The Stage

EMI unearths rare recordings featuring Olivier and Pinter’s The Caretaker

Published Friday 15 September 2006 at 13:10 by Michael Quinn

Two never-before heard recordings of plays that helped define 20th century British theatre are to be released by EMI.

A 1957 performance featuring Laurence Olivier as Archie Rice in John Osborne’s The Entertainer was recorded for release on LP at London’s Palace Theatre immediately after its Royal Court premiere. A recording glitch meant it was never released. Accidentally rediscovered recently in EMI’s archives and digitally remastered, the freshly-caught performance, says EMI reissues producer Richard Abram, “comes straight out of the loudspeaker at you - you get a real sense of Olivier live and what a great theatre actor he was”.

Also available for the first time is a 1960 performance of Harold Pinter’s career-making The Caretaker featuring original cast members Alan Bates, Donald Pleasance and Peter Woodthorpe, recorded in London’s Duchess Theatre.

Both recordings are among a batch of six theatre issues on the budget-price Classics for Pleasure label to be released on October 2.