Theater Talk: The Winslow Boy and Rattigan (Full Episode)

[@ricardobigi5476]

An interesting interview. Amazing that there have not been any comments posted on this material yet. Incredible that Rattigan is still virtually unknown in the US and remains little appreciated by the American public, after nearly eight decades of his being one of the major playwrights in the English language. To think that the Lunts had such a great success doing LOVE IN IDLENESS (O MISTRESS MINE) on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1940's. To think that Rex Harrison, Robert Donat, Michael Redgrave, Margaret Leighton, Wendy Hiller, Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Peggy Ashcroft, Margaret Sullavan, David Niven, Deborah Kerr, Charles Boyer, Maggie Smith, Blythe Danner, Helen Mirren, Anne Baxter and so many other great actors have lent their talent in order to bring Rattigan's works on stage and screen, and so little memory of their glorious work remains with us! To think that Rattigan's delightful comedies (FRENCH WITHOUT TEARS, WHILE THE SUN SHINES, WHO IS SYLVIA?, HARLEQUINADE) are totally forgotten today and so many third-rate plays are produced all over the place. To think that his searing dramas (AFTER THE DANCE, FLARE PATH, THE WINSLOW BOY, THE BROWNING VERSION, THE DEEP BLUE SEA, SEPARATE TABLES, ROSS, MAN AND BOY, IN PRAISE OF LOVE, CAUSE CELEBRE) await rediscovery by a wide public, in spite of the excellent film versions of several of these plays that were made from the late 1940's through the 1990's. To think that Rattigan's contributions as a screenwriter of commercially-successful films such as THE SOUND BARRIER, THE V.I.P.'s, and THE YELLOW ROLLS-ROYCE, as well as his sensitive adaptations of his own stage plays, are remembered today by only a few people. It infuriates me that critics continually deride his work when Rattigan's plays are so masterfully written, when the excellence of his stagecraft is plain for anyone to see. Rattigan will forever be one of my very favorite playwrights, along with Jean Anouilh (another forgotten genius), Chekhov, Shaw, Strindberg, Inge, and Williams. I only hope that more and more people will discover him.

[@beth_levin_piano]

One can watch a 1994 BBC production of The Deep Blue Sea on youtube...just fantastic. Thank you for this interview.

[@vsmoonchildmahir283]

Thank you!!

[@xelbrick]

Miss you, Rog.

[@donlevy3141]

RIP Mr. Rees.