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Pre-1947, date and venue unknown
Love from a Stranger is a 1936 play based on Philomel Cottage, a 1924 short story by British mystery writer Agatha Christie, as well as the play The Stranger. Cecily Harrington has led a staid and proper existence. After winning a large amount of money in a sweepstake, she desperately yearns for a life of adventure. Enter Bruce Lovell, a handsome and charming stranger who sweeps her off her feet. In a whirlwind romance, she recklessly abandons her job, friends and fiancé to settle in the remote and blissful surroundings of a country cottage. However, her newfound love from a stranger is not what it seems and in a tense final scene, Cecily discovers the ghastly truth of her new love. The date of Chelsfield’s production is unknown as the playbill has not survived. The official list of productions places it in 1951, yet it appears as a “past production” on a 1947 playbill and most of the cast were present in 1930s productions. One, Joyce Stacey, was in Distinguished Gathering in 1938 and possibly The Corn Is Green and Robert’s Wife circa 1946 but never appears for the Society again. That suggests an earlier date, but the uncertainty surrounding many of our post-war plays – both in terms of date and cast – by no means rules out 1951. |
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