The Rattigan The Newsletter of The Terence Rattigan Society ISSUE NO. 19 DECEMBER 2016 Version Farewell to our own Princess Our beloved President, known to about chairing a meeting at her home most of us as ‘Jean’ passed away to launch ‘The Prince George peacefully on the morning of 14th Galitzine Memorial Library’ in 1994 December after suffering two strokes. and that many of the ladies attending A personal loss for her family and a had been to the hairdresser specially huge blow for the Society; not only for the occasion which they had had was she a remarkably active and thought would be primarily a social enthusiastic President, but also one of one. Jean was bemused and firmly our last personal contacts with Sir pointed out to them that they were Terence himself. The Princess’s all there to get down to work. presence graced so many of our This realistic attitude to life may events, she supported our initiatives have been born of a difficult early and, despite her frailty even attended start; Jean was a self-made woman the launch of The TRS Award, in who wasn’t born with a silver spoon January. Sadly this was to prove her and although she did not speak of it, last appearance amongst us. her early life had at least two severe But this is not a time for great setbacks. Her mother died when she On the occasion of her 90th birthday party sadness, because her life was such an was four and at the same age she was at 100 Cornwall Gardens amazingly accomplished and happy treated by the pioneer plastic surgeon one and as her dear friend Julian Fellowes remarked to Sir Harold Delf Gillies MD. I quote me: “Jean has had a wonderful and exciting life, a great from an article about him by CJ Williams: beauty, a great wit, and at the centre of almost every- “Another patient, Jean Dawnay (later to be Princess thing into extreme old age”. George Galitzine) as a four-year-old had the upper half I first met Princess Galitzine on 4th July 2011, through of her face coated with boiling tar and bitumen in a road Michael Darlow, just before the inaugural committee -side accident. Fearing permanent damage to the meeting of our Society, formed in the centenary year. exposed wound Jean was taken to Gillies's practice in As members will surely know, the young and famous Harley Street to be treated. The operation was a fashion model Jean Dawnay became a close friend, complete success, featured in The Lancet, and, in a script hostess and muse for Terence Rattigan. She invited me redolent of a Hollywood melodrama, Jean would go on to tea in Eaton Square and from the first moment I saw to become a leading model for Christian Dior, Jacques her and heard her rich warm voice, I was enchanted. Fath and marry a Russian prince.” One of the many marvellous things about her was that The young Jean Dawnay had tremendous verve and despite her beauty, style and glamour and her extensive adventurous spirit. She ran away from school when she achievements, she remained totally unpretentious and was 12, and at 14 wanted to be a missionary in Tibet and down to earth. I’ll always remember her telling me also a famous opera singer. / Cont. on back page… FAREWELL TO OUR PRESIDENT, PP 1, 8 REVIEW OF WHILE THE SUN SHINES , P 4 DENIS MORIARTY INTRODUCES YOUR EDITOR, P 2 THE SOUND BARRIER AT THE CINEMA MUSEUM, P 5 A TRIBUTE FROM ADRIAN BROWN / THE AGM, P 3 UPDATE ON THE AWARD, P 6 / THE DOVER ROAD P 7 1 The Terence Rattigan Society Vice-Presidents: Michael Darlow, Greta Scacchi, David Suchet CBE, Geoffrey Wansell Chairman Barbara Longford Membership Secretary Diana Scotney Treasurer Andrew Kenyon Newsletter Editor Giles Cole Webmaster Stephen Bradley Theatre Liaison Michael Wheatley-Ward US Representative: Dr Holly Hill Secretary & RAF Liaison Gp. Capt. Clive Montellier FCIPD, FCMI, RAF Email: [email protected] Editor’s note: Any views expressed in this newsletter are those of the individual author and do not necessarily represent the views of The Terence Rattigan Society or its Committee. Denis Moriarty In an uncertain profession IntroducES mortgage and marriage often consorted together Giles Cole and it was in 1982/3, in a ————————————————— West End run - the Giles Cole is a man of the theatre through and through; seemingly everlasting farce treading the boards, writing for stage and radio, creating No Sex Please, We’re and producing events. He remains essentially and British - that Giles met refreshingly modest and convivial, an enabler who Lynne, the daughter of a shares his talents generously in the service of others. He theatre producer, Charles is the eldest of seven children of academic parents - his Ross, who had the mother conscientiously sworn to the Official Secrets reputation for casting over the snooker table. The Act, worked at the celebrated wartime Bletchley Park, wedding reception was held at the Garrick Club, where and his father, a double Blue at Oxford, was a successful six years later Giles also became a member, popular and barrister before becoming a distinguished Garter King of much respected to this day, where he has responsibility Arms. for Events, and in 2014 produced a stylish weekend The family lived in rural Surrey whence Giles became celebration of that prestigious club’s 150th anniversary. a boarder at Dulwich College, hinting that there he was In the mid-1980s the arrival of two children prompted something of a long-haired 1960s rebel, and responding a more predictable lifestyle, and he joined a friend and more to the dramatic opportunities on offer than the fellow actor in launching a production company rigours of the Oxbridge class. He graduated from an specialising in corporate presentations and engaging Attendant Lord in the annual Shakespeare to an celebrities such as Jonathan Ross, Jack Dee and Graham acclaimed Sir Politic Would-be in Volpone. This Norton. Giles wrote all the scripts (though not their provided the platform for entrance to the Webber- gags), making all the links and intro’s match their Douglas Academy in 1969, where Antony Sher was an individual style. illustrious contemporary. Sixteen years in rep and Giles had begun writing for the theatre while still on regional tours followed, notably in Arturo Ui and Little stage, and it was with radio he first made his mark - Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs with the Ancestors, a play which drew on research and influences Contact Theatre in Manchester, Equus and King Lear in that stemmed from his heraldic father. Six further radio Lancaster, Shaw’s Misalliance in Leatherhead, and plays followed. As a young man Giles had joined his Priestley’s I Have Been Here Before and Ayckbourn’s father’s livery company, the Scriveners; in 2003 he The Norman Conquests on tour. He played Edmund became its Master, and later, at a crucial moment, its Swettenham in A Murder is Announced for Peter Clerk, a post he holds to this day. Saunders at the Vaudeville Theatre and (as an Geoffrey Wansell was revising his widely read understudy) both male roles in Private Lives at the Rattigan biography for paperback when he asked Giles Duchess. It wasn’t all classy stuff, though—for a season to read the proofs; Giles became absorbed in the in North Wales he had been auditioned over the trajectory of Rattigan’s success, decline and revival, and telephone and engaged as second juvenile lead; the main the tensions of the private life, and out of this arose lead, similarly auditioned, turned out to have a double Giles’ most accomplished work to date, The Art of life as a drag artist. Concealment - which played to critical acclaim and 2 appreciative audiences in Brighton and London. The was excitement a-plenty in wondering ‘How they Heart of Things followed in 2015, and the TRS were will do it’? Well…in my opinion, this was one of there, as they were for The Dover Road—a neglected the best offerings The Ladbroke Players have AA Milne piece Giles produced in 2016—for all these staged. Alison du Cane – herself a TRS member – occasions in full enthusiastic force. directed an excellent production where everything We know Giles, gratefully and personally, for his struck just the right note. Immediately we saw a unstinting work as editor of this newsletter and as a mainstay of our Society. It’s a privilege and a delight to nervous and vulnerable Ronnie entering as the count him as our friend and fellow-enthusiast. lights went up, through to the touching closing ————————————————— scene between Kate and Sir Robert, it was evident Alison had done her homework. ‘A charmed life’ - a tribute The church does not allow for big sets with all ————————————————— the trimmings and the simplicity of her staging Over the fifty or more years - although with consid- together with close audience contact made the erable gaps - that I knew Jean Dawnay/Galitzine it play so intimate that one never felt the play was seemed as though she lived a charmed life, soaring dragging (some productions I have seen have, above the scene of our sorrow "Where we poor sadly, tended to do so). mortals, built of common clay, Drudge through the A strong cast with fine attention to costumes – functions of our humdrum day." She had been every- the provocative hat was exactly right – good light- where, met everyone, had been admired by all, and ing, efficient scene changes and clear, well pro- had delighted them, turning down careers in film nounced diction all came together perfectly.