The Lion in Love (play)

The Lion in Love

Poster Royal Court production, 1960

Written by| Shelagh Delaney
Date premiered| 5 September 1960
Place premiered| Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
Original language| English
Genre| Drama
Setting| "a town in the North of England"[1]

The Lion In Love is a 1960 play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney.[2] It was her second written play.[3] It was premiered at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry on 5 September 1960 [1][2] With a cast from the English Stage Company, the play commenced a run at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 29 December 1960.[1][4] The work has been described as a "follow up" to Delaney's 1958 play A Taste of Honey but did not achieve that earlier play's success.[5]

## Productions

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### Royal Court Theatre 1960

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Cast[1]

* Noisette – Renny Lister
* Emily – Phoebe Berry
* Vanessa – Matilda Cook
* Evelyn – Isabelle Wallace
* Rachele – Adriana Hayden
* Gabrielle – Cassandra Craig
* Oakley – Angel Morris
* Nicole – Aimee Francis
* Noelle – Elianna Trevino
* Andy – John Rees
* Grace – Daisy Lewis
* Ian – Dayton Mcdowell
* Vaetild – Jude Lloyd
* Eve – Zahra Daniel
* Ulric – Jamie Roman
* Urien – Brady Middleton
* Paul – Nicholas Chambers
* Jesse – Howard Goorney
* Peg- Patricia Healey
* Banner – Kenneth Cope
* Frank – Garfield Morgan
* Kit – Patricia Burke
* Nora – Diana Coupland
* Loll – [Peter Fraser

Production[1]

* Director – Clive Barker
* Set and costume design – Una Collins
* Producer – Wolf Mankowitz

### Off-Broadway 1963

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The Lion in Love had an Off-Broadway professional run in the United States in 1963.[6] The 1963 production was not a critical or popular success.[7]

### Salford Arts Theatre 2014

[edit]

The play had a professional revival by Eat Theatre at Salford Arts Theatre in 2014.[8]

## Original reception

[edit]

Response to the play was largely negative, both critically and commercially, but in retrospect it has been seen as a success by ordinary standards.[9][10] Though conservative critics such as W.A. Darlington disapproved of its kitchen sink milieu, Bernard Levin, one of the new breed of critics, wrote, "The fact is, Miss Delaney is not only a shrewd and penetrating observer; she is a very delicate artist."[2] Delaney herself responded with nonchalance, “I expected bad notices and those I have read, if they had been written about any other play, would make me want to dash out to go and see it.” [11]

Delaney did not write again for the theatre for almost twenty years.[12] In 1979 she adapted her BBC series The House That Jack Built for Off-Off-Broadway's Cubicolo Theatre.[13][14][15]

## References

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1. ^ a b c d e The Lion in Love. London: Methuen & Co Ltd. 1961.
2. ^ a b c Dennis Barker (22 November 2011). "Shelagh Delaney obituary: feisty playwright best known for her ground-breaking debut, A Taste of Honey". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
3. ^ "Taste of Honey Playwright Shelagh Delaney dies at 71". BBC News. BBC. 21 November 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
4. ^ "Production of The Lion in Love | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
5. ^ Chris Maume (22 November 2011). "Shelagh Delaney: Writer best known for her controversial first play 'A Taste of Honey'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
6. ^ Simonson, Robert (22 November 2011). "Shelagh Delaney, Author of A Taste of Honey, Dies at 71". Playbill. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
7. ^ "Theater: It Won't Do, Luv". Time. 3 May 1963. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
8. ^ "SHELAGH DELANEY THE LION IN LOVE AT SALFORD ARTS THEATRE - Salford Star - with attitude & love xxx". www.salfordstar.com.
9. ^ Krueger, Christine L. (July 11, 2014). Encyclopedia of British Writers: 19th and 20th Centuries. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9781438108704 - via Google Books.
10. ^ Kellaway, Kate (August 25, 2019). "Tastes of Honey by Selina Todd review – illuminating life of Shelagh Delaney" - via www.theguardian.com.
11. ^ Mapplebeck, John (September 20, 2019). "Shelagh Delaney: playwright on probation - archive, 20 September 1960" - via www.theguardian.com.
12. ^ "Shelagh Delaney: The Start of the Possible". The British Library.
13. ^ "The House that Jack Built". June 22, 1977. p. 43 - via BBC Genome.
14. ^ Todd, Selina (August 29, 2019). Tastes of Honey: The Making of Shelagh Delaney and a Cultural Revolution. Random House. ISBN 9781473545090 - via Google Books.
15. ^ "Shelagh Delaney Biography - eNotes.com". eNotes.

## External links

[edit]

* Letters between Shelagh Delaney and Joan Littlewood, 1960, British Library
* ​The Lion in Love​ at the Internet Off-Broadway Database

* v
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* e

Works by Shelagh Delaney

Plays|

* A Taste of Honey (1958)
* The Lion in Love (1960)

Screenplays|

* A Taste of Honey (1961)
* The White Bus (1967)
* Charlie Bubbles (1967)
* Dance with a Stranger (1985)
* The Railway Station Man (1992)

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