One Way Pendulum

Directed by Brandon Acton-Bond
Writers: N.F. Simpson

1961

  • Alison Leggatt . . . . . . . . . . Mrs. Groomkirby
    Richard Pearson . . . . . . . . . . Arthur Groomkirby
    John Laurie . . . . . . . . . . Judge
    Joan Hickson . . . . . . . . . . Aunt Mildred
    Patsy Rowlands . . . . . . . . . . Sylvia Groomkirby
    Alex Scott . . . . . . . . . . Prosecuting Counsel
    Frank Finlay . . . . . . . . . . Robert Barnes
    Roddy Maude-Roxby . . . . . . . . . . Kirby Groomkirby
    Anna Wing . . . . . . . . . . Mrs. Gantry
    Douglas Livingstone . . . . . . . . . . Stanley Honeyblock
    Jeremy Longhurst . . . . . . . . . . Policeman
    Walter Horsbrugh . . . . . . . . . . Clerk of the Court
    Frank Forsyth . . . . . . . . . . Usher
    Ernest Hare . . . . . . . . . . Defending Counsel



  • TONIGHT'S 'outrageous "comedy' by N. F. Simpson will appeal, says its author, to 'anyone approaching it for the first time with a lasso.' It concerns the domestic life of the Groomkirby family : Kirby, the son, rehearses a choir of speak-your-weight machines in Handel's Messiah; his sister Sylvia is troubled by the length of her arms. Mr. Groomkirby builds a replica of the Old Bailey in his living-room, and Aunty Mildred, in her wheel-chair, is on her way to outer space via the Outer Hebrides. Just an ordinary suburban family, the Groomkirbys.

    One Way Pendulum was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1959 and, following wide critical acclaim, moved to the Criterion in 1960, where it ran for 126 performances.