The Observer's JC Trewin felt that the play, which found a family responsible for the death of a young girl, was somewhat heavy. The water didn't help, as Guinness later recalled: "I squelched noisily through the last act and then missed two performances through near pneumonia." Despite this, the actors stayed friends. Richardson, it seems, had found it irritating that they squeaked throughout the show. Richardson also clashed with his cast, including Alec Guinness, who one night found his shoes immersed in a bucket of water. After the dress rehearsal, Richardson fired Dean and redesigned the lighting. He and Priestley wanted an impressionist production Dean's idea of impressionism was a realistic box set lit in lurid green. Dean wrote in his memoirs: "I found Ralph Richardson unexpectedly reluctant to take direction, perhaps in unconscious rebellion after the years of wartime restraint." Richardson's five-year stint as a pilot in the second world war was less the problem, however, than his strong views as to how the play should be staged. He certainly didn't see eye to eye with his star. The chosen director was the fearsome Basil Dean, famed for his slick, glittering productions but also for his temper some called him "Bastard Basil".
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