Hassan

Because Basil Dean himself kept them as a separate archive, the materials relating to Hassan, including photographs, programmes and press cuttings, have been retained as a single unit.

James Elroy Flecker (1884-1915), poet and playwright, served as a diplomat in Constantinople and Beiruit. He contracted tuberculosis and spend the last two years of his relatively short life in Switzerland. It was there that he wrote his verse play Hassan, subtitled 'the story of Hassan of Baghdad and how he came to make the golden journey to Samarkand'. Basil Dean directed a lavish production of the play at His Majesty's Theatre in 1923, starring Henry Ainley and Fay Compton, with incidental music provided by Frederick Delius. It was greeted with considerable critical acclaim, and ran for 281 performances to packed houses. In 1960 Dean revived Hassan for the National Theatre Organisation of South Africa.