The New Murrey and Blue blog

“Dickon”, a play by Josephine Tey’s alter ego, is to be performed for the second time ever…..

from ticketsource.co.uk

It’s always good to learn of something that is bound to help boost the reputation of King Richard III. We already love Josephine Tey for her iconic book The Daughter of Time, which set the record straight about Richard, but she didn’t only write as Josephine Tey. At this Barnard Castle site https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/barnard-castle/st-marys-parish-church/the-castle-players-present-dickon-a-play-about-richard-iii/2024-11-16/14:30/t-jzpqmny I came upon the following opening paragraph:

“….The Castle Players present Elizabeth Macintosh’s play set during the reign of Richard III. Better known for her novel ‘The daughter of time’ (written under the pseudonym Josephine Tey) Macintosh published Dickon under another pseudonym (Gordon Daviot). The play was first performed posthumously in 1953. This performance takes place in St Mary’s church, greatly enhanced by Richard’s generosity as he planned for a Collegiate Foundation to be based in Barnard Castle….”

The performance will be on Saturday 16th November 2024 at St Mary’s Parish Church, Barnard Castle, DL12 8NQ. Details at the above link.

In another link—https://www.teesdalemercury.co.uk/art-and-leisure/grants-boost-for-castle-players-latest-production—you can read more about the play, for which “….The Richard III Society has donated £1,000 towards the cost of costumes and local Durham county councillors have given the Players £400 to hire a stage….”

The excitement has been mounting in Barnard Castle. People have already been seen Richard in armour riding down Horsemarket as part of the year-long celebration of Richard being made Lord of Barnard Castle all of 550 years ago. And in October St Mary’s Parish Church will have a new stained-glass window installed.

It’s all happening in Barnard Castle!

from the Teesdale Mercury

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  1. Anne Ayres Avatar
    Anne Ayres

    I wish the production all success. I’m sure everyone up at Barnard Castle are very excited and working very hard to perform in this little known play by Josephine Tey under her Gordon Daviot psedonym. If I lived closer I’d try to get tickets.

    However, I have a copy of the play and can see why it was not the triumph that she had had with “Richard of Bordeaux” (about Richard the Second) in the thirties, starring the then theatrical darling, John Gielgud.

    In the play “Dickon” she was too concerned to ensure that Richard or Dickon was seen as the “Gentil and Parfait” Knight… Often this was expounded in long stage directions. But one cannot show exposition of argument in stage directions! It has to be done through dialogue and action. So I can see why it has not been performed a second time – she was almost writing a novel not a play!

    I hope the director and the team at Barnard Castle have found a way through this difficulty and I wish them all the very best in the enterprise, which hopefully will continue to enhance Richard’s reputation.

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  2. Mary Stastny Avatar
    Mary Stastny

    Thanks for your good wishes, rehearsals start on Monday and we’re all very excited! I’ve never understood why people are so perturbed by stage directions! Luckily, the play is out of copyright and so we shall regard the stage directions as mere suggestions! All you need are the words!

    Shakespeare made it easy for us all, by hardly including any stage directions at all – this frees the director and the actors to use their imagination. Let the fun begin !

    Mary Stastny

    Director

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