Synopsis
The Teddy Bears' Picnic & The Potsdam Quartet
$14.99
Published by Oberon
The Teddy Bears' Picnic explores the personal and professional conflicts between a group of musicians hired to play for Stalin, Truman, Churchill and Atlee at the Potsdam Conference in 1945
The musicians are confined to an anteroom in between playing for The Big Four. The leaders never appear, but their presence looms over the action
In The Potsdam Quartet Stalin takes centre stage, mainly in his role as the smiling, malignant host of the dinner parties held at his country dacha
His Politburo were forced to attend such parties, which combined terror with practical jokes
"David Pinner's hybrid of Chekovian comedy with a Marlovian hero works superbly" ~ The Independent (The Teddy Bear's Picnic)
"David Pinner is a recording angel with a mean pen" ~ Clive Barnes, New York Post (The Potsdam Quartet)