Blackmail is a 1928 thriller play by the British writer Charles Bennett.[1] In Chelsea, an artist's model kills an artist when he attempts to assault her.
It ran for 38 performances at the Globe Theatre in London's West End.[2] Directed by Raymond Massey, was the playwright's first West End production, chosen by the impresario Albert H. Woods as a vehicle for the American star Tallulah Bankhead.[3] In the event it was shortest British run Bankhead had been in. It was initially considered a disappointment and Woods never staged the play on Broadway. However, over the following decade it became a popular work on tour in Britain and Ireland.[4]
The following year it was made into Blackmail, a pioneering early sound film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anny Ondra.[5] It was also novelised by Ruth Alexander.