Two banned plays in repertoire exploring sexuality, adolescence and conformity
YOUNG WOODLEY
by John van Druten
TEA AND SYMPATHY
by Robert Anderson
Directed by Adam Penford
Designed by Simon Kenny
Sound by Giles Sutton
Produced by Alexandra Bowley
Presented by the finboroughtheatre
The Cast:
Young Woodley
Cope - James Joyce
Vining - Christopher Fletcher
Ainger - James Bye
Milner - Richard Crawley
Woodley - Robin Chalk
Laura Simmons - Joanna Croll
Mr Simmons - Andrew Macbean
Parlourmaid - Laura Main
Mr Woodley - Andrew Cuthbert
Tea and Sympathy
Laura Reynolds - Laura Main
Lilly Sears - Joanna Croll
Tom Lee - James Joyce
David Harris - Richard Crawley
Ralph - James Bye
Al - Christopher Fletcher
Steve - Robin Chalk
Bill Reynolds - Andrew Cuthbert
Herbert Lee - Andrew Macbean
[ forgotten voices season 2006 ]
31 October – 25 November 2006
"Years from now, when you talk about this...you will...be kind?"
The multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre presents two plays in repertoire - Young Woodley (1928) and Tea and Sympathy (1953). Both plays were originally banned by the theatre censor, The Lord Chamberlain, and both are receiving their first major London revival since the original production.
Both plays tell the story of an adolescent boy at a boarding school that falls in love with his Housemaster’s wife with life-changing consequences. By juxtaposing the two plays in repertoire with the same cast of actors, this is a unique observation the changing social attitudes on sexuality, education and masculinity between 1920’s Britain and 1950’s America. It also highlights the progress in the development of theatre between the decades - Young Woodley highlights the conservative British stiff upper lip, and the playwright had no choice but to explore his controversial themes through implication and subtext; Tea and Sympathy is much more explicit, and introduces a gay subplot that shocked 1950’s Broadway.
Young Woodley is the story of Roger, an 18 year-old prefect at an English public school in the 1920s. Roger nearly throws away his future when he falls in love with Laura Simmons, the wife of his schoolmaster – only for her husband to plan his revenge… The play is a coming-of-age drama that explores the pain of first love and the responsibility of adulthood. First produced in the West End in 1928 in a production by Basil Dean with Frank Lawton and Jack Hawkins.
Playwright John Van Druten (1901–1957) remains best known for I Am a Camera, later adapted into the musical Cabaret, as well as I Remember Mama, Bell, Book and Candle, The Voice of the Turtle and a string of successful light comedies.
Tea and Sympathy is the story of Tom Lee, a young student at an American boys' prep school in the 1950s. Tom is a loner, uninterested in conventional "masculine" pursuits, and cruelly bullied by his classmates and housemaster for his supposed homosexuality. The housemaster's wife, Laura, becomes determined to help Tom, leading to conflict in her marriage and to a final, dramatic act intended to save Tom from despair. First produced on Broadway and in the West End in 1957 and also a major feature film, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Deborah Kerr.
Playwright Robert Anderson (1917- ) received two Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award nominations for The Nun's Story (1959) and I Never Sang For My Father (1970). He was also nominated for the Writer’s Guild Award for his television drama, The Patricia Neal Story.
The season has been commissioned by Finborough Theatre Artistic Director Neil McPherson from exciting young director Adam Penford who most recently directed a workshop of Holes, adapted from the award-winning American children’s novel by Louis Sachar, at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East.
The cast includes: James Bye recently graduated from Webber Douglas where he played the title role in Alfie. Robin Chalk’s credits include The Prince Among Men (Union), The Hidden City (Channel 4), and the lead in the musicalThe Fantasticks, which he also played on the cast recording. Richard Crawley’s credits include The Empty Space (European Tour), The Lying Kind (Linbury Studio), The Tempest (Hobbs Factory). Joanna Croll’s extensive theatre credits include Marieluise and Habitats (Gate). Andrew Cuthbert’s many theatre credits include On the Razzle (National Theatre), Daisy Pulls It Off (Leicester Haymarket), The Crucible (Salisbury Playhouse/Birmingham Rep.). TV appearances include Lovejoy, Big Deal, In the Secret State, Wish Me Luck. Christopher Fletcher recently graduated from the Drama Studio London. James Joyce recently graduated from LAMDA and has just completed Soldiers’ Loves And Soldiers’ Lives for Radio 4. Andrew Macbean’s theatre credits include Richard III, Titus Andronicus, and Measure for Measure (all Royal Shakespeare Company), Killer Joe (Bristol Old Vic), Bloody Sunday (Tricycle) The Little Years (Orange Tree) and Habitat (Gate). Laura Main’s theatre appearances include playing the title role in Romeo and Juliet and Phoebe in As You Like It (Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park) and Alice in Wonderland (RSC). She is best known for her regular TV appearances that include The Forsyte Saga, Monarch of the Glen, Murder City, Trevor’s World of Sport and Is Harry on the Boat?
Repertoire Schedule
Tuesday 31 October - 8.00 - Young Woodley - Preview
Wednesday 1 November - 8.00 - Tea and Sympathy - Preview
Thursday 2 November - 3.00 - Tea and Sympathy – Preview
Thursday 2 November - 8.00 - Young Woodley – Preview
Friday 3 November - 4.00 - Young Woodley – Press Night
Friday 3 November - 8.00 - Tea and Sympathy – Press Night
Saturday 4 November - 8.00 - Tea and Sympathy
Sunday 5 November - 3.00 - Young Woodley
Monday 6 November - No Performance
Tuesday 7 November - 8.00 - Tea and Sympathy
Wednesday 8 November - 8.00 - Young Woodley
Thursday 9 November - 8.00 - Tea and Sympathy
Friday 10 November - 8.00 - Young Woodley
Saturday 11 November - 3.00 - Young Woodley
Saturday 11 November - 8.00 - Tea and Sympathy
Sunday 12 November - 3.00 - Tea and Sympathy
Sunday 12 November - 8.00 - Young Woodley
Monday 13 November - No Performance
Tuesday 14 November - 8.00 - Young Woodley
Wednesday 15 November - 8.00 - Tea and Sympathy
Thursday 16 November - 8.00 - Tea and Sympathy
Friday 17 November - 8.00 - Tea and Sympathy
Saturday 18 November - 3.00 - Tea and Sympathy
Saturday 18 November - 8.00 - Young Woodley
Sunday 19 November - 3.00 - Young Woodley
Sunday 19 November - 8.00 - Tea and Sympathy
Monday 20 November - No Performance
Tuesday 21 November - 8.00 - Tea and Sympathy
Wednesday 22 November - 8.00 - Young Woodley
Thursday 23 November - 8.00 - Tea and Sympathy
Friday 24 November - 8.00 - Young Woodley
Saturday 25 November - 3.00 - Young Woodley – Last Performance
Saturday 25 November – 8.00 - Tea and Sympathy – Last Performance The Press on Out of Bounds
“Adam Penford’s production is a deft, decorous tribute to a play which could almost be pre-watershed Tennessee Williams.” Caroline McGinn, Time Out
“Uncanny in their ‘rites of passage’ similarities, though divided by continents and some thirty years, under the common heading ‘Out Of Bounds’, John Van Druten’s 1925 Young Woodley and Robert Anderson’s 1953 Tea and Sympathy are a pleasant surprise…In both plays, first love, loneliness, and vulnerability run into the hard brick wall of harsh conformity.” Vera Liber, Plays International
“Young Woodley (1925) and Tea and Sympathy (1953) are reminders that the schoolboy drama was a thriving genre long before The History Boys” C J Sheridan, Rogues and Vagabonds
"This intriguing juxtaposition of two almost forgotten 20th century plays, at first censored in Britain, about homosexuality and social conformity, both set in boarding schools, one in England, one in New England, but written nearly 30 years apart, has been commissioned from director Adam Penford by the Finborough's Artistic Director, Neil McPherson. It's a great idea” C J Sheridan, Rogues and Vagabonds
“The Finborough’s mission is to reclaim unjustly neglected work from the dustbin of history, and its revival of Robert Anderson’s Tea and Sympathy shows impeccable vintage taste.” Caroline McGinn, Time Out
“These plays are more than museum pieces. Together they provide a moving exploration of the nature of love, never more intense than at the age of 18.” Heather Neill, The Stage
“A thought-provoking double-bill” Claire Ingrams, Rogues and Vagabonds
“The play itself is structured superbly, as all good drama of that period was... It is a serious subject but there are enough ironic moments to counter-balance the gravity.” Richard Woulfe, uktheatre.net
“This is good, well-written drama and, its last production having been in 1960, long overdue for a new viewing.” Claire Ingrams, Rogues and Vagabonds
“The company at the Finborough do it proud – strong acting in a well-paced production, directed by Adam Penford.” Claire Ingrams, Rogues and Vagabonds
“This is a masterly exploration of the power of calumny and suspicion from the McCarthy era of Fifties America …It is not dated in any way, though. This is a relevant, well-acted production. It begs the question: if we censor what we fear, how can we judge clearly what is and what is not ‘out of bounds’?” Claire Ingrams, Rogues and Vagabonds
“Under the vigilant eye of young director Adam Penford the young cast give mature, dramatically truthful performances in both plays” Vera Liber, Plays International
“The direction by Adam Penford, in the tight and intimate space of the Finborough, deserves special mention.” Richard Woulfe, uktheatre.net
“Adam Penford directs both plays with a sure sense of both pace and period style.” Heather Neill, The Stage
“It’s exciting to see a young director and mostly young actors making the imaginative leap into social worlds and manners of generations ago, and respecting them by not imposing patronising attitudes or anachronisms on to fragile material.” C J Sheridan, Rogues and Vagabonds
“James Joyce as Tom and Laura Main as Laura Reynolds give excellent performances. Both bring a simple innocence to their roles, making their characters entirely believable and ultimately touching.” Claire Ingrams, Rogues and Vagabonds
“James Joyce…is the unformed, sweet-natured innocent that the plot demands.” Caroline McGinn, Time Out
“Laura Main is…the young housemaster’s wife who (shades of Blanche DuBois) goes well beyond the conventional limits of tea and sympathy in order to prove Tom’s manliness. She, like Joyce, plays it straight, attaining a stillness and poise which speaks volumes about her moral self-confidence” Caroline McGinn, Time Out
“Impassioned performances by Laura Main (a nervous little maid in the earlier play) and James Joyce.” C J Sheridan, Rogues and Vagabonds
“Played with charm and delicacy by Laura Main” Heather Neill, The Stage
“Played beautifully by Laura Main, warm and truthful throughout” C J Sheridan, Rogues and Vagabonds
“The cast do a terrific job, especially Robin Chalk as the poetic Woodley and Joanna Croll as ethereal Laura.” Heather Neill, The Stage
“Convincing performances in particular from James Bye and James Joyce as school prefect and fag” C J Sheridan, Rogues and Vagabonds
“Christopher Fletcher gets to show his mettle by transforming from flamboyant queeny type, the over-arch Vining, into a thoroughly believable clean cut WASP, captain of sports, sensitive and honest enough to express his own sexual insecurity.” C J Sheridan, Rogues and Vagabonds
“James Bye has a sharp contrast of two straight types, as Ainger, the paragon of masculine virtue at Woodley's school, hero's best friend, the strong protective man we'd all like to marry, and as an odious bullying homophobe at Tom Lees' school.” C J Sheridan, Rogues and Vagabonds
“Joanna Croll is hilarious as the school flirt, all loud come-ons and upswept spectacles.” Heather Neill, The Stage
“Designer Simon Kenny giving the small space a warm aged wood-panelled period look.” Vera Liber, Plays International
“Designer Simon Kenny deftly constructs a believable world for each play” Heather Neill, The Stage
“There's enough humanity, humour and wisdom in both these plays to make them worth reviving. If you've got the time and money, see both, and enjoy the contrasts and similarities, the echoing names and motifs” C J Sheridan, Rogues and Vagabonds
“I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen revivals at the National in recent years only for the intensity of the work to be lost in its vast space. Not at the Finborough. Take twelve quid out of your pocket and rush to see it – you won’t get better value elsewhere.” Richard Woulfe, uktheatre.net
