Series synopsis
Performance is a British drama television series that premiered on BBC Four on October 5, 1991. It ended on March 21, 1998. It stars Bob Hoskins, Sean Pertwee, Maynard Eziashi and Myrtle Moss.
An anthology series of various plays and dramatic performances.
Premise
An anthology series of various plays and dramatic performances.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Bob Hoskins as De Flores
- Sean Pertwee as Tomazo
- Maynard Eziashi as Jasperino
- Myrtle Moss as Nanny
- John Quinn as Sailor
- David Warner as Vanya
- Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Yelena
- Rebecca Pidgeon as Sonya
Supporting cast
- Rachel Kempson as Mariya Vasilyevna
- Sandra Voe as Nanny
- Roger Hammond as Waffles
- Jimmy Flynn as Workman
- James Warrior as Workman
- Judi Dench as Christine Foskett
- Susan Porrett as Doris
- Sylvia Barter as Julia Shillitoe
- Francesca Annis as Elizabeth Collier
- Eileen Page as Mrs. Marriner
- Hugh Grant as Alsemero
- Gregory Floy as Michael Crowley
Guest cast
- Bob Hoskins as De Flores
- Sean Pertwee as Tomazo
- Maynard Eziashi as Jasperino
- Myrtle Moss as Nanny
- John Quinn as Sailor
- David Warner as Vanya
- Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Yelena
- Rebecca Pidgeon as Sonya
- Rachel Kempson as Mariya Vasilyevna
- Sandra Voe as Nanny
- Roger Hammond as Waffles
- Jimmy Flynn as Workman
Episodes
This series spans 7 seasons with 33 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 6 | October 5, 1991 | November 9, 1991 |
| Season 2 | 5 | November 14, 1992 | December 12, 1992 |
| Season 3 | 5 | November 6, 1993 | December 11, 1993 |
| Season 4 | 5 | October 29, 1994 | November 26, 1994 |
| Season 5 | 6 | October 7, 1995 | November 4, 1995 |
| Season 6 | 5 | March 1, 1997 | April 5, 1997 |
| Season 7 | 1 | March 21, 1998 | March 21, 1998 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Absolute Hell Black comedy set in Soho, London, right after WW2. Half of the fun is seeing a slew of very familiar faces kick up their heels as gay men, lesbians, party-girls, drunks, and drag queens. |
October 5, 1991 |
| 2 |
Uncle Vanya When Vanya's brother-in-law declares his intention to sell the family's house, polite facades begin to crumble and long repressed feelings start to emerge with devastating consequences. |
October 12, 1991 |
| 3 |
Nona An adaptation of Roberto Cossa's Argentinian drama, the play focuses on a family desperately struggling against inflation and unemployment while trying to assuage the insatiable appetite of their 100-year old grandmother. |
October 19, 1991 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Tales From Hollywood Among the residents of Los Angeles during the 1940s were Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Bertolt Brecht and, according to this play, the Austro-Hungarian dramatist Odon Von Horvath, our guide to the sun-soaked boulevards and the bizarre cultural collisions of wartime Hollywood. |
November 14, 1992 |
| 2 |
A Doll's House Years ago, Nora Helmer committed a forgery in order to save the life of her authoritarian husband Torvald. Now she is being blackmailed, and lives in fear of her husband finding out. |
November 21, 1992 |
| 3 |
Roots Beatie returns to her family home in Norfolk, having been "educated" in cultural and political matters by Ronnie, the boyfriend she lived with in London. Through trying to pass on the things she's learnt to her uninterested family, she discovers her own voice and views—which are no longer just an echo of Ronnie's. |
November 28, 1992 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Suddenly Last Summer Mrs Venable's grief at the loss of her beloved poet son Sebastian turns to rage against her niece Catharine, his last companion and witness of his gruesome death. Determined to erase the memory of Sebastian's loss, she tries to persuade her pet doctor to perform a lobotomy on Catharine. |
November 6, 1993 |
| 2 |
The Maitlands It is early summer in the secluded seaside village of Betworthy. But there is a strained atmosphere in the once-prosperous Maitland household, because the family has fallen on hard times. Performance presents the first production for 60 years of the witty and tragic family drama by Ronald Mackenzie. |
November 13, 1993 |
| 3 |
Hedda Gabler Hedda Gabler is a beautiful woman married to the solid and respectable academic George Tesman. Then an old flame, the dreamer Eilert Lovborg, turns up on the scene with tragic results. |
November 27, 1993 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Message For Posterity A Parliamentary committee decides to commission a portrait as a memorial to an ageing Conservative, wartime ex-Prime Minister, Sir David Browning. Bizarrely, they choose anarchic, anti-establishment and equally ageing artist James Player, who appears to stand for the very opposite values and positions to his prospective sitter. During sittings the two men find many opportunities to score political and social points off each. Screened with an with an introduction by Brian Walden, a contemporary of writer Dennis Potter at Oxford and an old Oxford political sparring partner. |
October 29, 1994 |
| 2 |
Measure for Measure Modern dress version of Shakespeare's "problem comedy" emphasizing the darker elements of the play and eliminating most of the humor, as Claudio is dragged to the police station on charges of fornication, and given a rectal exam in front of a window. |
November 5, 1994 |
| 3 |
The Deep Blue Sea A woman unhappy in her passionless marriage leaves her husband for a younger and more ardent lover. |
November 12, 1994 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Shadow of a Gunman In 1920 as the Irish War of Independence rages, two young men, Donald Davoren and Seamus Shields, share a flat in Dublin. First installment in Sean O'Casey's Dublin Trilogy. |
October 7, 1995 |
| 2 |
The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd Mrs Holroyd is married to a loutish miner. When a gentlemanly neighbour makes romantic advances to her, she wishes her husband dead. Sooner than she hoped, her wish comes true. |
October 14, 1995 |
| 3 |
Landscape Beth sits in an armchair to the left of the table, and Duff in a chair at the opposite end. Duff refers normally to Beth but does not appear to hear her voice. Beth never looks at Duff and does not appear to hear his voice. |
October 21, 1995 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Company At his 35th birthday party Bobby's friends are all wondering: Why isn't he married? Why can't he find the right woman and settle down? |
March 1, 1997 |
| 2 |
My Night with Reg A group of English gay men get together to reminisce. They are all coming from a wake for one of their circle who's died of AIDS. It's that terrifying time between the outbreak of AIDS and the development of an AIDS test and as the conversation unfolds it becomes apparent that each man there has had unprotected sex with the deceased. |
March 15, 1997 |
| 3 |
Richard II The incompetent Richard II is deposed by Henry Bolingbroke and undergoes a crisis of identity once he is no longer king. |
March 22, 1997 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
King Lear King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers. |
March 21, 1998 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | BBC Four |
|---|---|
| First aired | October 5, 1991 |
| Last aired | March 21, 1998 |
| Runtime | 120 minutes |
| Status | ended |