Julien Green "Sud" TV Play of the Week (1959) "SOUTH"
Channel: Queer Kult
Date: 2021-07-11

French/American writer Julien Green's 1953 play "Sud" was banned from performance in the UK because of its homosexual lead character and homosexual theme. It defines "Queer Theatre" in an age when "Queer" as a term was decades from being reclaimed. So it is remarkable that in 1959 when homosexuality was still illegal in the UK and Julien Green's play was still banned, that Granada TV made it their Play Of The Week for ITV. (There were only 2 TV channels in the UK at the time.)

Here's what one reviewer said at the time:
"I do NOT see anything attractive in the agonies and ecstasies of a pervert, especially in close-up in my sitting room. This is not prudishness. There are some indecencies in life that are best left covered up."
The Daily Sketch – 25th November 1959

The play, sexually tame by today's standards, and with an outdated but non-offensive take on race, had a formidable cast including openly gay Peter Wyngarde in the lead role, Hollywood veteran Bessie Love, and pioneering black British actor Johnny Sekka. The director Mario Prizek was also openly gay.

The performance was broadcast live on November 24th 1959, and this is a recording of that broadcast. Such live performances posed many technical and logistical difficulties at the time. There is background noise as microphones and cameras are moved around. A studio hand can be seen running not quite under the camera's view and in one scene the actors rush to get to their next shot in time.

Most live TV from this period is lost, so it is remarkable that this tape was rediscovered in 2013. It represents probably the first gay drama ever screened on TV.