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First Episode review – what impresses is the sexual and emotional candour First Episode review – Oxford drama proves Rattigan was born dramatist
(about 3 hours later)
It is astonishing to think that this first play by Terence Rattigan, seen briefly in London and New York in 1934, has been gathering dust for 80 years. Written when he was still an Oxford undergraduate, and co-authored with Philip Heimann, it contains many of the seeds of Rattigan’s later work. It not only touches gingerly on the subject of homosexuality, but deals with the theme that reverberates through all Rattigan’s plays: the inequality of passion.It is astonishing to think that this first play by Terence Rattigan, seen briefly in London and New York in 1934, has been gathering dust for 80 years. Written when he was still an Oxford undergraduate, and co-authored with Philip Heimann, it contains many of the seeds of Rattigan’s later work. It not only touches gingerly on the subject of homosexuality, but deals with the theme that reverberates through all Rattigan’s plays: the inequality of passion.
Set in a thinly disguised Oxford, the play paints a fascinating picture of a vanished student world. With three weeks to finals, its main characters gamble, booze and are heavily involved in a production of Antony and Cleopatra. The drama stems from the fact that Tony, the show’s director and male lead, is besotted by his imported professional co-star, Margot Gresham. The mature Margot, however, makes a far bigger investment in their affair than Tony and, when things unravel, she realises her lover’s closest bond is with his oldest friend, David.Set in a thinly disguised Oxford, the play paints a fascinating picture of a vanished student world. With three weeks to finals, its main characters gamble, booze and are heavily involved in a production of Antony and Cleopatra. The drama stems from the fact that Tony, the show’s director and male lead, is besotted by his imported professional co-star, Margot Gresham. The mature Margot, however, makes a far bigger investment in their affair than Tony and, when things unravel, she realises her lover’s closest bond is with his oldest friend, David.
Some of the comedy, possibly the work of Heimann, is forced and you wonder at the rapidity with which Margot falls for the callow Tony. But what impresses is the work’s sexual and emotional candour. One scene, unusually for the 1930s, shows a drunken David in bed with a flighty blonde and Rattigan writes with great perception about Margot’s mixture of vengeful anger and spiritual desolation at realising she is the unequal side in a male-dominated triangle. The play is no masterpiece, but it is full of embryonic talent and Tom Littler’s well-cast production captures vividly the hedonistic irresponsibility of privileged, pre-war undergraduate life. Caroline Langrishe as the visiting star, Gavin Fowler as her feckless lover, Philip Labey as his emotionally possessive chum and Molly Hanson as a beguiling hanger-on all impress in a play that Rattigan may have later disowned but which shows that, even at 22, he was a born dramatist. Some of the comedy, possibly the work of Heimann, is forced and you wonder at the rapidity with which Margot falls for the callow Tony. But what impresses is the work’s sexual and emotional candour. One scene, unusually for the 1930s, shows a drunken David in bed with a flighty blonde and Rattigan writes with great perception about Margot’s mixture of vengeful anger and spiritual desolation at realising she is the unequal side in a male-dominated triangle. The play is no masterpiece, but it is full of embryonic talent and Tom Littler’s well-cast production captures vividly the hedonistic irresponsibility of privileged, pre-war undergraduate life. Caroline Langrishe as the visiting star, Gavin Fowler as her feckless lover, Philip Labey as his emotionally possessive chum and Molly Hanson as a beguiling hanger-on all impress in a play that Rattigan may have later disowned but which shows that, even at 22, he was a born dramatist.
• Until 22 November. Box office: 020-7287 2875. Venue: Jermyn Street theatre, London.• Until 22 November. Box office: 020-7287 2875. Venue: Jermyn Street theatre, London.
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