The Killing of Sister George

The Killing of Sister George is a 1964 stage play by Frank Marcus. It was adapted into a 1968 film, starring Beryl Reid. It is mainly noted for its treatment of lesbianism. Both stage and film versions are fairly well known.

Related Topics:
1964 - Play - Frank Marcus - 1968 - Beryl Reid - Lesbian

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the stage play, the central character is a female actor who plays a nurse, Sister George, in a long-running radio series. She shares a house with a younger, somewhat immature woman, Childie; their relationship contains curious elements of psychological sado-masochism.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

George discovers that there are plans to kill off her character in the radio series.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Although it is strongly implied that George and Childie are lesbians, as is a third woman who appears, this is never explicitly stated. The author intended the play as a farce, not a serious treatment of lesbianism, but because there was so little material about lesbians at the time it became regarded as such.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The film version was a fairly faithful adaptation. It starred Beryl Reid as George and Susannah York as Childie, and was directed by Robert Aldrich. However the lesbian elements were made somewhat more explicit, and it changed Sister George's series into a TV programme.

Related Topics:
Beryl Reid - Susannah York - Robert Aldrich

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Curiously, some elements of the plot (though not the lesbian elements) were similar to an episode of Hancock, The Bowmen, where he played a radio actor who took great exception to his character being killed off. Both appear to be loosely inspired by the killing of Grace Archer in The Archers.

Related Topics:
Hancock - The Archers

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~