The Potting Shed

by Graham Greene

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Genres: Plays, Classics, Religion, Fiction, British Literature, Drama, 20th Century

96 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 1957

About the author

Henry Graham Greene was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century.
Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed them). He was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. Through 67 years of writing, which included over 25 novels, he explored the conflicting moral and political issues of the modern world. The Power and the Glory won the 1941 Hawthornden Prize and The Heart of the Matter won the 1948 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Best of the James Tait Black. Greene was awarded the 1968 Shakespeare Prize and the 1981 Jerusalem Prize. Several of his stories have been filmed, some more than once, and he collaborated with filmmaker Carol Reed on The Fallen Idol (1948) and The Third Man (1949).
He converted to Catholicism in 1926 after meeting his future wife, Vivienne Dayrell-Browning. Later in life he took to calling himself a "Catholic agnostic". He died in 1991, aged 86, of leukemia, and was buried in Corseaux cemetery in Switzerland. William Golding called Greene "the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man's consciousness and anxiety".

Reviews

[Luís · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greene's psychological insight allows us to explore the characters' conscious and subconscious minds. One character even complains to James, one of the play's characters, "You've spoiled our certainties." While Greene's dramatic craftsmanship is not yet fully developed, leading to some weaknesses in the first act, the third act does delve deeply into the characters' psyches. However, it is Act Two that stands out as Greene's most significant achievement in this play. These two scenes—particularly the second, which examines the struggles of an alcoholic Catholic priest—are classic confrontational exchanges of the highest quality. This act contains some of the most moving, powerful, and compelling theatre since Eugene O'Neill.

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 4 out of 5]

ENGLISH: This is the first time I've watched this play, in the RTVE archive. It's an atypical play, a Catholic play, a semi-autobiographical play, for the discussions about the existence of God are parallel to those he had just before his conversion, and the protagonist's relationship with his wife could have arisen from the author's relationship with his wife.

The protagonist, who 30 years earlier suffered a traumatic experience, only remembers what happened afterward: that his father seemed to hate him and that his mother didn't love him. With the help of a teenage niece, a gardener's widow, and an alcoholic priest uncle, he tries to recover his memories, until he unearths that the cause was a possible miracle.

ESPAÑOL: Es la primera vez que veo esta obra, en el archivo de Estudio-1. Es una obra atípica, una obra católica, una obra semi-autobiográfica, pues las discusiones sobre la existencia de Dios son paralelas a las que él tuvo justo antes de convertirse, y la relación del protagonista con su esposa podría haber surgido de su propia relación con su esposa.

El protagonista, que sufrió una experiencia traumática 30 años antes, sólo recuerda lo que le pasó después: que su padre parecía odiarle y que su madre no le quería. Con la ayuda de una sobrina adolescente, de la viuda de un jardinero y de un tío sacerdote alcohólico, intenta recuperar sus recuerdos, hasta desenterrar que la causa fue un posible milagro.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

From BBC Radio 4:
'The potting shed? Something awful happened there once.'
The psychological drama centers on a secret held by the Callifer family for nearly thirty years.
The patriarch of the family is dying and James, his estranged son, appears unexpectedly. He can remember nothing about a mysterious moment that occurred in the family's potting shed when he was 14 years old. Family members who recall the event are unwilling to describe it to him. With the help of a psychoanalyst, James tries to recall just what happened that day that left him rejected by his father, alienated from his family, and alone in the world.
Adapted for radio by Peggy Wells
Produced by John Powell

Mrs Mary Callifer: Sybil Thorndike
John, her eldest son: John Justin
Anne, John's daughter: Cbrys Salt
James Callifer, brother of John: Robert Harris
Sara, James's former wife: Jill Balcon
Fr William Callifer, uncle of John and James: Henry Stamper
Dr Frederick Baston: Ronald Herdman
Dr Kreuzer: Harold Kasket
Corner: Brian Hewlett
Mrs Potter: Marjorie Forsyth
Miss Connolly: Anna Burden

https://archive.org/details/ThePottin...

[Peter D. Sieruta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never read any of Graham Greene's novels, so this play was my introduction to his work. Exploring issues of faith and possible miracles within a atheist family, the narrative and characters really grabbed me both intellectually and emotionally. I am going to track down a copy of this book for my own personal library...and start exploring Greene's other works...and reading this powerful drama.

[Sketchbook · Rating 1 out of 5]

As an adolescent James hung himself in the potting shed and was restored to life by his praying, priestly uncle. Greene's 3-act buncombe about the Little Issues - faith & God - opens when James is floundering in middle age, trying to recall what the mischief happened long ago, in the potting shed.

Why would He perform a miracle ? "If I knew I wouldn't believe in Him," says James. "I couldn't believe in a God I could understand." He later exhales that God is in his lungs -- like air.

His exwife begs to differ. "He's not in mine," she huffs, referring to the matter of lungs. "I wasn't kissing God when I was kissing you," she adds, proving her mettle. "I was only saying 'I have remembered to order the steaks.'"

This was produced to serious reviews in 1957 -- well, serious, except to Kenneth Tynan who had a gigglemint. "Greene's a Catholic," he wrote, "and the history of Catholicism shows that you can't make an omelette without breaking eggheads."

The kid lives, you see, as unk exchanged his faith for the lad's life. Tynan suffered a derisive hiccup. Watching the rapt faces around him, Tynan lost his faith in people who attend the theatre.

Ok, Ken. Have you seen who goes to the theatre today?

[Mike Amor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a play I come back to every 2-3 years. Graham Greene has a strong Catholic background. The Callifer family in the play is predominantly atheist. Yet the family, and the play, hinges on an event two decades earlier which served to ostracise Henry, the dying father's, youngest son James and Henry's brother William, a Catholic priest. At the risk of spoilers, the first time I read this I expected the event to be of a more sinister nature, however its the fact that it turns out there was a sense of the miraculous to the event that makes the play interesting for me. Within the play, that divine presence is what causes the traumatic loss of memory for the son, the estrangement from family not only for him but the uncle priest as well. Its a confronting play and the dialogue is set out to add to that tension. I saw the play on television once and was transfixed. A warning though. I was also and remain transfixed by Becket's Waiting For Godot, so this may not be everyone's cup of tea.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second of Greene’s plays I have now read and, I must say, I am quite impressed. This play has the fairly tired trope of family secrets, but it is structured in a fairly lively way, with considerable suspense. There is also Greene’s omnipresent “falled” priest, and the doomed brother. The only comical presence in the work is the young 13-year-old girl, Anne, who is intent on becoming a spy – or at least a detective.
The play was first published in February 1957 by Viking in New York and then a year later in February 1958 by Heinemann, but apparently had its beginnings much earlier when Greene was living in Nottingham and put aside while he wrote other things. There are minor changes to the third act between the two editions which Greene acknowledges in the British version with an “Author’s Note.
The play was first produced in the U.S. in January 1957 at the Bijou Theatre, starring Dame Sybil Thorndike, and a year later was produced in London at the Globe Theatre, starring John Gielgud and Irene Worth. Wise summarizes: “The play’s contrasting of Catholicism, psychoanalysis and rationalist atheism brought mixed reviews, and it ran in London for just three months.”

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing premise...that a genuine miracle might actually cause a great deal of grief in its wake to those involved.

[Mary Sisney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Back in the seventies when I was a graduate student, Greene was my favorite modern British novelist. His play is not as impressive as his novels were when I read them as a much younger woman. While the characters are somewhat interesting, the only interesting events in the plot happened in the past or offstage in the present. Onstage the characters spend their time drinking, crying, and discussing abstract topics like love, faith, and honesty. The most interesting detail in the play was the casting. Famous sixties actress Carol Lynley portrayed thirteen-year-old Anne in the original 1957 cast.

[William Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greene is in usual excellent form here, if in a different for at than h is most typical—novels and stories. As in other works, he has a fine sense of timing, dialogue, a c scene construction. If anything, dramatic form pares his work down to essentials, without the usually also wonderful narration of his novels.

The core secret is a good one, though of course it comes down, as in an out half of Greene’s work, to an issue of faith. Greene balances cynicism of some characters against that, just managing to avoid sentimentality in the end. It’s much less ponderous on the issue than THE POWER AND THE GLORY, closer to the poignant morose quality of THE END OF THE AFFAIR.

[Bobby Sullivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the beginning of the play, I was sure I knew what the secret underlying the drama was. It seemed kind of obvious, and I just waited to see how and how well it was revealed. Turns out I was wrong; maybe people didn't talk about child molestation back in the 1950s. In any case, the actual secret of the titular potting shed is much less dramatic than the one I imagined. Greene seems to have a lot to say about faith in God and the lack thereof, and Act 3 is very talky on this subject, but it falls kind of flat after the (not so big) reveal of the secret in Act 2. Overall impression: meh.

[Juli Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fascinating premise, decent suspense, but the resolution was truly lacking. Found a first edition copy at my local bookstore with this charming inscription: “Thoreau said we need only warmth to live: the warmth of food, the warmth of houses, and the warmth of love. I think we could add the warmth of personalities – such as yours. Merry Christmas to Louis Dollarhide 1963 from J Edgar Simmons

[Gareth Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A play about the absence of faith and its return, about blocked memory being unlocked and the possibility of reframing relationships. Greene’s tortured Catholicism is front and centre without suffocating his characters, most of whom are atheists.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great mystery happened to James when he was 14 in the potting shed, sufficient to ban him from the family permanently. When we finally discover what happened, it opens up even greater mysteries.

[Honza Rillich · Rating 4 out of 5]

After The Power and the Glory, this was a bit from a different cup. Only regret there was no greater conclusion, but in general, I really enjoyed it.

[Isak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Upon reflection, 3.5 stars. This has some good moments and one very strong scene towards the end, but overall Greene is just a stronger novelist than dramatist.

[Glenn Hopp · Rating 4 out of 5]

A family harbors and protects its rationalism even in the face of a seeming miracle. The play shows, paradoxically, how we need both to “spoil our certainties” and to nourish our faith.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

گراهام گرین یکی از نویسندگانی ست که در زبان فارسی از لحاظ شرایط و مترجم گرفتار بدشانسی شده و آن گونه که شایسته اش بوده، به خواننده ی فارسی زبان معرفی نشده. به عنوان مثال دو اثرش "مرد دهم" و "وزارت ترس" با نثر سنگین مترجم صاحب نامی چون پرویز داریوش به فارسی برگردانده شده که از زبان گراهام گرین فاصله ی بسیار دارد. برای شناخت شخصیت و آثار گراهام گرین، "مردی دیگر" اثر "ماری فرانسواز آلن"، توصیفی ست چند بعدی و گویا؛ مصاحبه ای روان شناختی در شناساندن نویسنده ای پیچیده و افسونگر. گویا این کتاب را خانم فرزانه ی طاهری به فارسی برگردانده. این برگردان را ندیده ام اما خواندن توام با دقت کتاب را به علاقمندان توصیه می کنم.
سایه گریزان، توسط پرویز داریوش به فارسی برگردانده شده است

[Johanna]

surprise. think. surprise.