David Mercer
Encyclopedia
David Mercer was an English
dramatist.
, Yorkshire
, England
. Like the central characters of his plays Where the Difference Begins and After Haggerty, he was the son of an engine-driver. After failing to get into grammar school
, Mercer left school at 14, worked as a technician and in the Merchant Navy
before attending Kings College, Newcastle (which then awarded degrees validated by Durham University) from where he graduated in 1953. He married Jitke [surname?], a Czech-born woman who was chief buyer for Marks & Spencer, and spent a year in Paris, where he attempted to become a painter and wrote a novel (about expatriates in Paris) in a style heavily influenced by Percy Wyndham Lewis. In late 1957, now separated and living with Dilys Johnson (whom he later married), he rented a room in a flat at 10 Compayne Gardens, London NW3, that was rented, in turn, by the poet Jon Silkin
from Rudolf Nassauer (a wine merchant, poet, and novelist) and his wife, Bernice Rubens
, who was later winner of the 1970 Booker Prize. The historical novelist Malcolm Macdonald, then a student at the Slade, was another of Silkin's tenants at that time. There Mercer wrote a more political novel whose acerbic Northern hero, Congo Booth, was an early prototype of many disaffected-marxist heroes in his television work. Neither novel was ever published. All three – Silkin, Mercer, and Macdonald – earned a living teaching English as a Foreign Language at the St Giles School of English in Oxford St. Mercer later taught English and Science at the Hairdressers College until his television and stage earnings freed him to write full time.
Mercer began his career as a dramatist with the trilogy of television play
s, The Generations, being composed of Where the Difference Begins (1961), the anti-nuclear piece A Climate of Fear (1962) and the non-naturalistic The Birth of a Private Man (1963). A Way of Living (1963) was another naturalistic piece, and dealt with the division between a young fisherman and a girl from a mining family who is about to go to university. Three other television plays from this period - A Suitable Case for Treatment (1962, film adaptation: Morgan
, 1966), For Tea on Sunday (1963) and In Two Minds (1967) - share a concern with madness or, in the critic John Russell Taylor
's words, "social alienation expressed in terms of psychological alienation".
Mercer's first play to be written for the stage, Ride a Cock Horse, was seen in the West End
in a 1965 production starring Peter O'Toole
. An early work, the one-act The Governor's Lady, in which an elderly colonial governor gradually turns into a gorilla
, was originally written for radio in 1960 but not performed until it was staged by the RSC
in 1965. The RSC later stage many of Mercer's works, including his next play Belcher's Luck (1966), "a wild tragi-comedy full of Lawrentian
symbolism about fertility and impotence". Other plays for television from the 1960s are And Did Those Feet (1965), The Parachute (1968) and Let's Murder Vivaldi (1968) and another trilogy, comprising On the Eve of Publication (1969), The Cellar and the Almond Tree (1970) and Emma's Time (1970). The content of this body of work made John Russell Taylor regard Mercer as the most political of British dramatists of the period. Much of Mercer's television work for the BBC
was made in collaboration with the director Don Taylor
.
In 1970 Mercer contributed White Poem - a monologue
for a white Rhodesian racialist - to a Sharpeville massacre
commemoration.
Mercer wrote the screenplay for the Alain Resnais
film Providence, in which John Gielgud
portrays an elderly, dying writer.
He died in Haifa
, Israel
, where he was living with his Israeli wife and their daughter.
play The Party (1973). In 1982, The Arcata Promise, a stage adaptation of the television play, was produced by Brockman Seawell
and premiered in New York in 1982, starring Brian Murray
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
dramatist.
Biography
Mercer was born in WakefieldWakefield
Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Like the central characters of his plays Where the Difference Begins and After Haggerty, he was the son of an engine-driver. After failing to get into grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
, Mercer left school at 14, worked as a technician and in the Merchant Navy
Merchant Navy
The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency...
before attending Kings College, Newcastle (which then awarded degrees validated by Durham University) from where he graduated in 1953. He married Jitke [surname?], a Czech-born woman who was chief buyer for Marks & Spencer, and spent a year in Paris, where he attempted to become a painter and wrote a novel (about expatriates in Paris) in a style heavily influenced by Percy Wyndham Lewis. In late 1957, now separated and living with Dilys Johnson (whom he later married), he rented a room in a flat at 10 Compayne Gardens, London NW3, that was rented, in turn, by the poet Jon Silkin
Jon Silkin
Jon Silkin was a British poet.-Early life:Jon Silkin was born in London, in a Jewish immigrant family and named after Jon Forsyte in The Forsyte Saga, and attended Wycliffe College and Dulwich College During the Second World War he was one of the children evacuated from London ; he remembered that...
from Rudolf Nassauer (a wine merchant, poet, and novelist) and his wife, Bernice Rubens
Bernice Rubens
Bernice Rubens was a Booker Prize-winning Welsh novelist.-Background:She was of Russian Jewish descent and born in Cardiff, Wales where she attended Cardiff High School. She came from a very musical family, both her brothers becoming well-known classical musicians. She was married to Rudi...
, who was later winner of the 1970 Booker Prize. The historical novelist Malcolm Macdonald, then a student at the Slade, was another of Silkin's tenants at that time. There Mercer wrote a more political novel whose acerbic Northern hero, Congo Booth, was an early prototype of many disaffected-marxist heroes in his television work. Neither novel was ever published. All three – Silkin, Mercer, and Macdonald – earned a living teaching English as a Foreign Language at the St Giles School of English in Oxford St. Mercer later taught English and Science at the Hairdressers College until his television and stage earnings freed him to write full time.
Mercer began his career as a dramatist with the trilogy of television play
Television play
From the 1950s until the early 1980s, the television play was a popular television programming genre in the United Kingdom, with a shorter span in the United States. The genre was often associated with the social realist-influenced British drama style known as "kitchen sink realism", which depicted...
s, The Generations, being composed of Where the Difference Begins (1961), the anti-nuclear piece A Climate of Fear (1962) and the non-naturalistic The Birth of a Private Man (1963). A Way of Living (1963) was another naturalistic piece, and dealt with the division between a young fisherman and a girl from a mining family who is about to go to university. Three other television plays from this period - A Suitable Case for Treatment (1962, film adaptation: Morgan
Morgan!
Morgan! is a 1966 comedy film made by the British Lion Films Corporation...
, 1966), For Tea on Sunday (1963) and In Two Minds (1967) - share a concern with madness or, in the critic John Russell Taylor
John Russell Taylor
John Russell Taylor is an English critic and author. He is the author of critical studies of British theatre; of critical biographies of such important figures in Anglo-American film as Alfred Hitchcock, Alec Guinness, Orson Welles, Vivien Leigh, and Ingrid Bergman; of Strangers in Paradise: The...
's words, "social alienation expressed in terms of psychological alienation".
Mercer's first play to be written for the stage, Ride a Cock Horse, was seen in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
in a 1965 production starring Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
. An early work, the one-act The Governor's Lady, in which an elderly colonial governor gradually turns into a gorilla
Gorilla
Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
, was originally written for radio in 1960 but not performed until it was staged by the RSC
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
in 1965. The RSC later stage many of Mercer's works, including his next play Belcher's Luck (1966), "a wild tragi-comedy full of Lawrentian
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...
symbolism about fertility and impotence". Other plays for television from the 1960s are And Did Those Feet (1965), The Parachute (1968) and Let's Murder Vivaldi (1968) and another trilogy, comprising On the Eve of Publication (1969), The Cellar and the Almond Tree (1970) and Emma's Time (1970). The content of this body of work made John Russell Taylor regard Mercer as the most political of British dramatists of the period. Much of Mercer's television work for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
was made in collaboration with the director Don Taylor
Don Taylor (director)
Donald Victor Taylor was an English writer, director and producer, active across theatre, radio and television for over forty years...
.
In 1970 Mercer contributed White Poem - a monologue
Monologue
In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media...
for a white Rhodesian racialist - to a Sharpeville massacre
Sharpeville massacre
The Sharpeville Massacre occurred on 21 March 1960, at the police station in the South African township of Sharpeville in the Transvaal . After a day of demonstrations, at which a crowd of black protesters far outnumbered the police, the South African police opened fire on the crowd, killing 69...
commemoration.
Mercer wrote the screenplay for the Alain Resnais
Alain Resnais
Alain Resnais is a French film director whose career has extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct a number of short films which included Nuit et Brouillard , an influential documentary about the Nazi concentration camps.He began...
film Providence, in which John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
portrays an elderly, dying writer.
He died in Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, where he was living with his Israeli wife and their daughter.
As fictional character
Mercer is depicted as Malcolm Sloman in the Trevor GriffithsTrevor Griffiths
Trevor Griffiths is an English dramatist.Raised as a Roman Catholic, he attended Saint Bede's College, before being accepted into Manchester University in 1952 to read English...
play The Party (1973). In 1982, The Arcata Promise, a stage adaptation of the television play, was produced by Brockman Seawell
Brockman Seawell
Brock Seawell has been producing plays, television programs and feature films for nearly three decades. Most recently he completed the full length documentary, "When I Hear Thunder," the tale of four young Native American boxers and their families, which was nominated for a Heartland Emmy in...
and premiered in New York in 1982, starring Brian Murray
Brian Murray
Brian Murray is a South African actor and theatre director. He was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2004....
.
Works
- Where the Difference Begins (1961)
- A Climate of Fear (1962)
- Morgan, A Suitable Case for Treatment (1962)
- The Birth of a Private Man (1963)
- A Way of Living (1963)
- For Tea on Sunday (1963)
- Ride a Cock Horse (1965)
- The Governor's Lady (1965)
- And Did Those Feet (1965)
- Belcher's Luck (1966)
- In Two Minds (1967) see: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068569/
- Let's Murder Vivaldi (1968)
- The Parachute (1968)
- On the Eve of Publication (1969)
- The Cellar and the Almond Tree (1970)
- Emma's Time (1970)
- After Haggerty (1970)
- Flint (1970)
- The Bankrupt
- Afternoon at the Festival
- Duck Song (1974)
- Shoot the Chandelier (1977)
- Cousin Vladimir (1978)
- The Ragazza (1978)
- The Arcata Promise
- Find Me
- Huggy Bear - originally a short story in Jon Silkin's magazine Stand!
External links
- Museum of Broadcast Communications - page on David Mercer
- TV Cream on Mercer's 1960s television work