The Lost Summer: The Heyday of the West End Theatre

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The popular myth is that there was nothing of any worth in the mid-century British theatre until 1956, when John Osborne stormed the stage. In fact the West End of the thirties, forties and fifties was remarkable both for its actors - such as John Gielgud, Edith Evans, Ralph Richardson - and its playwrights, many of whom are in the process of rediscovery - a process which this book seeks to encourage. Typical is the case of Rodney Ackland, revived, televised and re-published in recent years, culminating in a ...
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More About This Book

Overview

The popular myth is that there was nothing of any worth in the mid-century British theatre until 1956, when John Osborne stormed the stage. In fact the West End of the thirties, forties and fifties was remarkable both for its actors - such as John Gielgud, Edith Evans, Ralph Richardson - and its playwrights, many of whom are in the process of rediscovery - a process which this book seeks to encourage. Typical is the case of Rodney Ackland, revived, televised and re-published in recent years, culminating in a major production of Absolute Hell at the Royal National Theatre. The book also examines the work of Terence Rattigan, John Whiting, Robert Bolt, Wynyard Browne and N. C. Hunter. Taking the career of one man, the actor/producer/director Frith Banbury, who was active throughout the period, The Lost Summer revisits many of the best productions of those years. The resulting book is a vital and necessary re-evaluation of the era, which will alter many a mind-set and provoke many more discoveries.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780435086831
  • Publisher: Heinemann
  • Publication date: 8/7/1995
  • Pages: 224

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Deeply Interested and Earnest Young Men 3
Training with Joan Littlewood 11
Part One: An Actor in the Thirties
The Worst Unicorn I Ever Had 17
Eagerness and Concentration 25
Part Two: A Conchie in the Theatre of the Forties
Revue and After 39
The West End 1940s 53
Wynyard Browne: Quiet Plays from a Quiet Man 63
Part Three: A Producer in the Fifties
The West End 1950s 97
N.C. Hunter: Plays That Actors Liked To Speak 109
Terence Rattigan and The Deep Blue Sea 127
Part Four
Rodney Ackland: Either a Fog or the King Died 139
Part Five: 1954
John Whiting: an Enigma with the Possibility of a Solution 171
Old Vic Interlude 183
Part Six: In the Face of the Royal Court
Reaction Against Aunt Edna 191
Robert Bolt: If You Want a Non-Naturalistic Production, Write a Non-Naturalistic Play 199
Directing at the Royal Court: Moon on a Rainbow Shawl 217
Part Seven: Watershed, Doldrums and Renaissance
Watershed 225
Doldrums 229
Renaissance 233
Appendixes 241
Notes 253
Bibliography 262
Index 265
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