BBC Play of the Month (Season 7)

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Episode 1)

Air date: 1971-09-26

Overview: Mistaken identity, unrequited love, and the supernatural are combined in Shakespeare's classic set in the woods of Greece on a moonlit night.

Rasputin (Episode 2)

Writer: Ronald Eyre

Air date: 1971-10-24

Runtime: 115 min

Overview: In early 20th century Russia, a peasant monk exerts great influence upon the superstitious wife of the Russian Tsar.

Tartuffe (Episode 3)

Writer: Richard Wilbur

Air date: 1971-11-28

Overview: Orgon is a man of property duped by the false piety of the penniless Tartuffe. Orgon takes him into his house, believing him a paragon of virtue. Orgon orders his daughter to reject her fiancé and marry Tartuffe.

The Cherry Orchard (Episode 4)

Air date: 1971-12-19

Overview: Madamr Ranevskaya is a spoiled, aging aristocrat who returns from Paris to face the loss of her magnificent cherry orchard estate after a default on the mortgage. In denial, she continues living in the past, deluding herself and her family, while the beautiful cherry trees are being axed down by the repossessor Lopakhin, her former serf, who has his own agenda.

Summer and Smoke (Episode 5)

Writer: Tennessee Williams

Air date: 1972-01-23

Overview: A plain, repressed spinster falls for a dashing young medical student, but he prefers the wilder life, until it's too late.

Stephen D (Episode 6)

Writer: Hugh Leonard

Air date: 1972-02-20

Overview: Stephen Dedalus comes of age in a Dublin changing radically as the 20th century nears.

The Merchant of Venice (Episode 7)

Air date: 1972-04-16

Overview: Antonio's friend Bassanio is in love and needs money to go courting. Using Antonio as his collateral, he borrows money from Shylock. But when the debt comes due, Shylock demands repayment in the form of a pound of Antonio's flesh.

Lady Windermere's Fan (Episode 8)

Writer: Oscar Wilde

Air date: 1972-05-14

Overview: Lady Windermere suspects that her husband is having an affair with another woman; she confronts him with it.

The Playboy of the Western World (Episode 9)

Air date: 1972-06-11

She Stoops to Conquer (Episode 10)

Air date: 1972-07-23

Trelawny of the "Wells" (Episode 11)

Writer: Arthur Wing Pinero

Air date: 1972-08-13

Overview: A theatrical troupe from the west end of London loses its leading lady when she elopes with a wealthy young man from the other side of town.