier's Quatermass and The Pit (1958/9), Rashomon (3rd
conclude their business.
10:30am and 5:30pm at the Drill Hall, 190 Hammersmith March 1961) and Adventure Story (12th June 1961), he
Road, London, W6. Time-out was taken from rehearsals on worked his way up to the post of “Head of Design Group,
The other guests arrive and sit down to tea. They are all
the 15th January to film the introductory back-projected BBC Television” by the mid-1970s. He was obviously skilled
spiritually corrupt in their own way and are known to The
scene at the administration block of Queen Charlotte's at providing maximum design impact in small studios and it
Old Man, who harangues them. Composing himself, he tells
Hospital, London. Special permission had to be given by the shows throughout this production.
them that The Colonel's Daughter is, in fact, his own
hospital authorities to use and customise the building as
daughter and she has lost the desire to live, a fact which he
members of the cast needed to be placed in the windows, Rosemary Wilkins' costumes complement the design and
blames firmly on them (“this air-foul with crime, false with
curtains and blinds put up and a flagpole erected. The period (gothic baroque at the beginning of the 20th
treachery has withered her”). He has brought The Student
resultant 234’ of silent 35mm film was played into the studio century), but the only design which stands out, perhaps, is
there so that she may absorb some of his “light and
as back projection in the opening scene and was Brett's student costume (looking for all the world like Bob
warmth”.
telerecorded as part of the live action. Cratchit but with a much nicer hat).
The Mummy wakes from her torpor and accuses The Old
On Friday 19th January, audio recordings were made by The music is used sparingly and to great effect - excluding
Man of hypocrisy - he is worse than any of them. Bengtsson
Osian Ellis, Ursula Connor (a soprano) and Jeremy Brett in the pre-recorded Brett/Connor music, only 5’47” in the
tells them all about The Old Man: his nastiness, his
Studio R at Lime Grove between 11:00am and 1:00pm. whole production, played live by Osian Ellis whilst
cheapness, his involvement in the drowning of a woman - a
They sung specially commissioned pieces by Ellis, totalling telerecording took place. Never intrusive, the music always
milkmaid - who had been a witness to one of his
9’13”, which were ultimately played into the studio during serves to underline and enhance a particular scene - most
transactions. The Old Man is mentally and spiritually beaten
telerecording on the evening of the 21st. notably where The Old Man becomes agitated when he
- he hands over everything he has taken from The Colonel.
learns The Student has seen the ghost of the Milkmaid. The
The Old Man crawls across the floor while making parrot
With camera rehearsals taking place between 2:00pm and only other music used in the production was 2’40” of Bach
noises and is shut in the cupboard. The death screen is
10:00pm on the 19th and 20th and 1:00pm to 6:00pm on from the commercial disc Classic Club Best Loved Organ
placed in front of the cupboard door and they all sit down
Sunday 21st, telerecording then took place between Works, which was audio-mixed into the opening sequence to
to tea again.
7:45pm and 10.30pm on the Sunday night. This was accompany the Poet's monologue.
ultimately edited into 6604’ of 35mm film and was given the
In the Hyacinth Room, The Student sings as The Colonel's
reference 35/T/13697. Records indicate that a parallel The ‘ghostly’ effect (used several times in this production) is
Daughter plays the harp. He tells her that he has fallen in
16mm telerecording was also made and given the reference achieved by overlaying two scenes from the production
love with her, but she tells him that she cannot return that
16/TU/13697. This may have been a safety copy or for gallery using vision mixing. For example, The Milkmaid -
love. She is being suffocated by the atmosphere of decay
overseas sales purposes. This 16mm print no longer exists. filmed as the only light object on a dark background - is
in the house. The Student wants to take her away from all
faded in over the top of the main picture. As the ghost
of this but she explains to him that it is her destiny to stay
John Cura was contracted to supply photographic services effectively interacts with the main picture (in one instance
there - she is tired of life. He is angry for her - the house is
for the duration of the recording. she moves background to foreground, past The Old Man
full of lies and deceit and it is suffocating her. Just by being
and right to the off-screen drinking fountain), it was
there he feels poisoned himself.
All three principal actors are simply tremendous in this necessary for actress Linda Gardner to hit her marks
production - they are given great characters to play by exactly as she had to go through a set of well-
The Colonel's Daughter tells him that she is dying - she
adapter Michael Meyer and do not disappoint. The opening choreographed steps in another area of the studio as the
cannot bear to live any longer in the house. They move the
act - mostly a continuous dialogue between Jeremy Brett main scene was being shot. A similar scene is staged with
death screen in front of her. The Student tells her that she
and Robert Helpmann - establishes both characters firmly: the Milkmaid's ghost overlaid on Bengtsson until she is
has suffered for the guilt of others and wishes her sweet
one is a Sunday Child with the soul of a poet (A “Sunday faded from the picture.
dreams and a better life in the “next world”.
Child” is - with reference to Swedish myth and superstition
- a person who has supernatural abilities) while the other is An interesting combination of technique is used in the final
a manipulative user of people who can be charming enough scene, which sees a shot of Brett in foreground on a set
if it is to his advantage. Both turn in wonderful which houses a back-projection screen. On that screen is
performances-Brett capitalising on his ability to play fey projected an image of Boecklin's painting of The Isle of the
characters and Helpmann almost (but not quite) over-acting Dead and, overlaid on that is a vision-mixed image of Ann
with his eye-rolling and Shylockian mannerisms. It is Bell, shrunk so as to place her ‘on’ the Isle in scale. This
misleading to suppose that an actor cannot go over-the-top multi-layered effect stands as a good example of
in a surreal play - even these types of character must have experimenting within the limits of the period's technology.
their own internal logic and all characters must behave true
to themselves. Anything else invites ridicule and this Similarly, the opening sequence (by way of a ‘teaser’) shows
compelling and intriguing play certainly does not do that. the play's main characters being viewed from a window as
a voice-over paraphrases Strindberg's Prefatory Note to A
The other outstanding performance has to be Beatrix Dream Play (the text of which heads the plot synopsis). The
Lehmann as the effective ‘third lead’ character, The set is a simple one, comprising a backdrop wall with an inset
Mummy. In a play within which all characters (with the window. A back projection screen is set up behind the
exception of The Student) are ultimately emotionally window, through which the pre-recorded film of the principal
corrupt, she is the most corrupt thing in it, both in aspect characters at Queen Charlotte's Hospital is played while the
and outlook (after all, she destroys The Old Man who - until scene is shot. It features the principals outside the Colonel's
that moment - was the most malign creature in the story). house, either in the 'street' or featured in the doorways and
She becomes, in essence, Miss Haversham's nastier, older windows of the house. The camera pans up and across the
sister and she uses her aged, wrinkled face to great effect, front of the building taking in all the main characters. As
especially in extreme close-up during the ‘two-hander’ viewed on back projection via a fixed viewpoint (the window
scenes with Robert Helpmann. Indeed, facial close-ups are frame), the effect is surreal and slightly disorientating,
The Mummy terrorises The Old Man (© BBC)

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The Illustrated Gazette The Ghost Sonata
Saville, it starred Donald Pleasance as The Old Man and
Clive Arrindel as The Student and was transmitted on
Sunday, 23rd March 1980.

Stretched out over 95’, it once again used Michael Meyer's

translation as it's base text, but had some passages
extended and extra scenes written (by Script Editor Stuart
Griffiths), presumably to enhance the production and make
it less impenetrable to the casual viewer. This ‘enhancement’
gives us an opening scene (filmed) of The Student rescuing
a child from the collapsing house (an obvious special effect)
before leading into the opening credits superimposed over
The Milkmaid's (Debbie Linden's) bare breasts bouncing
around as she is being drowned, shown in first person
perspective. All of this to the strains of Radiophonic music...

It sort of goes downhill from then on, what with Peter

Howell's discordant and anachronistic incidental music
playing out alongside the wooden acting of most of the cast
(although a gaunt-looking Vladek Sheybal as Bengtsson, is
as impressive as always) and the pace of the whole play
The Student comforts The Colonel’s Daughter (© BBC) The Colonel is made to suffer by The Old Man (© BBC)
never really getting past a slow crawl. It's probably this
leaving the viewer under no illusions that what they are which is really the most annoying, as there is an absence of absent from the end of Reel 1, mainly showing the
about to watch is not a ‘normal’ play. menace and unease in this adaptation which should Student's first meeting with Johansson. The viewing print
permeate every fibre of the play. One can excuse Ken details the following information overlaid onto the recording:
Another stylistic device is adopted almost throughout the Moray's costumes (although it's hard to ignore The
play - principal characters, while in shot but not holding the Student's apparently bri-nylon safari suit) and the terrible, Reel 1: PL78841 (duration 15:16 - print ends prematurely)
viewer's focus (‘centre-stage’, as it were) remain immobile. terrible choice of turning what Brett sung as a solo into Reel 2: PL78842 (duration 19:18)
For example, when The Student and Johansson walk along some kind of folk duet between The Student and The Reel 3: PL78843 (duration 25:45)
the street and past the front of the house, they walk past Colonel's Daughter, but to watch this play and feel no sense
two windows - The Colonel stands in one and his Daughter of pace or direction is unforgivable. It's a boring play, which Given that there are multiple copies held at Windmill Road, it
stands in the other. They are both still throughout the shot. is quite possibly the worst thing that anyone can say about is highly unlikely that the play is only held there in an
It is an effective device and adds to the stylised direction of a production. incomplete format, although this would, of course, require
the play. verification. Missing segment notwithstanding, the viewing
On a plus point, Barrie Dobbins' set designs were wonderful. copy shows that the film recording itself has several
There are certain styles and methods of direction that have It's just a pity the production as a whole did not do it justice. momentary scratches and speckling is in evidence through
become accepted as standard since the mid to late 1960s, This is definitely a case where less would have been more. its length, both of which can be remedied by digital
primarily because of the ability to structure scenes processing. The soundtrack would also benefit from some
electronically in post-production. In 1962, most productions Radio Four also adapted The Ghost Sonata, which was digital cleaning and restoration.
still consisted of long scenes shot ‘as live’ in single takes and transmitted in stereo on 3rd May 1994. Running for 85’30”,
any complex camerawork or effects had to be done in real this version starred Frank Finlay as The Old Man, Dorothy Prior to transmission, one continuous 35mm film would have
time on the studio floor whilst recording was taking place. Tutin as The Mummy and Alan Cox as The Student. Music been made and transmitted from the Telecine area at the
Understanding this, a number of incredibly well structured was provided by Andy Price and the Producer was Andy BBC Television Centre at White City. This 'transmission'
scenes become apparent, each benefiting from a complex Jordan. copy no longer exists.
execution which serves as an impressive precursor to later
methods of programme making. Transmission Details Cast
Old Man...................................................Robert Helpmann
There is an excellent panning shot across the set to cover Transmitted on Friday, 16th March 1962 between Student ..........................................................Jeremy Brett
the transition from act two to act three (with the Old Man 10:00:37pm and 11:12:04pm (bookended by Indoor The Mummy .............................................Beatrix Lehmann
being locked in the cupboard, the focus then moves to the Athletics at Wembley and the Late Night News as read by The Colonel ..................................................William Mervyn
Hyacinth Room). While Jeremy Brett and Ann Bell mime to Richard Baker), The Ghost Sonata was one of a strand of Johansson .............................................Thomas Heathcote
the previously recorded music, the camera crabs across the 'Friday plays' (never branded as such under an umbrella Bengtsson ...........................................................John Kidd
set- starting from the cupboard door and moving across the title). Ranging between 60 and 125 minutes in length, these The Milk Maid ...............................................Linda Gardner
length of the salon, taking in both the tea-drinkers and the plays ran almost the whole of 1962, with a short revival in The Colonel's Daughter ..........................................Ann Bell
statue. It continues on into the Hyacinth Room where it March and April 1963. Whilst their range was diverse The Caretaker's Wife ...........................................Miki Iveria
settles on Brett and Bell for a few moments and then pulls (including many original plays) a number of 'literary classics' The Dark Lady .........................................Yvonne Coulette
back to frame them both in a full length shot as the song were produced during the run, including Ibsen's Ghosts, The Fiancée .....................................................Jane Eccles
ends. Wonderful stuff. Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, Shakespeare's A Winter's The Nobleman ..........................................Arthur Lawrence
Tale and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights (directed by The Dead Man ..........................................George McGrath
Within this play, however, (whose direction is expertly Rudolph Cartier). The Cook ...........................................................Anna Wing
managed throughout by producer Stuart Burge) there is one The Maid.......................................................Mary McMillen
sequence that remains outstanding. This is where The Radio Times lists the programme thus: The Poet ..............................................................John Rae
Student talks to The Milkmaid's ghost at the fountain. It is Beggars ......................................................Gladys Dawson
wonderfully staged, establishing beyond doubt that The “An old man in a wheel-chair offers his patronage to a young ......................................................................Nelson Evans
Student can see things that the other characters cannot. student, on one condition-that he goes to a performance of .................................................................Laurence Archer
The scene begins with a wide shot showing The Milkmaid as The Valkyrie and asks no questions” ...............................................................John Scott Martin
she walks past The Old Man to the fountain (vision mix Coffin Bearer...................................................Leslie Bates
overlay). The Student then enters and moves to the Although accurate in its brevity, it's a fairly unenthralling .........................................................................Brian Bada
fountain. ‘teaser’ and one wonders how many people were actually ..................................................................Norman Coburn
tempted to watch the play from this description alone. .....................................................................Michael Byrne
ANGLE 1: Mid close-up on both The Milkmaid and The Viewers probably had either an interest in Strindberg's work
Student from the front. Both actors are in shot. to begin with or had become accustomed to watching a play Crew
on Friday night; The Ghost Sonata was tenth in the ‘series’, Written by...............................................August Strindberg
ANGLE 2: Close-up of The Old Man's face as he wonders so it's likely that some sort of viewer base had built up by.. Translated from the Swedish by ...................Michael Meyer
who The Student is talking to. then. Music for the harp composed and played by ......Osian Ellis
Settings by ....................................................Clifford Hatts
ANGLE 3: Long shot from behind The Old Man showing A half-page article accompanied that day's listings in Radio Produced by...................................................Stuart Burge
his point of view. Linda Gardner has stepped Times. Half of it was taken up with a facial close-up picture T.O.M. .................................................................Otis Eddy
back out of shot and it looks as if The Student of The Old Man menacing The Mummy while the other half Lighting ..........................................................Jimmy Purdie
is talking to himself. explained the play. “Tonight's production is one of the most Sound..........................................................Gordon Mackie
unusual ever seen in television” it begins, before going on to Vision.........................................................Nellie Southcote
ANGLE 4: Close-up of The Student as he talks to the (off- explain the eccentricities of both the plot and Strindberg. Crew ................................................................................8
screen) Milkmaid. Offscreen, Linda Gardner The last few paragraphs list the cast and their recent Production Assistant..................................George Spenton
steps back into position for Angle 5. credits. Brett, not yet a headlining actor (but, conversely, the Assistant Floor Manager ..............................Sue Armstrong
first name on the list when the credits roll) is listed as Assistant to Producer ...................................Maisie Woodall
ANGLE 5: Close-up of both The Student and The Milkmaid “...Jeremy Brett, seen in television last year in A Kin nd of Costumes.................................................Rosemary Wilkins
as he continues to talk to her Strrength and Be eauty an nd the e Beeast, is cast as The Make-up .....................................................Rosemary Ross
Student...”.
This is a remarkable number of shot changes in a sequence Production Information
which lasts for a few moments only. It is, effectively, a The Ghost Sonata has never enjoyed a repeat showing and Project Number .......................[not listed in script or PasB]
choreographed scene, with Linda Gardner moving in and out has never been made available commercially. Telerecording Numbers .................35/T/13697, 16/T/13697
of vision with each change of camera-angle and it comes off Camera Rehearsals ................19th and 20th January 1961
very well indeed. It is enhanced by the way Brett and Archive Details Camera Recording.................................20th January 1961
Gardner interact as she bathes his eyes: she lifts the wet Duration....................................................................71’41”
handkerchief to his eyes, ensuring that no part of her hand Records show that The Ghost Sonata is stored in the BBC Studio ...............................................................Lime Grove
touches his face - only the handkerchief touches Brett. Film and Television Library in several formats. As well as a Recording Format .........................monochrome 35mm with
Brett lifts his hand, moving it gently over her hand - very timecoded VHS viewing tape, this play is held as a separate ........................................mute monochrome 35mm inserts
close, but never touching - and takes the handkerchief magnetic mute film and soundtrack and both the Archive Format ...................monochrome composite optical
back. This behaviour is not mentioned in the camera script monochrome composite optical negative and positive. ..........................................positive and negative, separate
and must have been something that evolved during ................................magnetic soundtrack, timecoded VHS
rehearsals. A little thing, easily missed, but it is a defining The viewing tape holds a very rough print of the story taken
moment for Brett's character. from three separate reels of 35mm film (viewing copies are Film Sequences Used
not necessarily the best indicator as to the condition of the o Specially Shot: 234’ silent monochrome 35mm film
The surreal quality of the scene is further enhanced by The best master available). It is very unfortunate that the
Old Man, looking at the student, framed in close-up (Angle viewing copy is incomplete, with just over five minutes Music Listed as Used
2, as mentioned above): o 09’13” of specially commissioned music by Osian Ellis,
sung by Ursula Connor (a soprano) and Jeremy Brett.
OLD MAN: Who's he talking to? I can't see anyone - is he o 05’47” of live harp music played on-set by Osian Ellis
mad? o 02’40” of Bach from Classical Club Best Loved
Organ Works
Is he talking to himself or to the audience? Certainly the
script specifies that the Old Man is being rhetorical, but the ooOoo
play's surrealism introduces an element of doubt and it's
entirely likely that Robert Helpmann is ‘breaking the fourth Thee Ghoost So
onata © Strindberg Estate 2004
wall’ and talking directly to the audience. This movement is The
e Gho ost Soonata script © Michael Meyer estate 2004
not overt - as in a Brechtian piece - but enough doubt is Thee Gho ost So
onata production © BBC 1962, 2004
given to the viewer so as to make one pause for thought. This article © Steve Rogers, 2004. No reprinting allowed
without express permission.
Transmitted in March 1962 and never repeated, this shows Copyright remains with the copyright holders and this
a Producer (in the days before the rôle evolved into that of article and review is written and compiled in private
both Producer and Director) at the top of his form and study, classified under the Copyright Designs and
actors relishing their respective characters and giving top- Patents Act 1988 as "Fair Dealing".
notch performances.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Louis Marks'

production of The Ghost Sonata for the 1980 Festival
series (programme number LDPB113D). Directed by Philip The Student encounters The Old Man (© BBC)

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