St Helena (play)

St Helena: a play in twelve scenes is a play by the English author R. C. Sherriff (notable as the author of the First World War drama Journey's End) and Jeanne de Casalis (who also researched it). It deals with the exile of Napoleon I on Saint Helena. In a production by Henry Cass, it premiered at the Old Vic on 4 February 1936 to poor reviews, but was rescued by a letter to The Times by Winston Churchill, calling it "a remarkable play" and "a work of art of a very high order"; though a West End transfer also proved unsuccessful.

Original cast
Denis Carew John Jameson John Kennedy John Jameson
 * General Count Bertrand - Ion Swinley
 * General Count Montholon - Leo Genn
 * General Baron Gourgaud - Clement McCallin
 * Napoleon - Kenneth Kent
 * Admiral Sir George Cockburn - Raymond Huntley
 * Captain Nicholls - Robert Craven
 * Count Las Cases - Alan Wheatley
 * Sir Hudson Lowe - Cecil Trouncer
 * Dr. O'Meara - William Devlin
 * Dr. Antommarchi, Ship's Carpenter - Alec Clunes
 * Marine - Eric Wynn-Owen
 * St. Denis - Anthony Quayle
 * Marchand - Richard Warner
 * Cipriani - Alwyn Whatsley
 * French Servants - Phillip Bowen
 * English Sailors - John Franklyn
 * Novarrez - George Woodbridge
 * Officer, Trooper - Guy Haslewood
 * Subaltern - John Franklyn
 * Napoleon Bertrand - Tony Wickham
 * Tristan - Eric Sutton
 * Abe Buonavita - Charles Doe
 * Abbe Vignali - Christopher Casson
 * Chinese Gardeners - Alan Foss
 * Countess Montholon - Vivienne Bennett
 * Countess Bertrand - Ursula Granville
 * Hortense Bertrand - Glynis Johns
 * Mulatto Maid - Fredericka Allen

Broadway production
The play opened at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre in October 1936, with Maurice Evans as Napoleon, and ran for 63 performances.

Adaptation
St Helena was presented as the February 27, 1949, episode of The Philco Television Playhouse on NBC. The trade publication Variety described Dennis King's portrayal of Napoleon as "an admirable characterization".