3. Terence Rattigan- First Success and After
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DIPLOMARBEIT Titel der Diplomarbeit „In and out of the limelight- Terence Rattigan revisited“ Verfasserin Covi Corinna angestrebter akademischer Grad Magistra der Philosophie (Mag.phil.) Wien, 30. Jänner 2013 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 343 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: 343 Diplomstudium Anglistik und Amerikanistik UniStG Betreuer: Ao. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Rudolf Weiss Table of contents 1. Introduction……………………………………………………....p.4 2. The History of the Well-Made Play…………………………......p.5 A) French Precursors.....................................................................p.6 B) The British Well-Made Play...................................................p.10 a) Tom Robertson and the 1870s...........................................................p.10 b) The “Renaissance of British Drama”...............................................p.11 i. Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934) and Henry Arthur Jones (1851- 1929)- The precursors of the “New Drama”..............................p.12 ii. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)..............................................................p.15 c) 1900- 1930 “The Triumph of the New Drama”...............................p.17 i. Harley Granville-Barker (1877-1946)………………................p.18 ii. William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)..................................p.18 iii. Noel Coward (1899-1973)............................................................p.20 3. Terence Rattigan- first success and after...................................p.21 A) French Without Tears (1936)...................................................p.22 a) Background.........................................................................................p.22 b) Themes and Structure.......................................................................p.23 c) Reception.............................................................................................p.28 B) After The Dance (1939)............................................................p.29 a) Themes................................................................................................p.29 b) “The Bright Young Things”..............................................................p.31 c) The “Power of Implication”..............................................................p.32 d) Reception.............................................................................................p.33 e) The National Theatre Production.....................................................p.34 C) The Winslow Boy (1946)..........................................................p.35 1 a) Background........................................................................................p.35 b) Themes................................................................................................p.36 c) Reception.............................................................................................p.39 4. The Pinnacle of Terence Rattigan´s Career...............................p.40 A) The Browning Version (1948)..................................................p.41 a) Themes................................................................................................p.41 b) Millie Crocker-Harris- a casualty of incompatible love.................p.42 c) Andrew Crocker-Harris- the failed schoolmaster..........................p.44 d) A play of repression and despair......................................................p.46 B) The Play of Ideas Debate.........................................................p.47 C) The Deep Blue Sea (1952)........................................................p.51 a) Genesis.................................................................................................p.51 b) Themes................................................................................................p.51 c) Freddie Page and the “vice Anglais”...............................................p.54 d) Dénouement- Hester´s Choice..........................................................p.55 e) The characters as products of their time.........................................p.57 f) Reception............................................................................................p.58 D) “Aunt Edna´s Entrance”.........................................................p.59 E) Separate Tables (1958).............................................................p.64 a) Background and Genesis...................................................................p.64 b) Table by the Window...........................................................................p.65 c) Table Number Seven...........................................................................p.70 i. The Major´s offence.................................................................p.74 d) Parallels and Common Themes in the two one-acters...................p.76 e) Reception............................................................................................p.77 5. 1956 and all that...........................................................................p.78 A) Historical Background............................................................p.79 B) Look Back in Anger by John Osborne(1956).........................p.82 2 C) Osborne vs. Rattigan...............................................................p.89 6. Decline and Death.........................................................................p.96 A) Cause Célèbre (1977)................................................................p.99 a) Radio Production...............................................................................p.99 b) Stage Play..........................................................................................p.101 c) Reception...........................................................................................p.107 7. Conclusion...................................................................................p.109 8. Bibliography...............................................................................p.111 9. Index............................................................................................p.116 10. Appendix...................................................................................p.118 A)Abstract.....................................................................................p.118 B)CV..............................................................................................p.119 3 1. Introduction Not many periods in British Theatre have been as productive as the 20th century; the theatrical output and also the „stylistic ambition“ (Innes 1) very much rivalled the Elizabethan Theatre. Compared to the previous era, the 20th century produced a wider range of plays and it also further developed (and experimented with) older traditions (e.g. the well-made play); in addition, it continued extending the “subject matter of the stage” (Innes 1). Constant social and political change, such as the two World Wars, Britain’s imperial role and many technological advances, provided the many playwrights with constant inspiration and interesting materials for their plays. (Innes 1) However, it often remains unconsidered that the 20th century in British drama was also characterised by frequent highs and lows: both at the end of the 19th century and during the 1950s, the theatre world was frustrated by its own stagnation and by the obvious changes that were happening in the rest of Europe. Audiences and critics alike were unsatisfied with the theatre’s stasis and called for a revolution: at the end of the 19th century first signs of change appeared, especially through William Archer, Arthur Wing Pinero and Henry Arthur Jones, which then led to a new wave of drama in the early 20th century; during the 1950s a similar feeling of dissatisfaction led to the birth of the “Angry Young Men” movement, largely triggered by the premiere of John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger on 8 May, 1956. Especially during the latter revolution, playwrights belonging to (or representing) the old order, were immediately dismissed: one of the most famous and nowadays largely forgotten casualties of this time was Terence Rattigan (1911-1977). During the 1960s, Terence Rattigan felt so unloved in Britain that he decided to leave and live in Bermuda. He had been an immensely popular playwright up until 1956 and the sudden dismissal broke his heart: “Few playwrights in the 20th century were dismissed as cruelly from the warm hearthside of critical approval as Rattigan was in the wake of John Obsorne’s Look Back in Anger” (Cavendish Telegraph). Rattigan’s persona was connected to the “well-made play” and the theatre of entertainment and was therefore deemed old-fashioned, redundant and seen as embodying everything “kitchen-sink” dramatists were trying to destroy. However, nearly seventy years later and after roughly two decades of very popular and much praised Rattigan revivals, the question still remains whether his dismissal from public favour was indeed justified. According to his second biographer, Geoffrey Wansell (Introduction ix), Rattigan’ fate was in fact due to the “bigotry, jealousy and shortsightedness of an influential group of individuals in what came to be the English theatrical establishment. As a result of their prejudice, and for no sound reason, he was suddenly, 4 unforgivably and unreasonably dismissed as a playwright of no consequence. It was to break his spirit […] and shorten his life”. Rattigan’s plays were and definitely still are accurate and moving portraits of the English middle- classes; the characters