Black Chiffon - Lesley Storm - BBC Saturday Night Theatre

Black Chiffon is a play in two acts written by Lesley Storm. Starring Flora Robson, the play premiered at the Westminster Theatre in London's West End on 3 May 1949, running for over 400 performances. The play debuted on Broadway on 27 September 1950 and ran until 13 January 1951, totaling 109 performances. That production starred Janet Barrow (Nannie), Richard Gale (Roy Christie), Patricia Hicks (Louise), Raymond Huntley (Robert Christie), Anthony Ireland (Dr. Bennett Hawkins), Patricia Marmont (Thea), and Flora Robson (Alicia Christie), and was produced by John Wildberg.
Chesterton Radio
Works of G.K. Chesterton and Friends
Plus Drama, Comedy, Mystery, Science Fiction, Big Bands and more
True - Good - Beautiful
The Soundtrack for your Chesterton Day!
Do you enjoy the variety on Chesterton Radio?
Like, Share and Subscribe to be notified of our new shows
All our shows in one Playlist!
Player.Chestert...
Easy direct link to our Channel:
Listen.Chestert...
Discover new Chesterton Radio shows in our other Playlists!
CBSRMT.Chestert...
Plays.Chesterto...
Daily.Chesterto...
Chesterton.Ches...
Orthodoxy.Chest...
EverlastingMan....
Eugenics.Cheste...
Distributism.Ch...
FatherBrown.Che...
Freedom.Chester...
1984.Chesterton...
Jukebox.Chester...
Follow us on Social Media
mstdn.social/@...
www.gab.com/ch...
mewe.com/i/che...
chestertonradi...
Please consider supporting us.
/ chestertonradio
Visit the Chesterton Radio Shop!
Shop.Chesterton...
Thank you for listening!

[@tessellatiaartilery8197]

What a brilliant and psychologically perceptive play. I hope many more people hear this in 2023 and beyond. Thank you for posting it on this superb channel.

[@TMelody]

It's amazing how certain stories can have a such a therapeutic effect on a person. I wasn't expecting this at all.

[@lorrainevanlelyveld8065]

Nor me. It touched me deeply.

[@Swimkid1]

I agree. I can't go back to sleep.

[@lisamorrison6274]

Wow, she had a ton of grace/love for her family. ♥️

[@dab505279]

Exceptional, just exceptional. This is a play that will grab you and stick with you for a long time. And the acting - WOW!

[@kayi9236]

Very well written and performed, thank you.

[@rachelmayes298]

Wonderful play, well scripted, well acted. I’ve never been so involved in a play before. Why is there nothing like these anymore? Thank you so so much. 💓

[@elizabethdarley8646]

Because writers these days will only get anywhere if they base all their work on Left Wing political theories. This play was recorded in 1949 when these theories were starting to break swiftly into the Arts in the UK.

[@lorrainevanlelyveld8065]

@@elizabethdarley8646 this has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with left wing policy. Life is not always based around that. So please don't spoil this amazing truthful deeply moving story with the political way of today. There are amazing truthful stories like this. I'm not arguing with you at all. Just telling you that family and life hasn't really changed. Many mothers go through this and fathers. Love will always have a good result, doesn't matter 1949 or 2021. Btw I also read alot and I do come across brilliant books. Thanks and regards from South Africa.

[@angelajones6719]

Very good play, and a perfect example of how ignoring problems and pretending all's well, when it's not, does eventually when not dealt with, lead to even bigger problems ?

[@annabee4497]

What an amazing play, so beautifully performed with such nuance, intelligence and sensitivity! Bravo! Thank you so much for making it available. The delicacy and interplay of every emotion is quite rarely found these days.

[@Spot4art]

What a gift this was. Thanks so much for sharing this. Intelligently written and acted. Such a gem in these times we live in.

[@karenhumphries9376]

An astounding play! Flora Robson was superb.

[@JoanKentBible]

Thank you for another great hour and a half's entertainment. 🍵😊

[@lorrainevanlelyveld8065]

This touched me deeply 😥😥a mother who won in the end through love. ❤❤ Absolutely beautiful. Love from South Africa.

[@lindapreater840]

Brilliant play well acted by all

[@yvonnerollinson9779]

These plays take me back to my childhood sitting and snoozing on the afternoon together with my mother in the school holidays Happy memories of those times I still miss her I have always loved radio drama since those childhoods days in the sixties

[@valwheeler7938]

T ,

[@DreamingCatStudio]

What a gorgeous story and the acting is amazing! I like these plays based on a family’s relationships and revelations. This one reminds me of An Inspector Calls.

[@cousinsister69]

I had just finished listening to Dame Flora Robson acting in "The Return" as part of this series put together by Chesterton Radio + was completely blown away by her acting. Now this play. Wow, Dame Flora Robson was just superb. This play is completely riveting + highly emotional. Brilliant. From an Ossie fan. 👇💜🙃

[@jeanniesegall5636]

I feel so lucky to have come across this radio play. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Will pass it on if the internet mechanics are not daunting.

[@jacintafeeney4037]

Terrific, wonderful drama... Thank you...

[@bunty6268]

Oh I loved THIS... Many thanks for your hard work.. MUCH APPRECIATED

[@TedaR]

Ah yes Dame Flora! Wonderful! Ty Chesterton Radio

[@maxhatman3218]

Excellent play, very thought-provoking - thanks for making-Radio drama of this calibre available like this. Flora Robson‘S series is especially good.

[@ranicandrawati2145]

What a great story...i love it so much.A mother who was afraid of lacking love for his beloved son after his marriage.And she did the best as a mother to her son and her husband.

[@christrinder1255]

Excellent quality play! Quite exceptional! Thank you so much for posting!👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👍😊

[@janethayes5941]

Wow! This is excellent! Thank you.😁👍

[@jojohnston4113]

Listened carefully, all the way to the end. Superb acting.

[@denestarjanyi8892]

Thank you.

[@edencharles5250]

Beautifully written and acted ,very enjoyable.

[@NannyOggins]

What a lovely, heartbreaking story of a mothers courage in the face of the seemingly ubiquitous tyranny of family jealously.

[@roxanavasilakis9435]

Thank you👗

[@rubytylanni9507]

Very enjoyable I’d like to hear more plays like this

[@catherinedavies3727]

Brilliant!

[@annakal7676]

Wonderful. Thank you 🙏

[@ElegantPaws01]

Absolutely superb.

[@marymary5494]

Excellent play. Thank you. 👌💕

[@louiseskip3488]

Brilliant. Loved every minute.

[@Poeme340]

Flora is brilliant in this-commanding and soothing at the same time.

[@janiceannecle8965]

Thank you for this performance... I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt such strong emotions... I have tears in my eyes now...

[@nanettew4398]

I’ve just listened to the play for the second time ; brilliant, even better than the first time .....

[@aprilsky1666]

I really enjoy these plays.. it's like going back in time and we are listening. This was really enjoyable and an interesting situation. Thank you.

[@Lyfs-Awsumm]

Wow!!!!!!!! Excellent, ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!!!!!!!!🥰🥰🥰🥰❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@jeanettesdaughter]

Brilliant play; so insightful on the family battlefield, the things unspoken writhing beneath even the happiest and most conventional exteriors. When they make their way to the surface, they aren’t pretty. Our interior lives! It’s practically depth psychology from the Jungian school of thought unfolding here in this play about trouble in this well placed family. Things could have been much worse given the depth of feeling and bear hatred between father and son, A devastating outcome for this family but there is still that their lives will go on... perhaps improved. These are comfortable people. I cannot imagine such a fortunate outlook for a lower caste family under the sharp knife of the law. Remember the poor mother and the bread!

[@dodojack1045]

What a foray into family dynamics....!! Very tough & sad, but nonetheless entertaining. Thank you.

[@davidskeeterskeeter1835]

Thanks a million 👏👏😂

[@jordsupp]

Well that was a bizarre ending, based on the times of course, but a great portrait of family dynamics. The only thing that never changes, regardless of the times, is denial that there is a problem. Thankyou for this.

[@emf49]

An excellent play dealing with the complexity of family relationships and how these underlying issues can affect our behaviour.

[@elizabethdarley8646]

Thank you. Or, about how important it is to love those who are difficult. Maybe we can learn to love more. I wonder what these people believed in or who they believed in. It was a time just before the Sex Revolution of the 1960s. This is an obviously atheist family who are looking for all answers and truth in themselves and believe that they are the ones to be the arbiter of their own values. I was raised in a family similar but different. Dame Flora's speaking voice is beautiful. It's time for the Hoy Rosary. Praise God!

[@Teapot333]

A mother's love. Some things never change.

[@user-ic7ed8hx2d]

Superb, best play I've heard in a long time. Wonderfully written and brilliantly acted. Thank you

[@Swimkid1]

What a powerful play! I had to get up and make a cup of tea in the middle of the night. As a counsellor I found it so upsetting to witness such stiff upper lip from this family and the denial of internal defense mechanisms. The Father only thinking of himself all of the time reminded me of the era I grew up in. A brilliant play well written. Thank you for uploading this.

[@timwoods3173]

Thank you

[@Carol26Anne]

Excellent play

[@andrewsmith-cm9qw]

a wonderfull touching and moving play that i will remember long after i have forgotten binge watching netflix

[@Anne.2024]

An amazing play

[@Lakeslover1]

Great play 😀

[@christinethornhill]

Thoroughly marvellous . One of the few I haven't fallen to sleep listening to . The issues of jealousy within a family can truly be catastrophic to relationships . Dear Flora was one of my favourites , many thanks for sharing this gem . 👌🏼

[@colinglass1342]

That's the wonder of radio drama all the radio plays I heard so far far exceeded my expectations I do appreciate these plays please please post more.

[@joansavage1857]

Excellent! Thank you...

[@lyndaa7560]

Marvellous play, Flora Robson was superb in everything she did, if you saw her name on the cast list you knew you were in for a great treat treat. She was brilliant in her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth 1st very regal, thank-you xx

[@lesleymarriott9076]

Sad but great play 👍

[@lydiamarks8577]

So sad! Excellent play - I couldn’t stop listening. Thank you so much for uploading 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@jamesgavigan4179]

I was totally gripped by the unfolding story. So believable and unforgettable.

[@1pussychicken]

Wonderfully performed play. Really heartbreaking and uplifting too. A great illustration of the courage, love and sacrifice of being a mother. The bloody husband needed a swift kick up the derriere, what an insensitive ass... but probably appropriate male sentiments and understanding for the time and class in which the play was set. It actually brought tears of rage and sadness to my eyes. Great stuff!!!!

[@susanmartin112]

So good!

[@donniedickerson8077]

Excellent

[@blackkittens.]

Amazingly told. She sacrificed everything.....but may have gained everything she could have hoped for, for when she gets home. So so good.

[@Swimkid1]

But lost her own soul. It looks beautiful, but is in reality dysfunctional behaviour. The kind of British stiff upper lip I grew up with. A very powerful play, thankfully a lot of this victim role in the face of narcistic behaviour is being seen for what it is.

[@totoro9590]

Flora was such a great actress ♥️♥️♥️♥️

[@stuartashbourne-martin9629]

That was heart-wrenching dame flora Robson with a fantastic actress I hope in the future that we remember 🙂 game Judi dench and dame Maggie Smith and dame Joan Plowright the lady Olivier in the same way

[@crochetedlace2838]

Flora Robson is always amazing.

[@darkdaughter5472]

Loved it

[@angeellinson3367]

I really enjoyed this play.

[@ruheerizvi5293]

Beautiful brilliant deep

[@opheliahamlet3508]

EXCELLENT

[@thefaceyogacoach]

So entertaining and emotional, i felt myself becoming emotionally involved and angered by the insensitivity of the husband. Well picked actors for each of the parts, wonderful story. Thank you.

[@Swimkid1]

Me too, I felt so angry with the husband and father thinking only for himself.

[@vivienneandersson6019]

Thanks, I loved it!

[@alexhenry3435]

I found that so moving, the denial of family challenges and the extra damage borne due to the denial and the underlying but overbearing tension it creates. That was a perfect portrayal of a mother devoured by damage control.

[@stephaniehand503]

great

[@honeyfungus4774]

I love the way people used to speak English.

[@jordankennedy8421]

Aw I love my son so much

[@colinglass1342]

Dame Flora Robson Havant really studied her career in films and stage play dramas or who she starred with in many of her plays and films but I saw her in a odd horror film in the1970s film The Beast In The Cellar with Beryl Reed. I may yet come across many of her other audio dramas 😉

[@davidgreenwood5241]

1949 how things have changed since then

[@bifferswain]

Hollis Brown. Absolutely Brilliant.

[@mikelheron20]

Spoiler alert: several people have been stupid and thoughtless enough to reveal the ending of the play. If, like me, you sometimes read the comments to get a general idea about whether it's something you're likely to enjoy, but without wishing to know the ending, be warned.

[@outlawJosieFox]

Oh em gee how times have changed!! It's all so wonderfully middle class British. Of course today one would need to commit several thefts before ever being threatened with any real consequences, let alone prison.

[@kathleencampbell2298]

Thank goodness, this is a mental health issue

[@jenniferpierno6108]

I doubt that people were sent to prison for 3 months even then for nicking a nightie. Very melodramatic. I think she really needed psychiatric help, not prison.

[@Swimkid1]

Indeed.

[@gabyshepherd8855]

Three-month prison for stealing first -time criminal case for chiffon night dress ?? ☹️😲and in other everyday cases can be read in the news for drink-driving just suspended given?? 😬There must be something wrong with Lady Justice’s blindfold, though I’m not an expert in that field. All in all a good piece to listen.🌸

[@jenniferpierno6108]

You are correct. I have commented in a separate post. It would not happen. However, I think for dramatic purpose the author allowed it to happen. First offence, respectable lady, a nightie, no way would she go to prison. In fact, here in Australia the wife of the Governor General did a spot of shoplifting, pleaded mental issues, and got off. First offence, people usually get off. The offence isn't even recorded against them. But this was a play, so we have to suspend disbelief.

[@lorrainevanlelyveld8065]

Not really about the theft but the reasoning and consequences behind it. Willing to take the shame to bring about love in her home.

[@hermajesty52]

Sometimes a mother has to fall on her sword in order to 'save' her family.....

[@Swimkid1]

I'm afraid the mother is only passing on her dysfunctional victim mentality to her children. She should've taught her daughter how to stand up to a bullying husband, and shown her son how not to treat his wife.

[@annipetratos9401]

This was part of "Flora Robson Festival" . Are there any others , please?

[@GradKat]

I don’t understand why the wife was working out her legal defence with a doctor. Her solicitor or barrister would be in charge of managing her defence strategy, not the doctor, who would just be a witness. The wife could have claimed that she had experienced a moment of absent-mindedness in the store, caused by the stress of preparing for a wedding. Her legal representative in court could have put this forward as a perfectly reasonable defence, without any need to call a medical witness. Given her previous blameless record, it’s highly unlikely that she would have gone to jail. I could not feel sympathy or admiration for a woman who was determined to be a martyr. Could you imagine having her for your mother in law? First hint of marital strife and hubby will be comparing his bride unfavourably to his darling mummy. But take a moment to remember, with nostalgia, the days when people got arrested and punished for shoplifting. Nowadays, the cops just don’t want to know.

[@martinadarcy781]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@mikewellwood1412]

Oedipus, shmoedipus! So long as the boy loves his mother! :-))) Seriously, it was very good, except that I got confused between the daughter and the daughter in law, whom she treated as a daughter. Written and originally staged in the austere post-WW2 England of 1949 (a very good year in other respects...), with food and other sorts of rationing still ongoing. (Probably not in the USA, so the US audiences in the American productions wouldn't have got the hints of shortages of food and other material goods; rationing didn't end in the UK until 1954, with meat being the last thing to come off the ration).

[@mikewellwood1412]

From genome.ch.bbc.co.uk Saturday 17 February1968 20.30 Flora Robson Festival Dame Flora stars in some of her favourite plays Black Chiffon by Lesley Storm adapted for broadcasting by MOLLIE HARDWICK with Stephen Murray and John Glen Cast in order o/ speaking: The action takes place in the drawing-room of the Christies' house on Chelsea Embankment during three days in October in the late 1940s. Produced by JOE BURROUGHS Flora Robson is in ' The Importance of Being Earnest' at the Haymarkct Theatre, London

[@lorrainevanlelyveld8065]

" relax with a cigarette " 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@nzd100]

So basically, its sons and lovers? Anyone else listening during the plague?

[@Angela-cc1hd]

Excellent play, l am sure that in those days emotions were subdued by many a housewife, to keep the peace, Just did not like the ending😟

[@sandranaylor2348]

A good play spoilt by too many adverts

[@mefor5199]

Husband was horrible, jealous and manulipitive man. No shame to be a buffer between father and son to save the family!

[@svetlanasmirnova306]

As if imprisonment wouldn't be more shameful for the whole family? Oh how stupid!

[@cm9439]

Thumbs up for Dame Flora, but that's it.

[@kathleencampbell2298]

😪

[@bryine.willis8683]

> up front

[@jenniferpierno6108]

Good story but not realistic. In Australia, in our legal system based on the English system, the first offence is not recorded. It's not automatic but the lawyer can usually put up something. 3 months for nicking a nightie - unlikely. I suppose it was a good device for exploring the family dynamics.

[@larkascending100]

It was written in 1949. The code then was to prosecute all shoplifting, regardless, in that Era. And penalties were very strong - it was entirely possible to get a custodial sentence for a first offence.

[@user-yi3fe1pf2t]

So awfully outdated play focussing on the middle class of yesteryear.Thank God for the revolution of the 1960's when plays were about more than the respectable English middle class.

[@pdscott2071]

This was NOT my cup of tea. Nice voices.. Story dragged on and on. Far too long!

[@deegeraghty3421]

High pitched, shrill, hysterical over -acting of 'young' female lead, Louise Irritating ...

[@davidskeeterskeeter1835]

Thank you.