Peggy Ashcroft and Anthony Quayle starred in the original RSC production of this tender, gentle play. Rodion is medical head of a sanatorium where Lidya is a patient, suffering from arteriosclerosis. They first meet following complaints from other patients of her habit of reciting poetry in the middle of the night and singing at dawn. She is clearly no ordinary patient and the play follows, with warmth and gentle humour, the mutual growth of interest and liking, to lasting affection.
