Sitting Room of Alderman Helliwell's House in Clecklewyke, a Town in the North of England
When We Are Married is a comedy by the English dramatist J. B. Priestley. Written in 1934,[1] it was first performed in London at the St. Martin's Theatre, London, on 11 October 1938. It transferred to the larger Prince's Theatre in March 1939 and ran until 24 June of that year.[2]
A group of three couples, old friends and all married on the same day in the same chapel, gathers at the Helliwells’ home to celebrate their silver anniversary. When they discover that they are not legally married, each couple initially reacts with proper Victorian horror – what will the neighbours think? – and all three couples find themselves reevaluating their marriages; hovering closely over the proceedings is the Yorkshire Argus' alcohol-soaked photographer, keen to record the evening's events for posterity, and a wickedly destructive housekeeper who is hoping to use the couples' mortification to her own advantage. In the end, of course, everything turns out well, and the play ends on a happy note.
In November 1938, When We Are Married became the first play to be televised unedited from a theatre when the BBC relayed the complete performance between 8.30 and 10.50 pm on 16 November.[7]
Afilm adaptation was released in 1943 by British National Films featuring the three male leads from the original stage production and 1938 TV adaptation in the same roles: Raymond Huntley as Albert Parker (playing the same role again later in a 1951 television adaptation[8]), Lloyd Pearson as Joseph Helliwell and Ernest Butcher as Herbert Soppitt; the cast also included Sydney Howard as Henry Ormonroyd, Olga Lindo as Maria Helliwell, Marian Spencer as Annie Parker, Ethel Coleridge as Clara Soppitt, Barry Morse as Gerald Forbes, Marjorie Rhodes as Mrs. Northrup and Lydia Sherwood as Lottie Grady.[9] A made-for-television version was also produced in 1957.[10]
^"St. Martin's Theatre", The Times, 12 October 1938, p. 12; "Princes Theatre", The Times, 28 March 1939, p. 12; and "Theatres", The Times, 24 June 1939, p. 10