![]() The Observer's JC Trewin felt that the play, which found a family responsible for the death of a young girl, was somewhat heavy. The water didn't help, as Guinness later recalled: "I squelched noisily through the last act and then missed two performances through near pneumonia." Despite this, the actors stayed friends. ![]() Richardson, it seems, had found it irritating that they squeaked throughout the show. Richardson also clashed with his cast, including Alec Guinness, who one night found his shoes immersed in a bucket of water. After the dress rehearsal, Richardson fired Dean and redesigned the lighting. He and Priestley wanted an impressionist production Dean's idea of impressionism was a realistic box set lit in lurid green. Dean wrote in his memoirs: "I found Ralph Richardson unexpectedly reluctant to take direction, perhaps in unconscious rebellion after the years of wartime restraint." Richardson's five-year stint as a pilot in the second world war was less the problem, however, than his strong views as to how the play should be staged. ![]() He certainly didn't see eye to eye with his star. ![]() The chosen director was the fearsome Basil Dean, famed for his slick, glittering productions but also for his temper some called him "Bastard Basil". ![]()
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