NET Playhouse Season 1, Episode 20: The Importance of Being Earnest

Ten Blocks on the Camino Real

A production of Tennessee Williams's "Ten Blocks on the Camino Real," a one-act play upon which his full-length play, "Camino Real" was based. This allegorical drama is set in the plaza of a Latin American town, a sinister purgatory where laughing street cleaners cart away the dead. Kilroy, a young American ex-boxer with a failing heart, arrives in this nightmarish place.

90 min

The Journey of the Fifth Horse

Dustin Hoffman stars in Ronald Ribman's critically acclaimed off-Broadway drama and 1965 Obie Award for best play of the season. The story of a kind and good-hearted young landowner in 19th century Russia who, desperate for love and acceptance, sets out to find both, only to discover that if he had never lived at all it would have made no difference to anyone.

The Star Wagon

A comedy-fantasy by Maxwell Anderson, follows the adventures of an inventor who creates a time-machine enabling him to live his life over again.

L'Avventura

Victoria Regina, Part 1: Spring

The first hour of this four-part adaptation of Laurence Housman's drama focuses on Queen Victoria's accession to the throne and her conflict with Lord Melbourne, her Prime Minister and close friend. Melbourne brings up the question of marriage-but the Queen rejects his list of suitable bridegroom

Victoria Regina, Part 2: Summer

"Victoria Regina: Summer," second of four-part adaptation of Lawrence Hous mans' Broadway hit about the life of England's Queen Victoria. Tonight: Prince Albert faces the problem of being married to a reigning monarch.

Victoria Regina, Part 3: Autumn

"Victoria Regina: Autumn," third of a four-part adaption of Lawrence Housman's Broadway hit about the life of England's Queen Victoria. In this episode: Prime Minister Disraeli clashes with the Queen.

Victoria Regina, Part 4: Winter

An Enemy of the People

A Norwegian doctor discovers that the source of the town's medicinal waters has become poisonous.

A Sleep of Prisoners

Christopher Fry's verse drama of four prisoners in an imaginary war.

Ofoeti

A modern folklore tale about a highly imaginative, fantasy-bound youth and his search for a troll.

The Play of Daniel

"The Play of Daniel." Filmed at the Cloisters, NYC's Museum of Medieval Art, this 12th-century play dramatizes episodes in the life of the Old Testament hero Daniel. An English narrative by poet W. H. Auden supplements the original Latin and Old French text performed by the New York Pro Musica and the boys choir of New York City's Church of the Transfiguration.

La Marmite

Presented in French with English subtitles, The Theatre de la Mandragore Troupe wore masks and performed the Plautus play about a miser obsessed with his gold.

The Amorous Flea

"The Amorous Flea," is a musical-comedy based on Molière's "School for Wives." The play follows the misadventures of an old man who has raised a young girl, in total ignorance of the ways of the world, so that she will make him a perfect wife. Adapted from the 1964 off-Broadway hit.

A Comedy of Errors

William Shakespeare's comic-story of mistaken identity follows the misadventures of two sets of long-lost twins is presented by Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company. Produced by the BBC.

La Mama Playwrights

The off-Broadway La Mama Experimental Theater Club, founded by Ellen Stewart presents three avant-garde works. The plays: 1. "Pavane," by Jean-Claude van Itallie, examines rituals of modern society. 2. "Fourteen Hundred Thousand," by Sam Shepard, involves a young couple and their in-laws. 3. "The Recluse," by Paul Foster, focuses on a demented old lady in an abandoned hospital.

The World of Carl Sandburg

Actors Fritz Weaver and Uta Hagen join the folk-singing Tarriers and Carolyn Hester for this adaptation of "The World of Carl Sandburg," which opened on Broadway in 1960. Sandburg, a Pulitzer Prize-winner, is a poet, historian, novelist and folklorist. Carolyn Hester and the Tarriers perform numbers from Sandburg's "The American Songbag,

Knife in the Water

Roman Polanski directed this study of a clash between generations. On a weekend outing, two men find themselves pitted against each other in a tense psychological rivalry for the affections of the older man's wife.

Uncle Vanya

A retired professor has returned to his estate to live with his beautiful young wife, Yelena. The estate originally belonged to his first wife, now deceased; her mother and brother still live there and manage the farm

The World of Kurt Weill

Singer-actress Lotte Lenya offers a tribute to her late composer husband.

Master of Santiago

In 16th-century Spain, pressure is brought on Don Alvaro Dabo to take part in the conquest of the West Indies-but Don Alvaro, an anti-colonialist and religious mystic, resists all arguments. Adapted from the play by contemporary French novelist-playwright Henri de Montherlant.

The Battle of Culloden

This BBC documentary-drama re-creates the Battle of Culloden (1746)-- the last battle fought on British soil. The final attempt to restore the house of Stuart to the throne of Scotland, England and Ireland culminated in the meeting (at Culloden) of an English army and the Highlander force, led by Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Satire

Playwright-actor-director Peter Ustinov presents a satiric "improvisation on musical themes" with pianist Anthony Hopkins, and British satirists Dudley Moore and Bernard Keefe. Ustinov caricatures typical Russian, American, German and English composers with pen and piano, singing along with the wild musical themes he invents for each composer

The Old Glory: Benito Cereno

A poetic drama that explores the paradoxes of the master-slave relationship.

Past Intruding

A Japanese film that follows the experiences of a psychiatrist who accidentally revives his buried memory of a horrible wartime experience.

Misalliance

A presentation of George Bernard Shaw's "Misalliance," a farce about love and the misunderstandings between family members. The visitors at the country home of a manufacturer find their lives changed by the sudden appearance of an outspoken Polish aviatrix.

Sponono

"Sponono," by South African author Alan Paton, incorporates native songs and dances into its narrative-drama form. The story is about a black delinquent's clash with his white reformatory principal.

Orpheus in the Underworld

Britain's Sadler's Wells Opera Company performs Offenbach's popular, light opera. According to Greek myth, the poet Orpheus played beautiful music and loved his wife Eurydice so much that. when she died, he went into the infernal regions to reclaim her life. In Offenbach's satiric treatment of the legend, Orpheus is such a bore and his music is so wretched that Eurydice is glad to go to hell. Orpheus, on the other hand, is equally happy to be rid of her.

A Mother for Janek

An orphaned refugee causes unforeseen problems when he comes to live with his bachelor uncle in America. Produced by WQED, Pittsburgh.

Acquit or Hang!

A courtroom drama based on the court-martial of 10 HMS Bounty mutineers. The 10 seamen on trial all claim to have taken no part in the mutiny, but they may still be punished: The naval regulations of 1792 state that sailors who do not try to prevent a mutiny share equal guilt with active mutineers. Only one of two verdicts can be handed down: acquit or hang.

Crime and Punishment

This dramatization of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's master novel explores the conflicting feelings of guilt and superiority in a student who murders two old women and then tries to justify his crime.

Ballet Gala

"Ballet Gala" features principal dancers from Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet, London's Royal Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet performing excerpts from Swan Lake, Don Quixote and Romeo and Juliet.

A Concert of Sacred Music

A Concert on Sacred Music by Duke Ellington, from the Grace Cathedral, seat of the Episcopal Archdiocese of San Francisco.

The Victorians, Part 1: The Rent Day

The first of an eight-part series focusing on life in England during the 1800's. Part 1: A young farmer and his wife face eviction unless they find a way to pay their rent.

The Victorians, Part 2: London Assurance

An 80-year-old nobleman competes with his son for the hand of a young heiress. This comedy by Dion Boucicault was first produced in 1841.

The Victorians, Part 3: Society

A wealthy businessman persuades a penniless young aristocrat to introduce his son into society.

The Victorians, Part 4: The Ticket-of-Leave Man

"The Victorians: The Ticket-of-Leave Man," a 19th-century detective story. Released from prison, a young man sets out to find the crook who framed him.

The Victorians, Part 5: Two Roses

The Victorians, Part 6: Still Waters Run Deep

The Victorians, Part 7: The Silver King

A gambler who fled to America to escape a murder charge returns to England in search of the real killer.

The Victorians, Part 8: Sweet Lavender