June Evening

by Bill Naughton

June Evening was originally a radio play, broadcast in 1958. It was televised in July 1960 and proved very influential, causing a sensation as one of the first 'kitchen sink' TV plays, nine months before Coronation Street was first aired. Naughton contended that Granada lifted his idea, the story being set around one Lancashire Street with a corner shop. Set in Holdsworth Street, Bolton in 1921, we watch the Street's inhabitants argue, love and gossip the evening away.8 women, 5 men

86 pages, Paperback

Published June 28, 2017

About the author

William John Francis Naughton (1910-1992) was a popular ‘working class’ author and playwright who was born in Ballyhaunis, County Mayo, Ireland in June 1910 and died in early January 1992 in Ballasalla, Isle of Man. He was four years old when his family moved to Bolton, Lancashire, where, after leaving school around 1924, he worked as a weaver, coal-bagger and lorry-driver, enjoying a variety of experience and knowledge before starting to write with a rare honesty and perception about ‘ordinary’ people. Although ‘Alfie’ is the play with which he will always be associated, mostly because of the film starring Michael Caine, he was a prolific writer of quality work which included such notable plays as ‘My Flesh My Blood’, ‘All In Good Time’; plus novels, short stories and children’s books. Two other plays were made into films –‘Spring and Port Wine’, with James Mason as Rafe Crompton, and ‘The Family Way’, which starred John Mills. His work also included ‘One Small Boy’, ‘A Roof Over Your Head’, and short story collections such as ‘Late Night on Watling Street’ ‘The Bees Have Stopped Working’, and ‘The Goalkeeper's Revenge’. Among his most popular autobiographical works, well worth seeking out, are ‘On The Pig’s Back’ and ‘Saintly Billy’.

Reviews

[Brett Bayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've ever enjoyed a novel, short story or play by Bill Naughton, you're going to love this warm and moving comedy-drama. It's one of Naughton's best plays, and stands right alongside "All in Good Time" as a nostalgic masterpiece. It takes place over a single evening in various homes and shops in 1920s England. I had a wonderful time reading it—didn't want it to end.