RATTIGAN CENTENARY
After the Dance
8 June to 11 August 2010
5 STARS 'Superb...a neglected classic has finally been honoured.' Daily Telegraph
5 STARS 'Stunningly performed...this is the National Theatre at its best.' London Evening Standard
When you know something is going to happen, it makes it seem further off to joke about it.
As the world races towards catastrophe, a crowd of Mayfair socialites party their way to oblivion. At its centre is David, who idles away his sober moments researching a futile book until the beautiful Helen decides to save him, shattering his marriage and learning too late the depth of both David's indolence and his wife's undeclared love. But with finances about to crash and humanity on the brink of global conflict, the drink keeps flowing and the revellers dance on.
Why do you all talk of nothing but the old days and the old parties and the things you all used to do and say? Why?
First staged in 1939, After the Dance, now often thought to be Terence Rattigan's masterpiece, offers a subtle, witty unmasking of the hedonistic 20s generation and a devastating study of repression and the human heart.
It's the bright young people over again, only they never were bright and now they're not even young.
5 STARS 'The National's revival of a rare Rattigan reveals a masterpiece.' Sunday Times
4 STARS 'Thea Sharrock's superb production.' Guardian
4 STARS 'Engaging, brilliantly done.' The Times
Read an interview with Benedict Cumberbatch on Official London Theatre website.
After the Dance ran from: 8 June to 11 August 2010
FLAREPATH
4 March 2011 to 11 June 2011
Trevor Nunn directed a West End revival of Flare Path at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket as part of the playwright Terence Rattigan's centenary year celebrations. It marked Nunn's debut as Artistic Director of the theatre. The play opened on 4 March 2011. It recouped after six weeks and was extended an extra week due to popular demand, closing 11 June 2011.
Sienna Miller starred as Patricia, Harry Hadden-Paton played her husband Teddy, James Purefoy played Teddy's rival Peter, and Sheridan Smith co-starred as Doris. The hotel set was designed by Stephen Brimson Lewis. The airfield beyond the hotel where the planes take off was depicted with projections designed by Jack James, supplemented by sound effects by Paul Groothuis and lighting by Paul Pyant.
The revival of Flare Path was well received by a number of critics. Paul Taylor of The Independent called it a "richly entertaining and beautifully judged revival of this theatrical rarity."[23] According to Charles Spencer of The Telegraph, "Terence Rattigan's Flare Path (1942), rarely ranked in the top drawer of his plays, emerges in Trevor Nunn's superb production as a three-handkerchief weepie that somehow manages to be both profoundly moving and wonderfully funny." Ray Bennett of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "...Trevor Nunn uses Rattigan's insightful characterizations to create a multilayered view of war and what it does to people." Michael Billington of The Guardian said it was "... a tribute to the collective spirit of wartime bomber crews and their partners. Given the circumstances, you'd hardly expect a debate about the morality of the air offensive: what the play provides, with Rattigan's characteristic flair for understatement, is a deeply moving portrait of people at war."
Henry Hitchings of the London Evening Standard noted that the play might seem dated, but said "...there's no mistaking Rattigan's talent for depicting repressed emotion and tragicomic acts of concealment. Crucially, as in most of his writing, there is a gulf between what the characters say and the true feelings they are either unable or unwilling to express." Billington wrote, "...it is precisely that embarrassed English emotional hesitancy that makes this play so overwhelmingly moving."Sam Marlowe of The Arts Desk called it "...a shattering ensemble work, in which every detail glows with truth, compassion and humanity, and where every seemingly ordinary second of life in an existence hemmed in by the ever-present threat of death is charged with a quiet intensity."
Paul Callan of The Express offered a dissenting view, finding fault with the slow pace and describing the characters as stereotypes that "sadly combine to show the age-lines on this play, even if it is a well-crafted example of Rattigan's skilled writing."
London 2011 Cast:
- Sheridan Smith as Doris, Countess Skriczevinsky
- James Purefoy as Peter Kyle
- Sarah Crowden as Mrs. Oakes
- Joe Armstrong as Sergeant Dusty Miller
- Matthew Tennyson as Percy
- Mark Dexter as Count Skriczevinsky
- Harry Hadden-Paton as Flight Lieutenant Teddy Graham
- Sienna Miller as Patricia Graham
- Emma Handy as Mrs. Maudie Miller
- Clive Wood as Squadron Leader Swanson
- Jim Creighton as Corporal Wiggy Jones
Cause Célèbre
17 March to 11 June
Thea Sharrock directed this play at The Old Vic starring Niamh Cusack and Anne-Marie Duff in Terence Rattigan's final play. Based on the true story of Alma Rattenbury who went on trial with her 18-year-old lover for the murder of her husband, Cause Célèbre is an intriguing tale of love, betrayal, loyalty and obsession.
Separate Tables
The Woodhouse Players celebrate the centenary of Terence Rattigan's birth with his 1954 masterpiece: two linked one-act plays full of humour, insight and pathos, with a rich gallery of memorable characters.
Welsh Church Hall 879 High Road Leytonsone E11 1HR
Fri 22 July 8pm
Sat 23 July 2.30pm & 8pm
Weds 27 July 8pm
Fri 29 July 8pm
Sat 30 July 2.30pm & 8pm
Website
Separate Tables
The Crescent Theatre Company • Sat 2nd to Sat 9th July 2011 at 7.45pm in the Ron Barber Studio Matinees: Sun 3rd and Sat 9th at 2.45pm.
Separate Tables is the collective name for Rattigan's two one-act plays which take place in the Beauregard Private Hotel in Bournemouth. The first - "Table by the Window", is centred on the relationship between a disgraced politician and his ex-wife. The second - "Table Number Seven", is set about a year and a half later and deals with a touching friendship between a spinster and a retired English army officer. The other residents and the hotel staff appear in both plays, providing the link between the two. Tickets: £10.00 (Sun Matinee: £5.00) Web
Browning Version
Wokingham Theatre
Performing at Wokingham Theatre, Wokingham
9 peris between 24th March & 2nd April 2011
Cause Celebre
Dunstable Rep Theatre Club
Performing at The Little Theatre Dunstable
8 perts between 18th & 26th March 2011
Deep Blue Sea
The Lace Market Theatre
Pertorming at the Lace Market Theatre in Nottingham
7 perts between 7til & 12th February 2011
Sleeping Prince
Arundel Players
Petfonning at The Priory Playhouse, West Sussex
a perts between 20lh & 27"h August 2011
Separate Tables
Newport Playgoers Society
Performing at The Dolman Theatre, Newport
6 perts between gt~ & 13u1 November 2010
Troy Players
Performing at The Town Hall
Fowey, Cornwall
4 perfs between 10th & 13th November 2010
The Club Theatre
Performing at The Club Theatre, Altrincham
7 perfs between 28th November & 5th December 2010.
The Deep Blue Sea
The West Yorkshire Playhouse
18 February 2011 to 12 March 2011
QUARRY THEATRE
Hester left her husband for another man. Left the security of the well respected judge, for wild,unpredictable, sexy Freddie – an ex-fighter pilot.
Now she's reached the end of the line. Freddie's raffish charm has worn thin and Hester is forced to face the reality of life with a man who doesn't want to be with her. The simple act of a forgotten
birthday pushes her to desperation point and to facing a future that offers no easy resolutions.
Rattigan's reputation was founded on his mastery of the 'well made play'. Now, one hundred years after his birth, it is his skilful creation of troubled,emotional characters that has brought audiences
and critics alike to re-visit his plays with renewed appreciation.
Terence Rattigan on Film
The Deep Blue Sea
Film starring Rachel Weisz, Simon Russell Beale and Tom Hiddleston explore aspects of love in Terence Davies's new screen version of this Terence Rattigan classic.
Simon Russell Beale plays, Weiz's estranged husband William Collyer, a high court judge, and Tom Hiddlestone her lover Freddie Page, a former RAF World War II fighter pilot.
"It's about Hester, a woman who, to put it bluntly, had never experienced good sex until she met Freddie."
The project is being supported by Film 4 and the UK Film Council. More...
Mail Online • Why Tom's taking the next few months at the gallop More...
The Playlist • Terence Davies • Hollywood Reporter • IMDB
Terence Rattigan on Radio
BBC Radio 3 and 4
Rory Kinnear, Ruth Wilson and Rupert Penry-Jones are to appear in a special BBC Radio season celebrating the centenary of Terence Rattigan's birth, which will also include a broadcast version of the Old Vic's Cause Celebre starring Anne-Marie Duff.
The centenary will be marked across BBC Radio 4 and Radio 3 in June, and will feature new productions of The Browning Version, Flare Path and In Praise of Love, as well as the radio transfer of Cause Celebre.
A Radio 4 Front Row special programme about Rattigan will be broadcast on Monday 30 May (bank holiday) at 7.15pm.
The season starts on June 5 with Flare Path on Radio 3, starring Kinnear, Wilson and Penry-Jones. It will go out in the Drama on 3 slot at 8pm and is being produced by Catherine Bailey. Jeremy Herrin will direct.
Terence Rattigan Interviews on Radio 4 - 6th June pm
This will be followed by Radio 4's The Browning Version, broadcast on June 11 at 2.30pm. It will star Michael York, Joanne Whalley, Ioan Gruffudd and Ian Ogilvy. It is being produced by independent company Jarvis and Ayres, and directed by Martin Jarvis. The broadcast will be followed with The Rattigan Version, in which Jarvis reveals some behind the scenes background to the play.
Jarvis will also appear in Radio 4's production of In Praise of Love, which will be airedon Radio 4 on June 18. PierProductions is making this drama, which will also feature Sarah Badel and Kerry Shale.
Cause Celebre completes the season on June 25. The stage version is being adapted for radio and brought to the BBC by Sparklab. It is produced by Polly Thomas and Melanie Harris.
The cast has not yet been confirmed, but it is expected that the radio production - being recorded in a studio - will feature all the actors from the current Old Vic staging.
The Browning Version
Star cast in Terence Rattigan's 'The Browning Version' - BBC Radio 4.
MICHAEL YORK, JOANNE WHALLEY, IOAN GRUFFUDD, IAN OGILVY
A Radio 4 production as The Saturday Play on June 4th.
Award-winning Martin Jarvis directs an all-star cast, led by Michael York (Cabaret, Three Musketeers, Murder on the Orient Express) as the ailing schoolmaster Crocker-Harris; Joanne Whalley (The Borgias, Scarlett, Scandal) plays Millie Crocker-Harris; Ioan Gruffudd (Hornblower, 101 Dalmations, Rise of the Silver Surfer, Wilde) plays Frank Hunter and Ian Ogilvy (The Saint, Measle, Sleuth) is the Headmaster.
Talented Matthew Wolf (Pirates of the Caribbean, Mars Needs Moms) plays the schoolboy Taplow, and Kate Maberly (The Secret Garden, Bonnie and Clyde, Daniel Deronda) is young Mrs Gilbert. Stuart Bunce (Gospel of St John, First Knight, Spartacus) completes this star cast as Peter Gilbert.
The sound design is by Mark Holden.
THE BROWNING VERSION by Terence Rattigan
TAPLOW……………………………...Matthew Wolf
FRANK HUNTER…………………….Ioan Gruffudd
MILLIE CROCKER-HARRIS……….. Joanne Whalley
ANDREW CROCKER-HARRIS……...Michael York
THE HEADMASTER………………….Ian Ogilvy
PETER GILBERT……………………...Stuart Bunce
MRS GILBERT………………………...Kate Maberly
Director: Martin Jarvis
Sound design: Mark Holden
Produced by Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis & Ayres Production for BBC Radio 4
Terence Rattigan on Television
Rattigan by Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch explored the work of Terence Rattigan in a BBC documentary to mark the 100th anniversary of the playwright's birth.
Rattigan by Benedict Cumberbatch wasl broadcast on BBC4 and saw the actor draw on his own experiences of performing the playwright's works to argue that "Rattigan's plays remain some of the most brilliantly written, emotionally powerful social satires of the 20th century".
Terence Rattigan Events
Terence Rattigan on display...
A special display of items from the Terence Rattigan archive can be seen at the British Library from April – June 2011, including original manuscript drafts of his most famous works, alongside photos, letters, and other theatrical ephemera.
www.bl.uk
Press contact: Julie Yau julie.yau@bl.uk 020 7412 7237
Terence Rattigan: highlights of the British Library exhibition
Telegraph.co.uk
Letter from Terence Rattigan to Robin Midgley, director of the stage play Cause Célèbre; April 1977 The stage version of Cause Célèbre encountered any number of difficulties. Rattigan was commissioned to rewrite the radio script for the stage in time ...
Lost letters bought for £22 reveal Terence Rattigan's professionalism
The Guardian
The British Library has acquired four unpublished letters written by Sir Terence Rattigan towards the end of his life, when, despite the extreme pain of his terminal illness, he felt driven to finish his last play. ...
The Paley Media Center in New York has CBS and HBO television broadcasts of:
The Winslow Boy with Frederic March, Norah Howard and Denholm Elliott
Separate Tables with Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Claire Bloom and Irene Worth
The Browning Version with John Gielgud, Margaret Leighton, Cecil Parker and Robert Stephens.
The Browning Version (Radio) with Edna Best, Maurice Evans, Norman Brokenshire and Ron Randall.
Oh Mistress Mine (Radio) with Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Norman Brokenshire and Roger Pryor.
Paley Center Rattigan Collection
Terence Rattigan in Publications
Nick Hern Books
New editions of five of Rattigan’s works, with introductions by Dan Rebellato, will be published by Nick Hern Books:
Cause Célèbre (in March 2011)
All of the following will be published in June 2011
First Episode (Rattigan's first play, published for the first time ever.)
Less Than Kind and Love in Idleness (published in a double volume)
Who is Sylvia?
Duologue
Already in print are:
The Browning Version (with Harlequinade)
The Deep Blue Sea
After the Dance
In Praise of Love
Separate Tables
The Winslow Boy and
French Without Tears
Press contact: Robin Booth robin@nickhernbooks.demon.co.uk 020 8749 4953
Samuel French
Acting editions of Rattigan’s plays are published by Samuel French Ltd and available from their bookshop: http://samuelfrench-london.co.uk
Cause Célèbre
The Browning Version
The Deep Blue Sea
Before Dawn
French Without Tears
Flare Path
In Praise of Love
Table No. 2
Press contact: Amanda Smith amanda@samuelfrench-london.co.uk 020 7387 9373
Quartet
Michael Darlow’s biography, Terence Rattigan, The Man and His Work, is now available in paperback from Quartet Books, revised and updated for the centenary.
Press contact: Amber Sainsbury amber@quartetbooks.co.uk 020 7636 3992