Coming next at BLT.

Independent Means

by Stanley Houghton

30th October to 6th November

STANLEY HOUGHTON (1881 – 1913) was one of the best of the so-called ‘Manchester School’ of playwrights, and much influenced by Ibsen.

His plays, dealing with the revolt against parental authority and the struggle between the generations, were first seen at the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester, They include The Dear Departed (1908) and The Younger Generation (1910) both of which proved popular with amateur and repertory companies.

His best known play Hindle Wakes (1912) was, however, first seen in London, played by actors from the Gaiety in Manchester, and directed by Lewis Casson, their resident producer.

Houghton was born in Sale, and moved to Manchester as a child. His father was a prominent coal merchant. He attended Manchester Grammar School, and then worked in his father’s office until he gained his own financial independence with the success of Hindle Wakes in 1912.

In 1905 he started writing, unpaid, for the Manchester City News as a drama critic. He then began to contribute articles of journalism for the Manchester Guardian.

Following his success with The Dear Departed, he tried his hand at a full length play – Independent Means – which he wrote in 1908, and which was chosen to open the 2nd season at the Gaiety Theatre. It enjoyed two revivals there, and was first printed in 1911.

The success that followed Hindle Wakes was sadly short-lived. Houghton moved to London to write, and then to Paris in 1913. He fell very ill, and caught a fever in Venice, returned to Manchester to die of meningitis in December. He was 32, and unmarried.

The BLT production has a cast of Frances Clemmitt, Shirley Hill, Rachel Hadjigeorgiu, Michael Haworth, Phil Lunt and Stewart Smith.

Michael Shipley

Tickets are of course now on sale at the Albert Halls Ticket Office during normal shopping hours. Tel: 01204 334400.