430:, reviewing this production, wrote that the consequences of Alfie's actions begin to turn the drama into "a morality play, albeit one in which the (anti)hero addresses the audience directly to explain his philosophy of life. That device, and a taut, tight scene with a back-street abortionist hint at what this play might have been, and could perhaps be in a pared-down and edited version." As it is, the play, "like Alfie, feels like a bit of dinosaur".
292:, then required for the play to be legally performed in the UK, the abortion had to occur off-stage. In the original script it was to take place behind a screen, but the censors readers' report commented it was "complete with groans and cries of pain, which I cannot think can be allowed". Among other changes, it was required that in the production "There must not be any jingle of instruments" and "Mr Smith scrubbing away is not to be seen or heard".
308:"Some of the scenes are melodramatic. ... Many episodes, however, are remarkably good. The best two are Alfie's official medical examination and preparation for and the aftermath of the abortion. ... It would seem improbable that an abortion scene should be dramatic, terrible and beautiful. This one is all three. Here only does Alfie, in a disjointed, uninhibited and profoundly moving and disturbing speech, see right into himself."
168:, the character is placed in the world of spivs and semi-criminality rather than the swinging London of the first film. Murphy describes the character's personality in this version as possessing "an almost psychopathic vulgarity which links women, clothes and cars as commodities to be flaunted to prove to the world that he has achieved success without the privileges of birth or education".
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The play recounts the life of a working-class London ladies man, Alfie Elkins, and the many women who pass through his life. The play was adapted into a film twice, a
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first broadcast on 7 January 1962. The life of Alfie (born about 1916) is retold from the early days of
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on 17 December 1964, and closed on 2 January 1965 after 21 performances.
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Norman Wynne was cast as the abortionist. To gain a licence from the
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to the late 1950s. In this version, the character was played by
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The
Censorship of British Drama 1900–1968 Volume 4: The Sixties
452:"Bill Naughton, 81, a British Playwright Who Created 'Alfie'"
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commissioned
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from 19 June - 13 July 1963. It then transferred to the
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Acting edition of the script at
Concord Theatricals
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39:Characters
29:Written by
257:Lacey -
230:Gilda -
206:Alfie -
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200:West End
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715:at the
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