Robert Ardrey’s final play was a fitting finale to a career dedicated to socially-engaged theater. A documentary drama about the failed Hungarian revolution of 1956, Shadow of Heroes resulted in the release from custody of two political prisoners. It is also praised as an early example of Verbatim Theater, and was notable for giving a non-romantic leading role to a woman, played originally by Dame Peggy Ashcroft.
The play follows two members of the anti-Nazi Hungarian resistance, Lászlo Rajk and his wife, Julia. They are both arrested and tortured. Lázslo is betrayed by his former friend János Kádár and then killed. Julia works tirelessly to rehabilitate his name, and insists on a state funeral. When the soviet-backed Kádár succeeds to the head of the government, he promises Julia amnesty, and then arrests her. The play ends with the announcement that Julia Rajk is still a prisoner of the Russians.
Shadow of Heroes premiered in London at the Piccadilly Theatre. It opened on October 7, 1958, and inspired outrage; only eleven days later Julia Rajk and her son were released from prison.
The play was successively produced in New York and Germany, and was broadcast to acclaim on television by the BBC in 1959, with Dame Ashcroft reprising her role.