THE WINSLOW BOY To 25 July.
Tour.
THE WINSLOW BOY
by Terence Rattigan.
Rose Theatre Kingston Tour to 25 July 2009.
Runs 2hr 40min One interval.
Review; Timothy Ramsden 23 May.
Strong revival of a valuable play.
Clarity is a feature of Stephen Unwin’s work, certainly in this revival of Terence Rattigan’s 1946 drama which the Rose Theatre’s artistic director is sending on tour following its Kingston performances. Along with J B Priestley’s An Inspector Calls, Winslow is a fine drama of social values seen post-World War II and set just before the First World War.
Unwin charts the impact of retired bank manager Arthur Winslow’s determined fight to clear his younger son’s name after expulsion from naval college for, allegedly, stealing a postal-order. The cost in money, health and the prospects of other family members is apparent. The determination to see Right done tells physically as Timothy West’s Arthur grows paler and stiffer, and with a surprising comic edge in variously successful attempts to cut the family’s living costs.
Minor ironies abound; Rachel Edwards has a suitably smiling insistence that annoys Arthur when the journalist Miss Barnes interviews him and seems more interested in the curtains. It frustrates him, but curtain-talk forms an instant bond when Arthur’s wife returns. And later, Diane Fletcher makes clear in a moment what her loyal wife is bottling up throughout proceedings.
West portrays Arthur’s dry irony and the gentlemanly suppression of emotions like anxiety. His feminist daughter Catherine is his closest ally, and has inherited his determination. It comes out in her youthful energy and more open assertion, and a liveliness of feature. But she too rises to a challenge.
That comes in the form of ace right-wing barrister Robert Morton who, in one of the quirks that Rattigan (like Priestley) seems to celebrate, takes on this humble case in the name of Right. Adrian Lukis gives Morton a lugubrious, near-parodic fastidiousness. Every syllable is deliberately paced, even the fast-paced inquisition of young Ronnie being carefully calculated.
The approach avoids any sentimental edge. His looming, black-garbed figure is like an invader in the Winslow home – which is realistic-seeming but plain in décor and constricted in space. And while war sounds frame the evening, there’s the hopeful final image of Catherine alone, preparing to challenge Morton’s conservatism and advance the cause of suffrage.
Ronnie Winslow: Hugh Wyld.
Violet: Sarah Flind.
Arthur Winslow: Timothy West.
Grace Winslow: Diane Fletcher.
Dickie Winslow: Thomas Howes.
Catherine Winslow: Claire Cox.
John Watherstone: John Sackville.
Desmond Curry: Roger May.
Miss Barnes: Rachel Edwards.
Fred: Tom Jude.
Sir Robert Morton: Adrian Lukis.
Director: Stephen Unwin.
Designer: Simon Higlett.
Lighting: Malcolm Rippeth.
Sound: Gregory Clarke.
Music: Simon Toye, Tiffin School Choir.
Choreographer: Kevan Allen.
Costume: Mark Bouman.
Assistant director: Natascha Metherell.
2009-05-25 02:20:20