And a Nightingale Sang, Shattered Globe Theatre.
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Survival becomes a story in itself during wartime, which gives this affectionate period play by the late British playwright C.P. Taylor a built-in urgency. Originally produced here by Steppenwolf Theatre with a splendid Joan Allen as the narrator-daughter Helen, And a Nightingale Sang is a fond recollection of a Catholic family living precariously in Newcastle during World War II, contending with blackouts, ration books, and air raids. The clan consists of a fussbudget mother, her piano-playing husband, and their two daughters–Joyce, free-spirited and scared of being tied down to her randy soldier boyfriend, and Helen, crippled, self-effacing, all-suffering, and abruptly plunged into a passion for a soldier who happens to have a wife and child.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Roger Lewin-Jennifer Girard Studios.
