Peterborough Playgoers back on stage with JB Priestley's Broadway success
Peterborough Playgoers, who celebrated their 90th Anniversary in 2025 with a Gala Dinner at Milton Golf Club recently, bring their second production of this special year – Dangerous Corner by J.B. Priestley – to the Key Theatre Studio next month.
Playgoers last produced this play 19 years ago at the city’s John Clare Theatre – and it will again be directed by Jennie Dighton, for performances from November 5 to 8.
Jennie also directed two of their recent productions, the NODA-award nominated Relatively Speaking by Alan Ayckbourn and the NODA-award winning Cat’s Cradle by Leslie Sands.
Dangerous Corner was Priestley’s first solo play and it opened in May 1932. It had poor reviews to begin with, and this first production only survived because the author invested some of his own money in it to keep it open.
It was eventually a success, not only here but on Broadway where it ran for over 1000 performances, Priestley’s only success over there.
It was also his first experiment with time, playing with the idea of “what if?”, and what might happen if you took a different path and avoided the “Dangerous Corner”.
This was a subject that fascinated Priestley.
The play also asks the question whether it is always wise for the absolute truth to be revealed, regardless of the consequences or whether sometimes a half truth is a safer option.
Robert and Freda Caplan are entertaining guests after dinner. When one of those guests makes a fleeting, yet poignant remark about a music box sitting on the coffee table, the party are drawn into a spiralling series of
shocking revelations about the death of Robert’s brother, Martin, and their emotionally complex relationships with each other.
The group has turned a dangerous corner and the truth, the entire truth, comes tumbling out and the disclosure of dark secrets has tragic consequences.
Should they have let sleeping dogs lie?
As the play reaches its climax, the scene suddenly returns to the opening moments; what will happen if the dangerous corner is avoided?
The cast is made up of:
Robert Caplan – Chris Butterly; Freda Caplan - Phoebe Fuller; Gordon Whitehouse – Richard Martin; Betty Whitehouse – Amy Harris; Charles Stanton – Frazer Godden; Olwen Peel – Karen MacKenzie; Maud Mockridge – Helen Reece.
Karen MacKenzie was in the version directed by Jennie in 2006, that time playing the role of Betty Whitehouse, and it is their debut production with Playgoers for Richard, Frazer and Amy.
Jennie, who is directing the play for a second time, first saw the play at the Garrick Theatre in London’s West End in 2002, and bought a copy of the script which was on sale in the foyer of the theatre because she was fascinated by the thought- provoking issues raised in the play. She had already been a member of Peterborough Playgoers for a number of
years then and she knew then that she would like to direct the play for the Society.
tickets for the four performances, from November 5-8, are on sale online at www.keytheatre-peterborough.com