BREVIEW: The Winslow Boy @ Birmingham REP until 03.03.18

The Winslow Boy @ Birmingham REP until 03.03.18

Words by Lucy Mounfield / Production shots by Alastair Muir

Having read Terence Rattigan’s The Winslow Boy during a long summer a few years ago, I have been waiting to see a stage revival ever since. So, I was pleased to see the play on the listings for the Birmingham REP.

Rattigan’s plays rarely require large sets or technical apparatus, it is the story and the way the characters interact that is so appealing about his work. Yet, when I first read The Winslow Boy I struggled to see how the Edwardian period and antebellum tensions could be adapted for a modern audience.

The basic plot – a young naval cadet, Ronnie Winslow (Misha Butler), has been accused of stealing a five-shilling postal order, which he denies – first appears as rather a dull premise for a two and a half hour play. Indeed, Rattigan and his writing style fell out of favour during the 60s, and this has consequently somewhat tarnished the reputation of his plays.

However, there is a striking amount of depth and layering with which Rattigan imbues a situation. Far from being dull, he adds humour; characters are defined and grow with the story. Tension builds throughout The Winslow Boy, as each person loses something in the fight for Ronnie’s innocence.

The Winslow Boy‘s director, Rachel Kavanaugh, has a firm grip on the principles and themes running through Rattigan’s storytelling, as she makes her stage production resonate with a modern audience. The play manages to show us the intimate lives of the Winslow family, whilst projecting the social and political struggles of the early 20th century and at the same time echoing today’s resurgent feminist movement.

(L-R) Dorothea Myer-Bennett as Catherine Winslow, Tessa Peake-Jones as Grace Winsow / Alastair MuirThe nuance of Rattigan’s writing is equally matched by the actors on stage. 2018 marks the centenary of voting rights for women and this is something that the play very touchingly points to with the character of Catherine (Dorothea Myer-Bennett), Ronnie’s sister, who is an ardent suffragette. Myer-Bennett’s portrayal takes us through a range of emotional registers, and the story, which takes place over several years, gives the character time to develop. We see her strident determination to confront injustice, the stubbornness she shares with her father, alongside the Catherine’s conflict between seeing the case through and her relationship with her equivocating fiancée (William Belchambers).

For me, Myer- Bennett and Aden Gillett, who portrays her father, Arthur, form the glue that keeps the play together. Their acting exudes confidence of character, driving the pace of the story along while vividly bringing Rattigan’s writing to life(L-R) Aden Gilett as Arthur Winslow and Tessa Peake-Jones as Grace Winslow / Alastair Muir. As a loving, yet authoritative, father figure, Arthur seeks to exonerate his son of petty wrongdoing seemingly at any cost – for to him, it is the principle of the thing that matters; no matter that he is bankrupting his family over the theft of five shillings and rapidly succumbing to arthritis. Gillett is superb in displaying the crippling effects of this ailment, developing a stoop, hunch back and bowed legs until finally he takes to a wheelchair.

The mother, Grace Winslow (Tessa Peake-Jones), reminds me of the slightly naive Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and is a good foil for the more assertive characters, balancing comedy with pathos. The impassioned speech to her husband at the start of Act Two is a poignant reminder of the impact the play’s events have on the family and their now fractured relationships.(L-R) Misha Butler as Ronnie Winslow, Aden Gillet as Arthur Winsow and Timothy Watson as Sir Robert Morton / Alastair MuirThis is made more so by the presence of Ronnie Winslow, who is gently sleeping on a chaise longue. His youth is made shockingly apparent, which makes the scenes with the Winslows’ lawyer, Sir Robert Morton (Timothy Watson), all the more uncomfortable to watch. Butler does well to play a 13-15-year-old; his body language ranges from shy and nervous to excitable, which further reinforces his childish innocence.

Timothy Watson gives a commanding portrayal of Morton; the performance is gripping from beginning to end and treads the fine line between caricature and authenticity. His stiff and domineering body language creates a claustrophobic atmosphere in Act Two, ramping up the intensity of the Winslow trial.

The set is a typical, yet detailed, Edwardian living room – comfortable, decorative and decorous. Scene changes are punctuated with a backdrop of architectural columns that hint at the world of labyrinthine government bureaucracy in which the Winslows have found themselves.

At two and a half hours, The Winslow Boy does not feel over long. Rachel Kavanaugh and her cast present an absorbing and thrilling production that I thoroughly enjoyed. I would happily recommend this revival of a classic stage play to anyone, whether a previous fan of Rattigan’s writing or not.

The Winslow Boy runs at the Birmingham REP until Saturday 3rd March. For full details, including all performance times and prices, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/the-winslow-boy 

For more from the Birmingham REP, including full event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

BPREVIEW: The Winslow Boy @ Birmingham REP 21.02 – 03.03.18

The Winslow Boy @ Birmingham REP 21.02 - 03.03.18Words by Lucy Mounfield / Pics courtesy of the Birmingham REP

On Wednesday 21st February, a major new revival of Terence Rattigan’s much loved The Winslow Boy will begin its run at the Birmingham REP – being performed at the theatre until Saturday 3rd March.

A preview performance will be held on Wednesday 21st at 7.30pm at a reduced price of £10, as well as a matinee at 2pm on Thursday 22nd. Further matinee’s will be every Saturday and Thursday at 2pm, whilst evening performances will be from 7.30pm Monday to Saturday.

The standard price will be £15 although ticket prices vary depending on the date and time of performance, as well as seat positioning. For direct show information, including a full breakdown of performances and online ticket sales, click here.

Terence Rattigan is recognised as one of the most eminent dramatists of the twentieth century. His plays are regularly being revived, most notably French Without Tears (1936), Flare Path (1942), The Browning Version (1948) and The Deep Blue Sea (1952) – the latter of which was adapted to film in 2011 by Terence Davies, starring Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston. To further mark the centenary of Rattigan’s birth, Trevor Nunn also revived Flare Path in 2011 for the West End to critical acclaim.

But during the 1950s and 60s, Rattigan fell out of favour with the theatre. His depictions of the upper-middle class were seen as old-fashioned and out of place, whilst dramatists such as John Osborne and Harold Pinter were depicting social change and a Britain both divided by class and fatigued by war. Today’s productions of Rattigan’s work highlight his central themes of English reticence, repression, outsiders, and courageous truth seekers.The Winslow Boy @ Birmingham REP 21.02 - 03.03.18

The Winslow Boy was first produced at the Lyric Theatre, London, on May 3rd 1946, with notable names such as Angela Baddeley and Emlyn Williams in the cast. The play is written by Terence Rattigan but is based on a true story of a legal case that erupted during the early nineteen-hundreds. A naval cadet at Osborne Naval College is accused and expelled for stealing a five-shilling postal order. The boy’s family, convinced of his innocence, are persuaded to take the case to court to clear the family name and restore their honour.

Rattigan’s sets The Winslow Boy in London prior to the First World War and opens the family to scrutiny. The cadet, Ronnie Winslow, returns home after his stay at the Naval College with a letter of expulsion for stealing.The Winslow Boy @ Birmingham REP 21.02 - 03.03.18 Without a school inspection or trial, he is sentenced for a crime he denies he committed; the Winslow family must seek the truth to restore the order and balance to their home.

The determination of his father in seeking justice is the crux of the narrative and ultimately the undoing of the family’s happiness. And whilst the play may be ‘old-fashioned’ in the period detail and writing style, in an age where ‘fake news’ reigns it is surely an interesting bridge to an epoch when English values and the notion of familial honour could easily be ripped apart by scandal.

Olivier Award winning Rachel Kavanaugh, the former Birmingham REP Artistic Director, will be directing this new production of The Winslow Boy and overseeing a formidable cast including Tessa Peake-Jones (Only Fools and Horses) as the matriarch Grace Winslow, Aden Gillett (House of Elliot) as the father Arthur Winslow, and Timothy Watson (The Archers) as barrister Sir Robert Morton. Joining this fantastic company of actors, and making his stage debut as Ronnie Winslow, is Misha Butler.

The Winslow Boy – an interview with the director and principal cast

The Winslow Boy runs at the Birmingham REP from Wednesday 21st February to Saturday 3rd March. For direct show information, including a full breakdown of performances and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/the-winslow-boy

For more from the Birmingham REP, including full event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk