My Collection – Tom Stoppard’s “Night & Day”
BCSA Member: Mark Warner
I tend to collect in-depth everything by and about a favourtite author. One writer whose work I admire is Tom Stoppard, the Czech/British playwright, and an example of my in-depth collecting is his play “Night & Day”.
The play opened on 8th November 1978. I was working in London at that time and must have walked past the theatre many times but never got to see the show. However, despite my non-attendance it was a great success and ran for two years followed by a transfer to Broadway. The play is set in post-colonial Africa and is a satire on the British press with the action focused on a civil war and the foreign correspondent of The Sunday Globe. The lead actors were Diana Rigg, who won the London Theatre Critics’ Award for Best Actress (the play won Best Play), and John Thaw who apparently acted well but could never master the Australian accent required for his part.
(Click on photos for larger images)
My collection includes signed copies of the UK 1st edition and the publisher’s proof, the US 1st, an acting copy and the 2nd UK edition which has a photo of Diana Rigg in the role of Ruth on the cover. The UK 1st is quite special as it’s a presentation copy from Stoppard to Rigg, and the two of them also signed the cover of my programme from the West End run. I also have the programme from the previews at the Wimbledon Theatre.
The star of this collection is Diana Rigg’s own working copy (very well-worn) of the original script which is covered with her notes and amendments. This item was in a Bonham’s auction in 2021 of part of Diana Rigg’s estate and when Tom Stoppard heard that the proceeds from this lot would go to a theatrical charity he offered to annotate the script – which he did in red pen. Another lot in the auction was a ceramic paperweight of a newspaper bundle (with appropriate headlines) which Stoppard presented as a gift to Diana Rigg on opening night.
The latest addition is one page of a rough draft for the play handwritten by Stoppard and on the verso a note to a friend dated 16th February 1978 – 9 months before the play opened.
For a completist that’s a pretty complete collection but I am still looking for something, maybe a programme, signed by John Thaw. If you see one, call me !
