N.c. Hurure n obout the ploqwright N.c. HuNre n obout the ploUwriqht A BIOGRAPHY OF N.C. HUNTER February 12,l95t at thc Duke of York's Ralph Richardson. The play also came to By Maya Cantu Theatre. A disheartcned Hunter was on Broadway's ANTA Theatre in 1955, dircctcrl the brink of trading playwriting for life as by Sir Cedric Hardwicke, and starrin$ A kcenly observant writer of "charm, a rural schoolmaster, when Dame Edith Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. Although pathos, and humor" (The Stage),N.C. Evans fortuitously stepped in. Picking critic Brooks Atkinson praised Huntcr's Hunter took his place among the leading Waters of the Moon off a pile of rejected work as "humorous, touching, wistful, gcr-rtlc British dramatists of the 1950s. Spanning scripts in thc office of Hugh "Binkie" and wise,"s A Day by the Sea blossomed for diverse genres of farcc, fable, satire-and, Beaumont, the actress persuaded the West only 24 performanccs in brash and booming most distinctivcly, tragicomedy-Huntcr's End impresario to produce it.a 1950s America. Hunter's next play,A body of work encompassed eighteen plays Touch of the Sun (1958), fcatured Michacl and six novels. He was a playlvright of With the lyrical Waters of the Moon, Redgrave as an idealistic schoolmaster contradictions. A deeply private Lan who Hunter became one of the most popular pressed to defend his ascetic way of lifc shunned the spotlight, Hunter's plays drew and successful of 1950s British playwrights. after he, his wifc, and daughter (Vanessa dazzling casts of West End stars. Tiained Hunter's plays captured the mood of a Redgrave) travel with wealthy relativcs to to serve in the military, Hunter earned nation shaken by economic insecuriry and the French Riviera. Contrasting with thc air' acclaim for his delicate, gently ironic "plays post-imperial decline, with characters of celebrity surrounding his plays, Huntcr with Chekhovian tints, yet with qualities grasping for purpose. Llke A Picture af himself lived close to the soil, "in part of iur of sensitivity and craftsmanship all their Autumn, Waters af the Moaz poignantly old farmhouse in north Wales," as'Iheatrc own."1 portrayed English gentiliry struggling for World profrled "The Elusive Playwright."" survival. Balancing nuanced cnsemble Born September 18, 1908 in Derbyshire, N.C. Hunter in the early 1950s. drama with virtuoso star turns for Evans With the changing of the theatrical Norman Charles Hunter camc of age in and Dame Sybil Thorndike, the play traced guard in the mid-1950s, Huntert carccr fcll a prestigious trnglish family. The son found a of modcrate degrcc of success with the relationships and aspirations ofa into sudden decline.The incendiary 1956 Lieutenant-Colonel Charles F. Hur"rter, audicnccs and critics. Hunter also settled group of middle-class residents at a rural premierc ofJohn Osborne's Look Baclt itt D.S.O. and his wife NancyWingravc marricd life into with the Belgian-born Dartmoor hotel, where a blizzard snows Anger at the Royal Court Theatrc ushcrcd Cobbett, Huntert great-great-grandfatircr Germaine Dachsbech. In 1938, Hunter in a charismatic London socialite (Evans) in a rcvolutionary ncw wavc of young was the radicaljournalist and agriculturist (i.e adapted Irish folklore . "The Cooneen and her family. This time, howevcr, Hunter's playwrights. Championed by critic Kcnncth Sir William Cobbett, who had famously Ghost") for the Belfast and BBC, in 7939, work mct an enthusiastic reception, as Tynan, the so-called 'Angry Young Mcn" campaigned for the rights of farm workers co-wrote his only screenplay, the thriller Waters of the Moon phyed 835 performanccs rcvitalized and permanently transformcd in his 1830 book Rural Rlles. Following Poison Pen.That samc year, he re-enlisted at the Theatre Royal Haymarket after the British theater. At the same time, tl'rc after his father, Hunter attended Repton as a Royal soldicr in the Artillery, as Great opening on April 79,195I, as part of the new movement also topplcd a substirntivc School and the Royal Military School of Britain entcrcd World War II. historic Fcstival of Britain cxhibition of interwar generation of dramatists, inclucling Sandhurst, and served his commission thc in national culture. Hunter, Noel Coward, Tcrence Rattigan, Dragoon Guards from 1930 through 1933. Following his experiences in the war, and J.B. Priestley, now charged with ar-r Yet Hunter looked to a life of letters, and in I{untcrt early comcdies gaincd in depth With his next set of plays, Hunter escapist "cclebration of country 1'rousc, 1932,the British radio show "Miscellany" and subtlety. (7947) Smith in Arcady and raised questions about the complexities of cocktail glass, (and) cigarette holdcr'."7 featured the young man's poem, "La (1951) A Picture ofAutumn evoked the political engagement in an Age of Arxiery While Tynans criticism dealt scrious blows Promcnade i" Cheval." influence of Anton Chekhov, whose and the relationship of money, work, and to all of these writers, Hunter's rcpr.ltirtior) plays Hunter had turned to "through the success to pcrsonal fulfillment. As England additionally suffered from critics' cr.rdlcss In the mid-1930s, Hunter broke out as discomforts and horrors" of his W\MI drew the world's gaze with Elizabcth comparisons to Chekhov, and "a tcnrlcncy in a playwright and novelist. After the debut service.2 Shaded "touches with of nostalgic II s 1953 coronation, Hunter's plays also trngland to underestimate Mr. I-Iuntcr arrrl of his first play,I934's The Merciless Lady and rueful poetry,"3 Autumn followed wcre a magnet for stage royalty. opening give almost all of the credit to his irctors," ls (co-written with Ferguson), Hunter the fortunes of John the Denham family, who to largely glowing rcviews in November The Brooklyn Daily Eagle noted ir.r 1954. As made his name on the West End stage debate whether or not to sell their decaying L953 at the Haymarket, where it ran for critic W.A. Darlington latcr rccallccl: with a series offrothy, deftly crafted farces, manor. Wiltshire Although lauded by 386 performatces,A Day by the Sea starred including'4 I I Righ t s Re s e r r,t e d (I9 3 5), L a d i e s (revivcd critics,A Picture ofAz.ttumn by Mint SirJohn Gielgud (who also directed the (Huntert) best work was oftcn trc:rtcrl and Gentlemen (1937), and Grouse in Theater in 2013) was not picked up for a June production) as diplomat Julian Anson, disparagingly by critics who irlkrwcrl (1939). These "comedy souffi6s" (7he Era) West End run after its one-night debut on alongside Thorndike , Irene Worth, and Sir themselves to pretend that hc wrrs rr obout the ploqwriqht N.c. Hurure n A Dnv ev rHr sra biogrophies mere imitator of the Russian genius. for such language-driven younger writers as CURZON DOBELL (WiIIiam Gregson) KATIE FIRTH (Frances Farrar) Previ- However, I think they were demonstrably Tom Stoppard and Joe Orton, while survey- Curzon Dobell appearcd at tl.re Mintin Love ously at the Mint: N.C. Hunter's A Picture wrong. Hunter's sense of character was ing British thcatcr's last decade oftransfor- Goes to Press. Hc has worked in NYC at Lin- of Autumn; Susan and God and Far and Iilide. acute and full oforiginal observation.The mation with characteristic generosity: "In coln Ccntcq the Irish Rep, thc Culture Ccnter, Other New York credits includc: 'Ihe Hid- trouble really was that their character a live and hcalthy thcatre, thcrc should bc Soho Rep, the l)ircctort Companl', St Clem- ing Place, Atlantic; Humble,Bay, Manhattan belonged to the class he knew best and to room for everything: the open stage and the ent's, and fivc times for Thcatrc for a Ncw Theater Club; Only the End of the World, The which he himself belonged-and it proscenium, the play of comi-ritment and Audiencc. Regionalll', he playcd the title rolc Quiet Room and Stephen Belber's solo play, happened to be a class that the newwave the frivolous farce, Ibsen and Feydeau, and in tlre premierc of 7he Lote Song oJ'J. Robert Fin a / ly, Company Charnidrc; M us eum, Keen; and its followers were treating with the'tragical-comical-historical-pastoral.' It Oppcnheinter by Carson Kreitzcr at Cincin- Golden Prospects; Zhe Winters Thle; The Wild deliberate disdain.s should be as varied, surely, as the tastes of nati Playhouse. Hc has also perfbrmcd at Duck; Three Sisters; Stonettall; a:nd A Woman the society it reflects are varied."e Hunter the Guthric Theatre, Baltimorc CenterStege, Alone. Ptegional: Catherine Sloper in The Throughout thc turbulence of thc slx- died on April 19, L97L,x the age of slxty- Pittsburgh Public, I.Iartford'I1-rcatrcWorks, He ires s, Peterborough Players; P / ac e men t, T\e ties, Hunter continued to craft a range of two. Syracuse Stage, GeVa, thc We stport Country Black Dahlia, (LAWeekly Outstanding Per- thoughtful dramas, including 7he Tulip Tree Playhouse and Livine Room ilhcatre in Ver- formance nomination); King Lear: Starm at (1962) and 7he Excursion (7964), as well as As Hunter's West End peers, including mont. In Car-radtr, hc has been a company Home, Yirginia Stage; Day af the Kings, AI- a picaresque farce, The Adventures ofTom Coward and Rattigan, draw renewed rounds member of thc Stratford l'estival and the liancc Theater1, Rom.eo and Juliet and Tuelfth Random (1,967).In 1.969, Hunter also re- of applausc in the varied thcatre worlds of Grand Theatrc Company. Film and TV: in- l/ugir, New Jersey Shakcspeare Festival; Plr- flected on "Modern tends in the Theatre" the ftventy-first century, Hunter likewise cludes "Housc of Cards", "-Ihc Knick','John nic, Actors Theatre of Louisville; Persephone, at Wales'University College of Swansea.