The Potting Shed is a 1957 play byGraham Greene in three acts. The psychological drama centres on a secret held by the Callifer family for nearly thirty years.
The patriarch of the family is dying and James, his estranged son, appears unexpectedly. He can remember nothing about a mysterious moment that occurred in the family's potting shed when he was age 14. Family members who recall the event are unwilling to describe it to him. With the help of a psychoanalyst, James tries to recall just what happened that day that left him rejected by his father, alienated from his family, and alone in the world.
The Broadway production was directed byCarmen Capalbo. It opened on 29 January 1957 at theBijou Theatre and later moved to theJohn Golden Theatre to complete its run of 143 performances.Robert Flemyng starred as James Callifer andSybil Thorndike,Frank Conroy,Leueen MacGrath,Joan Croydon,Lewis Casson, andCarol Lynley were cast in supporting roles.[1]
The Potting Shed was first produced in London on 5 February 1958 at theGlobe Theatre, directed byMichael Macowan, and starringWalter Hudd,Sarah Long,Lockwood West,John Gielgud,Peter Illing,Redmond Phillips.[2]
The third act of the play differed between the 1957 American and 1958 British productions. An author's note in the British edition of the published play (William Heinemann, 1958) states:
Greene never was pleased with the third act and rewrote it during rehearsals of the American production; he changed it back to the original script for the British premiere.[3]
Time wrote "The play's emotional power derives from its harassed outcries and silences, from very human bafflements and needs, from a truly serious man's intensities and jocosities alike...for two acts, culminating in a superbly dramatic revelation scene,The Potting Shed, by its writing and storytelling alike, more and more grips and stirs its audience."
It was revived at theFinborough Theatre in early 2011.[4]
In 1961,Paul Bogart directed the play for the television seriesThe Play of the Week. Frank Conroy reprised his Broadway role. The cast includedJohn Baragrey as James Callifer andLudwig Donath,Ann Harding,Fritz Weaver, andNancy Wickwire in supporting roles.[5]
A 1981 television production of the play was written byPat Sandys and produced byYorkshire Television for theLondon Weekend Television seriesCelebrity Playhouse. The cast, directed byDavid Cunliffe, includedPaul Scofield as James Callifer andAnna Massey,Maurice Denham,Celia Johnson,David Swift,Allan Cuthbertson, andCyril Luckham.[6]
