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t e l e v i s i o n .

The Upstart
ITV's Play of the Week, 7.vi.60

Starring
Alan Bates and Marian Spencer

Cast in order of appearance:
Peter Garside: Alan Bates
Mrs Garside (Peter's mother): Constance Fraser
Paper boy: Ian Sharp
Margaret Shawcross (Peter's fiancee): Jayne Muir

Members of Salchester Labour Party:
Dennis O'Callaghan: Paul Ferrell
Ned Applegarth: Stratford Johns
Karal Marx Jones: Peter Woodthorpe
Mrs Fairclough: Marie Hopps

Barmaid: Constance Merigold
Bar customer: Bud Ralston
Waiter: Arthur Barclay
Timson (Mottram's butler): Aidan Turner
Gladys Mottram (Mayor's daughter): Anne Lawson
Lady Mottram (Mayoress): Marian Spencer
Freddie Mottram (Mayor's son): John Forrest
Sir Jasper Mottram (Mayor): John Wentworth
Labour Party Whip: Frank Crawshaw

Written by: Harold Brighouse
Adapted by: Gerald Savory
Designed by: Peter Phillips
Directed by: Wilfred Eades

Young Peter Garside may have no money, but he has a silver tongue. His brilliant speeches in his home town make him an obvious choice for Parliament. But when he falls in love withhis own voice, his friends, as well as his enemies, decide it is time to teach him a lesson.

The Upstart

IF JANE MUIR is looking for the right note of fervour for a street corner speech she makes in Haraold Brighouse's comedy "The Upstart" -- starring Alan Bates and Marian Spencer -- she has only to remember her repertory days.
For Jane, who plays a Socialist school teacher, Margaret, was at Lincoln in 1955 "when the Theatre Royal was being sold from under us." She said: "It would have thrown us all out of work and left the city without a repertory. But a tremendous campaign saved the theatre to be run as an association. Even now, thinking about it rouses such strong feelings that I'm well able to sympathise with Margaret and put myself in her place."
Margaret is one of two girls with whom Alan Bates, as Peter Garside, is involved in this amusing story of love and ambition against an electioneeering background. The other girl is Gladys Mottram (Anne Lawson), wealthy daughter of the mayor.
"The Upstart" is another of the plays with a strong Northern flavour first seen at Annie horniman's Manchester repertory. But its range is wider than most of the plays of this school. although not directly concerned with poltics, this robust comedy follows the fortunes of Garside, a young idealist from the back streets of Salchester, as he makes his bid for a seat in Westminster.
He is known as "silver-tongued Garside," and he revels in what he calls "the glorious sensation of holding a crowd in the hollow of your hand." But there is a danger of Garside's ideals being corrupted by his won eloquence and ambition.
Peeter Woodthorpe plays one of Garside's political supporters, Karal Marx Jones. Peter and Alan Bates are at present appearing as brothers on the West End stage [in The Caretaker - ed.] |||