Tony Scannell, though often at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, working mostly for the writer and director Ken Hill, was never in a show directed by Joan Littlewood. She was, however, aware of him and, one morning, during the run of Stephen Lewis’s play Look Out, It’s Sir rang him when she heard that the actor Peter Childs was off that night. She told Tony to take over.
He answered that, not only did he not know the lines, he had never seen the play. “Don’t be so conventional,” said Joan, and, that night, having learned the lines during the day, he went on, fellow actors telling him which scene it was before each of his entrances. They also told him that they would look after him once he was on.
That did not happen. They were so astounded by the assurance he brought to playing this aggressive copper they forgot their own lines.
