Freedom in September

Freedom in September

1962 - United Kingdom

A Soviet musician is missing from his hotel. He wanders through London trying to contact people he has met and known in Russia. Who are these people? What lies behind his desperate search? 

In Freedom in September author Leo Lehman focuses attention on those brief, but regular 1960s news items which announced that yet another Russian visitor had resolved to make his home in Britain, and asked for political asylum.

Deftly, sensitively, without taking sides, Lehman examines one of these situations in the making, laying bare all the frustration, the loneliness and heart-searching which such a decision entails. He is concerned, not with the famous - like dancer Rudolph Nureyev - whose welcome was assured, but with an ordinary citizen who necessarily will pay a higher price for freedom.

"For these people who are welcome but not particularly wanted by anyone, the difficulties are much greater," said Lehmann. “Lencherenko (Joseph Furst) in my play is a man like this. He knows that if he stays he will be alone in a strange country. He must abandon the life he has known - the good things as well as the bad."

Lehmann emphasised that the play was about people - not politics. Lecherenko, a minor composer, unknown in the West, is a member of a Russian cultural delegation on a good-will visit to London. He leaves the party so that he can be alone while making the final, fateful decision on whether he will stay or go home.

We first see Lomov (Martin Sterndale), leader of the delegation, unwilling to admit that Lecherenko has disappeared as he starts the discreet, polite, deceptively unhurried enquiries that go on throughout the play. Meanwhile, as the composer in his dilemma seeks out various people he knows, he is helped by a sympathetic journalist, Prince (Patrick Troughton). He also meets a Russian exile Dornik (Alan MacNaughton) who has himself been faced with the same agonising decision.

Also in the cast were Patsy Rowlands as Ivy and Amanda Barrie as a maid. The play was directed by Joan Kemp-Welch. Broadcast in the Play of the Week strand on Tuesday 18 September 1962 at 9.15 to 10.45pm.

Published on March 3rd, 2020. Written by Sarah Snow - based on original TV Times article and adapted for Television Heaven.

Read Next...

Steptoe and Son

Sitcom about a father and son who are stuck in an eternal relationship.

Also released in 1962

The Splendid Spur

Rounheads versus Cavaliers actioneer set in 1642.

Also starring Patrick Troughton

The Midnight Men tv series 1964

In 1913, a naïve farmer in the Balkan states becomes involved in political intrigue, including a deadly assassination attempt

Also starring Patrick Troughton

This Man Craig

Thought-provoking 1960s drama series that tackled a number of social problems which it addressed with intelligence and sensitivity

Also starring Patrick Troughton

Super Gran

Stand back Superman, Ice Man, Spiderman, Batman and Robin too. Hang about! Look out! For Super Gran!

Also starring Patrick Troughton

Carry On Cleo

In this hilarious and defining Carry On film, two enslaved Britons are taken to Rome. One of them is mistaken for a fighter, and gets drafted into the Royal Guard to protect Caesar. "Infamy! Infamy! They've all got in-for-me!"

Also starring Amanda Barrie

Roy Kinnear and Patsy Rowland

George Meredith Webley, a bank clerk who was guaranteed to add the word pooper to party and crushing to bore.

Also starring Patsy Rowlands

Already It's Tomorrow

After a road accident, an attractive girl recovers consciousness in a strange room. With her is a young man she has never seen before.

Also released in 1962

All Summer Long

Willie has tried to make his father aware of the danger to their house from flood water, but Dad thinks that Willie's fears are excessive. Willie decides to spend all summer long building a wall to keep out the river, but his efforts are in vain.

Also tagged Single Play