Butley's Painful Discoveries Are Made Against a Back Ground of Petty University Politics and Unease About Student Dissent

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The QuestorsTheatre Company lF-IE QUE5TORS lF-IFATRE COMPANY First performance May 31st 1980

First staged at the Criterion Theatre in 1971, 'Sutley' is a play about a university lecturer, Ben Sutley, who shares his office and his flat with a former star pupil, Joey, now also a teacher. On the day when the play takes place Sutley faces both the ultimate breakdown of his marriage and of his intense friendship with Joey. Butley's painful discoveries are made against a back ground of petty university politics and unease about student dissent. He greets them with a blistering torrent of repartee and rhetoric.

'Sutley ..... could well join that distinguished gallery of human debris represented by Willie Loman, Jimmy Porter and Bill Maitland in post-war drama ...... What is so wondrous about a play so basically defeatist and hurtful is its ability to be funny. The stark, unsentimental approach to the homosexual relationship, the cynical send-up of academic life, the sceptical view of the teacher-pupil associations are all stunningly illuminated by continuous explosions of sardonic, needling, feline, vituperative and civilised lines.

Milton Shulman in the 'Evening Standard'. Butley

Cast in order of appearance

BEN BUTLEY PETER CARISS

JOSEPH KEYSTON GRAHAM WILLIAMS

MISS HEASMAN SARAH ANDREWS EDNA SHAFT JENNY HICKS

ANNE BUTLEY DOROTHY BOYD-TAYLOR

REG NUTTAL MIKE LANGRIDGE

MR. GARDNER IAN PINKERTON

Director EDWARD PITT

Costumes by LINDSAY UDELL

THE PLAY IS SET IN 1971

ACT I An office in a College of London University about 10a.m.

ACT II The Office as before After Lunch

THERE WILL BE AN INTERVAL OF 15 MINUTES BETWEEN ACT I AND ACT II STAGE MANAGER MARTIN UDALL DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER BARBARA SEXON ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGERS SIMON CROMBIE, JULIA ANDREWS, LINDA RIVANS, JANE FENELON, MAGGIE DAVIDSON, ANNA TAYLOR, STAN GLEBOCKI, MELITA WATSON, BRIAN BEEVERS, ALEX CHARLES, STEVE KNIGHT, ROY BRIERLEY, JOHN DAVIS. SOUND LEON HENRY LIGHTING LES SMITH ASSISTED BY KAREN BECKETT PROPERTIES JOAN CURRY WARDROBE LINDSEY UDELL

COMING TO THE DISCUSSION?

Continuing our series of public discussions after each production, that on the present show will be held on

TUESDAY, 10th JUNE at 7.45p.m. in the BERNARD SHAW ROOM led, as usual, by a prominent theatre personality.

Note the date- TUESDAY, 10th JUNE, at 7.45p.m. SIMON GRAY

Simon Gray's first stage play, 'Wise Child', starring Alec Guinness, was produced at Wyndham's Theatre in 1967. This was followed by 'Dutch Uncle'; 'Spoiled'; two award-winning plays, 'Sutley' and 'Otherwise Engaged', both starring Alan Bates and directed by Harold Pinter; 'Dog Days' at the Oxford Playhouse; 'Molly' at Watford and the Comedy Theatre; 'The Rear Column' at the Globe; an adaptation of Dostoievsky's 'The Idiot' and 'Close of Play' for the National Theatre. He has had four novels published -- 'Colmain', 'Simple People', ' Little Portia' and 'A Comeback for Stark' (the latter under the pseudonym Hamish Reade) . His television plays include 'The Caramel Crisis', 'Death of a Teddy Bear' which won the Writer's Guild Award, 'Pig in a Poke', 'Man in a Side car', 'Plaintiffs and Defendants', and 'Two Sundays'.

Simon Gray was born in Hampshire, educated at West minster School and at universities in Canada and France before reading English at Cambridge. He teaches English Literature at Queen Mary College, London. COMING IN THE MAIN THEATRE ......

21 - 28 June MACBETH by William Shakespeare Shakespeare's great play about the nature of evil; the story of Macbeth's fatal step onto the dark path which leads inevitably to his own tragedy is told in some of the finest dramatic poetry ever written by the world's greatest poetic dramatist.

12 - 19July The Questors Student Group presents

UNDER MILK WOOD by Dylan Thomas

The amusing and moving journey through a single day in the li fe of the imaginary Welsh village of Llareggyb; Dylan Thomas's memorable characters move (or stagger!) on their eccentric paths from dawn to dusk.

COMING IN THE STUDIO ......

20 - 27 July MEASURE FOR MEASURE by William Shakespeare

The production planned and worked on by the late David Gower. The first two performances (20th and 21st J uly) will be given in aid of Cancer Research.

Shakespeare's fascinating exploration of justice and mercy in relation to ordinary mortals.

Printed and published by The Questors Ltd. Theatre Manager: Ben O'Mahony