Wednesday, 1 February 2023

Spotlight: Don Taylor (Director - During Barty's Party and Buddyboy) Part Two

After four years as a staff director Taylor suddenly found that his contract was not to be renewed. Instead he would continue to work for the BBC on a freelance basis. Towards the end of September 1965 he directed a theatre revival of Fanny’s First Play at the Mermaid Theatre. His first freelance director work for the BBC was And Did Those Feet? (2nd June 1965), another Taylor / Mercer collaboration. The play was partly filmed on location in a candle lit public swimming at night and was a fantasy essay on madness and eccentricity. The production proved to be costly and Taylor had to request additional resources to complete the project which was noted by BBC Drama Department management and eventually used as an excuse to not employ him for several years. In effect Taylor found himself black listed from working within the department, though this did not prevent him from working for different departments within the corporation.

Theatre work for this period included a revival of the Bernard Shaw play The Philanderer at the Mermaid Theatre during January and February 1966. The cast included his wife Ellen Dryden and Wensley Pithey, who would later play Mr Liversedge in the Beasts episode ‘Special Offer’. Taylor also directed a version of the play The Swallows, written by Ronald Dubillard, at the Traverse Theatre Club, Edinburgh during September 1966 and then the New Arts Theatre Club during October 1966. Taylor then wrote and directed the play Grounds for Marriage presented by the Traverse Theatre Club in Edinburgh during June 1967. This was the first play Taylor wrote for the stage. Taylor also wrote the stage play Sisters which was presented at the Northcot Theatre, Exeter during August and November 1968. The Citizen’s Theatre in Glasgow staged Sam Foster Comes Home, written by Taylor, during October 1969. The play centred on the character Sam Foster who has opted out of society because he refuses to compromise his beliefs.

The Woman From The Shadows (19th January 1969) was the first of six films that Taylor directed for the BBC Arts Department for the documentary series Omnibus. Narrated by William Hurndall the programme dramatized the life and work of the poet William Wordsworth. Bernard Horsfall, who would appear in the Beasts episode ‘The Dummy’, played Wordsworth. Taylor himself would script several of these Omnibus episodes.Theatre wise Taylor had an immense success with The Roses of Eyam (1970) which was in almost continuous production for several years after it debuted. The play was based on real events that occurred in a small Derbyshire village in the 17th Century. A bundle of clothes from plague riddled London arrives in the village with disastrous consequences. The village takes the decision to isolate itself from the outside world in a bid to stop the plague infecting over nearby villages. In effect the village voted to succumb to the plague and sacrificed itself to save others. The played debuted at the Northcott theatre on 23rd September with a cast that included a small role for John Rhys Davies who Taylor would employ to provide radio voices for the Beasts episode ‘During Barty’s Party’.

His second Omnibus episode, It’ll Be All Live on the Night (1st November 1970), was a documentary that looked at the state of regional theatre in the UK. Taylor scripted the programme which examined the theatres, and their artistic directors, in Exeter, Windsor, Stoke on Trent and Nottingham. The third Omnibus submission was Paradise Restored (2nd January 1972) which was again written by Taylor. The episode was a dramatization of the life of John Milton, as played by John Neville, which was well acclaimed by critics. Taylor also scripted his fourth Omnibus episode, Actor, I Said (9th April 1972) which had a solid cast that included Barry Foster and Martin Jarvis

Taylor found himself in the director’s chair for the BBC Drama Department after several years (his line managers who blacklisted him long since departed) for the BBC 2 play Prisoners (7th April 1971), a two hander starring Edward Woodward as a prisoner and Warren Mitchell as his jailer. The Stage gave the play a glowing review: “The direction, by the author himself, Don Taylor, had the two characters jumping up and down every few seconds and rushing about like mad as is often the case in conversation pieces. But on this occasion it did not in fact jar – it seemed as natural and uncontrived as anyone has the right to expect artifice to be. Some of the camera movements were really quite delicious.[1]

Next was the play ‘The Exorcism’ (5th November 1972), a truly disturbing episode of the BBC horror anthology series Dead of Night, which has become a key work in the area of Folk Horror. Taylor dug beneath the usual surface dressings of the genre subverting the material to become what has been described as a “socialist ghost story[2]” when the suffering of long dead paupers impinges on the world of the well to do middle class. The play featured Clive Swift who would later feature in the Beasts instalment ‘The Dummy’.

Taylor also wrote his next directorial project, The Roses of Eyam (12th June 1973), based on his stage play. The production was nominated for the best original teleplay by the Writers’ Guild. Taylor then returned to the documentary programme Omnibus with the episode The Runaway (18th November 1973). Taylor’s first directing work for independent television followed with the ATV play The Person Responsible (1974) and Visitors (1974) both written by his wife Ellen Dryden. Taylor was not a fan of independent television, but he relished the chance to produce some of his wife’s work for television.

His final contribution to the series Omnibus was Find Me (8th December 1974) written by David Mercer. Anthony Hopkins, David Collings and Charlotte Cornwell starred. The production was shot on film during 1973 and was the story of Polish novelist, wartime poet and political figure Marek (Hopkins). This was the sixth Mercer script that Taylor had directed. The stage version of The Exorcism opened at the Comedy Theatre, London in 1975. The production’s main star, actress Mary Ure, died suddenly after the opening night which resulted in the tabloid newspapers having a field day suggesting links between her demise and the supernatural forces present in the play. Despite all the publicity the play only ran for a month before closing. Taylor himself had tried to stop the play as he felt the production company was not interested in the allegorical messages in the drama. Instead he felt that they just wanted to cash in on the then present craze for Satanism and the supernatural amongst the British public and inspired by the film The Exorcist.  Taylor objected to the play being rewritten and sensationalised and tried to prevent production but withdrew not wanting to enter into a public row with the producers.

The two episodes of Beasts were his next directing project and would be a highlight of his experiences working for ITV. Interviewed in The Stage in 1977 Taylor stated “I work very little for ITV, merely because they don’t very often do the kind of thing I want to do. There have been exceptions. I had a very satisfactory association with Nicholas Palmer at ATV.[3]” Palmer was the producer of Beasts.

It was back to the BBC for his first contribution to the BBC 2 Playhouse series writing and directing the episode ‘Dad’ (23rd April 1976) and this was followed up with the episode ‘The Achurch Letters’ (12th January 1977). This was also written and directed by Taylor and focussed on the relationship between the writer George Bernard Shaw and a drug addicted actress. During June 1977 Taylor directed a version of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure at the St. George’s Theatre in Tufnell Park. His first of three contributions to the BBC Play of the Month drama anthology came with an adaptation of the Harley Granville Parker play ‘Waste’ (4th December 1977), first written in 1907 and immediately banned by the stage censor, the Lord Chamberlain, due to explicit dialogue around the topic of male and female relations and references to abortion. Taylor’s adaptation found little favour with the viewing audience with the majority of viewers watching The Silver Jubilee Royal Gala on ITV.

Taylor then became actively involved in the first season of a new flagship drama anthology for the his old employer. BBC 2 Play of the Week saw three episodes directed by Taylor with two of them also written by him. His first episode was the experimental ‘Flayed’ (22nd February 1978), which he also wrote, and starred Timothy Bateson and Ian Holm. The action took place in a deserted television studio containing five characters, each there for a different reason. This was quickly followed with a remake of ‘For Tea on Sunday’ (29th March 1978) which Taylor had originally directed 15 years earlier. This time the play’s destructive ending did not warrant a wave of complaints from the viewers. At the time Taylor said that the play “was meant to foretell the coming rage of a world torn apart by capitalism and terrorism.[4]
The third play was ‘When Actors Come’ (3rd May 1978) which was also written by Taylor. Manning Wilson was cast as the narrator of the story. Taylor revised this play for the stage debuting the production at the Forum, Wythenshawe performed by members of the Manchester Library Theatre Company from 2nd February 1979. Other theatre credits during this period included directing a version of Julius Caesar at St George’s Theatre starring Bernard Hepton as Caesar during April 1979

Taylor then turned his attention to the Arthur Miller play The Crucible (12th April 1980) directing an epic 165 minute television production which included the seldom performed third act. The distinguished cast included Sarah Berger, making her television debut as Abigail, Denis Quilley, Anna Cropper, Daniel Massey, Eric Porter and Peter Vaughan. Further down the cast list was a young Sarah Sutton who would later feature as Doctor Who companion Nyssa. Taylor’s third contribution to BBC 2 Playhouse was ‘In Hiding’ (15th March 1980) with Taylor directing and writing a story about a teenager learning about life and death while staying with his aunt during the summer holidays. Denholm Elliott and Tim Piggot Smith featured in the cast.  Taylor’s final BBC 2 Playhouse episode was ‘A Last Visitor for Mr Hugh Peter’ (30th January 1981) which he again directed and wrote. The story saw Hugh Peter (Peter Vaughan) alone in a prison cell awaiting his fate. He was once a member of Oliver Cromwell’s army and has now been sentenced to death. While he waits he is visited by various characters including Charles I and the black figure of death. Gary Watson, who had provided voice over work for ‘During Barty’s Party’, was cast by Taylor as the personification of Death. The play broke the fourth wall by having the main character suddenly break off and wander over to join a studio discussion about the production half way through the programme.

Taylor made a rare excursion into the ongoing series format when he directed four episodes of Maybury which starred Patrick Stewart as a psychiatrist working at Maybury General Hospital. ‘Not To Worry, Everything Is Under Control’ (23rd June 1981), ‘Trouble At Home’ (30th June 1981), ‘Eddie’ (28th July 1981) and ‘Weekend’ (4th August 1981). He returned to BBC Play of the Month with two consecutive episodes; ‘The Critic’ (23rd August 1982) and ‘The White Guard’ (20th September 1982). October and December 1983 saw a version of Taylor’s play The Exorcism, now based on his original script, toured with Kate O’Mara playing Mary Ure’s role.

His next BBC production was a version of Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona (27th December 1983). The one off drama The Testament of John (28th April 1984) was also written by Taylor. The Theban Plays by Sophocles were a trio of dramas all directed by Taylor and also translated by him; ‘Oedipus The King’ (16th September 1986), ‘Oedipus At Colonus’ (17th September 1986) and ‘Antigone’ (19th September 1986). In December 1986 it was announced that Taylor had been appointed as the new artistic director for Compass Theatre, a company led by Sir Anthony Quayle. Quayle and Taylor had met when they both worked on The Theban Plays for BBC 2. His first task was directing a version of King Lear in April 1987. Other productions included The Government Inspector in May 1988

Taylor’s final directorial work for the BBC was two plays for the drama anthology Theatre Night; ‘Bingo: Scenes of Money and Deat’ (30th June 1990) and ‘Iphigenia at Aulis’ (21st July 1990) which he also translated. Further episodes were planned but were suddenly cancelled without any obvious explanation. Disillusioned with the medium Taylor decided to withdraw from the industry and he never made another programme. Since the 1980s Taylor and his wife had been running a children’s theatre company near their home in Chiswick. Taking this experience as a basis the couple decided to set up First Writes, a professional theatre company which would produce plays for the radio as well as mount stage productions mostly in East Anglia. He also published a memoir about his career in television and working alongside David Mercer titled Days of Vision.


He still undertook radio and stage work including Retreat from Moscow written and directed by Taylor at New End theatre, Hampstead during January 1993. For Radio 4’s Monday Play strand Taylor wrote Underworld (21st February 1994) as well as writing and directing Merely Players (29th April 1996). Further Radio 4 work included Where Three Roads Meet (24th April 1998) which featured a vicar who had lost his faith in the existence of God. Taylor adapted and directed a three part version of The Decameron for BBC Radio 4 broadcast from 12th July 1998 and directed a three part radio drama serial, Rites of Passage, starting 23rd August 1998. Radio 4 transmitted a version of the play Moliere, or the League of Hypocrites (31st October 1999) directed by Taylor and Ballet Shoes, adapted by Ellen Dryden, for Radio 4 during December 1999. In April and June 2000 BBC Radio 4 showcased a series of dramas written or directed by Taylor. The run included Walking to Africa (April 2000) as well as murder thriller Confessions of a Justified Sinner (April 2000). Both plays were written by James Hogg. In June Radio 4 transmitted Taylor’s 45 minute play about guilt, A Visitation (June 2000), starring John Wood, Julian Glover and Prunella Scales. August saw Taylor directing Losing Rosalind (August 2000) written by Ellen Dryden.

Taylor died on 11th November 2003 in Banham, Norfolk aged 67 after a long battle with colon cancer which eventually spread to his brain. The Guardian obituary defined Taylor as “a figure of towering purpose and austerity in the years when television drama was the true national theatre[5].”  The Stage proclaimed “Don Taylor was one of Britain’s most innovative and respected television directors.[6]Taylor had married the actress and writer Ellen Dryden (1938-2022) in 1960 and the union had one daughter, Lucy, and one son, Jon, an actor and writer.

The last play Taylor wrote for radio, A Nice Little Trip to Spain (4th May 2004) investigated the mystery of why a socialist volunteer in the Spanish Civil War was buried alongside fascists. Taylor’s son portrayed one of the characters in the play. A celebration of Don Taylor’s life and work took place at St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden on Sunday 13th June 2004. Between June and September 2004 a production of Euripides Iphigenia at Aulis, based on the translation by Don Taylor, was mounted by National Theatre. The company also mounted a version of Women of Troy between November 2007 and January 2008 based on Taylor’s translation of Euripides original play.

Don Taylor was adept across several mediums; theatre, television and radio. His work alongside Nigel Kneale on the Beasts episode ‘During Barty’s Party’ could easily be reconfigured to successfully work in all three of these media. A fitting tribute to a man who broke new ground and was not afraid to grasp the potential of drama to have a profound impact on its audience.



[1] “Scarcely Flagged and Was Often Sparkling” by John Philips. The Stage, Thursday 15th April 1971, page 11
[2] “Don Taylor” by Oliver Wake , Dead Of Night DVD Booklet, page 18 (BFI DVD 2012)
[3] “When Directors and Writers Lost Their Freedom”, The Stage, 10th March 1977, page 16
[4] Don Taylor obituary by Philip Purser, The Guardian, 20th November 2003, page 29
[5] Don Taylor obituary by Philip Purser, The Guardian, 20th November 2003, page 29
[6] The Stage, Thursday 18th December 2003, page 24





No comments:

Post a Comment