Performance

Series 4

1994 · 5 episodes · 7h 5m in all

Episodes

1. 1

   1. Message For Posterity

   29 Oct 1994 · 107 min

   A Parliamentary committee decides to commission a portrait as a memorial to an ageing Conservative, wartime ex-Prime Minister, Sir David Browning. Bizarrely, they choose anarchic, anti-establishment and equally ageing artist James Player, who appears to stand for the very opposite values and positions to his prospective sitter. During sittings the two men find many opportunities to score political and social points off each. Screened with an with an introduction by Brian Walden, a contemporary of writer Dennis Potter at Oxford and an old Oxford political sparring partner.

2. 

   2. Measure for Measure

   5 Nov 1994 · 112 min

   Modern dress version of Shakespeare's "problem comedy" emphasizing the darker elements of the play and eliminating most of the humor, as Claudio is dragged to the police station on charges of fornication, and given a rectal exam in front of a window.

3. 

   3. The Deep Blue Sea

   12 Nov 1994 · 100 min

   A woman unhappy in her passionless marriage leaves her husband for a younger and more ardent lover.

4. 4

   4. Summer Day's Dream

   19 Nov 1994 · 106 min

   In 1975, after a nuclear war, the nations have combined to set up a World Government. An old man who lives quietly in the country finds his peace threatened by a visit from three World Government figures.

5. 5

   5. The Mother

   26 Nov 1994

   Paddy Chayefsky's 1954 play set in the Bronx tells the story of a recently widowed 66-year-old seeks a job after 40 years if being a homemaker.