On Stage Mr Bennett!

Locally born author Arnold Bennett was a prolific writer. His novels, short stories, and self-help books are well known. What’s less well known is that he had great success on the stage and in the cinema of the day.

From 1908 to 1913, he had five plays on the London stage, with three plays running in the West End at the same time at one point. The Great Adventure (1913), an adaptation of Buried Alive, ran for over 673 performances and is still one of the longest-running plays in the West End.

In his career, he earned more from his plays than from all his other writing.

There were ten silent film adaptations of Bennett’s work from 1914 onwards—most of these were adaptations of stage versions of his books—through to his first original screenplay, The Wedding Dress of 1920, and his last for the wonderful 1929 film Piccadilly, featuring Charles Laughton and Anna May Wong, both seen here in action on screen.

We conclude with clips from 1930s-1950s cinema adaptations, ending with “The Card” from 1952.

The film will be shown in the Rose Price room, near the café, and will roll throughout the day.

So don’t worry if you miss the start; you can take a stroll inside our wonderful Dudson Museum, learn about the exquisite Dudson ceramic collection, and admire the architecture of our Grade II-listed bottle oven. Then grab a drink and pop back to watch the film at any time between 11:00 am and 3:00 pm.

It’s free admission, yet a kind donation to help support the museum and activities would be very much appreciated.

For any enquiries, please contact [email protected] or call 01782 683030.