Saunders, James

Saunders, James (1925–2004), English dramatist, most of whose plays were first produced either at the Questors or the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, Surrey. After a number of one-act plays vaguely reminiscent of Ionesco, among them Alas, Poor Fred and The Ark (both 1959), he created a big impression with Next Time I'll Sing to You (1962), based on the life and death of an actual Essex hermit, which in a revised form was successfully produced in the West End and New York in 1963. More one-act plays followed, and in 1964 came another unusual full-length play, A Scent of Flowers, dealing with the period immediately following a young girl's suicide, the girl herself appearing as the chief character; it was produced at the Duke of York's (NY, 1969). In 1967, in collaboration with the author, Saunders dramatized for the Bristol Old Vic Iris Murdoch's novel The Italian Girl, which later had a long run at Wyndham's. It was followed by The Borage Pigeon Affair and The Travails of Sancho Panza (both 1969), the latter a children's play specially written for the National Theatre company. Other plays included Hans Kohlhaas (1972), based on a play by Kleist; Bodies (1977), about two couples who meet again after changing partners 10 years earlier, which had a long West End run in 1979; The Girl in Melanie Klein (1980), set in a private asylum and based on a novel by Ronald Harwood; and Fall (1981), in which three contrasting sisters gather just before their father's death. Nothing to Declare (1983) contains the ruminations of a 65-year-old novelist.