Productions
This was Hellman's first hit play. At the time, any mention of homosexuality on stage was illegal in New York State, but the play was such a success and so widely praised by critics that the subject matter was overlooked.
After the play was banned in Boston, Chicago, and London, it opened in Paris, retitled Les Innocents (The Innocents), to popular review.
In 1936 the play was made into a film directed by William Wyler. However, because of the Production Code, the story was adapted into a heterosexual love triangle, the controversial name of the play was changed and the movie eventually released as These Three. Hellman reportedly worked on the screenplay, virtually all of the play's original dialogue was kept, and she was satisfied with the result, saying the play's central theme of gossip was unaffected by the changes.
In 1952, a revival and revised stage production was also construed as an implied criticism of the House Un-American Activities Committee.
In 1961, the play was adapted, with its lesbian theme intact, for the film The Children's Hour, also directed by Wyler.
The play has been revived in London's West End beginning 22 January 2011 starring Keira Knightley and Elisabeth Moss, directed by Ian Rickson.
Read more about this topic: The Children's Hour (play)
Famous quotes containing the word productions:
“If you think it will only add one sprig to the wreath the country twines to bind the brows of my hero, I will run the risk of being sneered at by those who criticize female productions of all kinds. ...Though a female, I was born a patriot.”
—Annie Boudinot Stockton (1736–1801)
“It is well known, that the best productions of the best human intellects, are generally regarded by those intellects as mere immature freshman exercises, wholly worthless in themselves, except as initiatives for entering the great University of God after death.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Eternity is in love with the productions of time.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)