A Sleeping Clergyman is a 1933 play in Two Acts by James Bridie. Directed by H. K. Ayliff, it opened at Malvern's Festival Theatre in July 1933, before moving to London's Piccadilly Theatre in September, where it ran for 230 performances. It then transferred to Broadway's Guild Theatre in October 1934, where it closed after 40 performances. It was revived, again with Robert Donat, at London’s Criterion Theatre in 1947.

Plot

Hereditary evil runs through three generations of a medical family, in the 'conflict of social morality and natural desires' - the dissolute and murderous Camerons (from 1867 to 1935) - before a son and daughter finally redeem the family name.

Original cast

Adaptations

The play was later adapted for radio and broadcast on the BBC's Saturday Night Theatre on 1 January 1949. A televised version was also broadcast by the BBC, in its Sunday Night Theatre slot on 11 January 1959.