Another Country (play)
Another Country | |
---|---|
Written by | Julian Mitchell |
Characters | Guy Bennett Tommy Judd Barclay Delahay Donald Devenish Fowler James Harcourt |
Date premiered | 5 November 1981 |
Place premiered | Greenwich Theatre London, England |
Original language | English |
Genre | Drama |
Setting | an English public school in the early 1930s |
Another Country is a 1981 British play written by English playwright Julian Mitchell.[1] It premiered on 5 November 1981 at the Greenwich Theatre, London.[2]
The play won the
Plot synopsis
Another Country is loosely based on the life of the spy
The play opens with the discovery that a pupil named Martineau has hanged himself after being caught by a teacher having sex with another boy. The first act follows the reaction of some of the students to his death as the senior boys try to keep the scandal away from both the parents and the outside world. Barclay, the Head of Gascoigne's House, moves towards a nervous breakdown, blaming himself for the boy's despair. Bennett, the only openly gay member of the school, pretends nonchalance but is deeply troubled by the suicide. His best friend Judd, the school's only Marxist, believes the death is a symptom of the school's oppressive regime. When the parents of the aristocratic Devenish threaten to remove him from the school in light of the scandal, Fowler (a prefect) attempts to crack down on the perceived perversion in his House, and to persecute Bennett in particular. The other students initially defend Bennett's provocative and incendiary behaviour (partly due to Bennett's ability to blackmail them with knowledge of their own same-sex trysts). Meanwhile, Judd is reluctant to become a member of the school's exclusive 'Twenty-Two' society (a name which references Eton's
In the play's closing scene, Bennett and Judd recognise that the school's illusory hold upon them has been broken and that the British class system relies strongly on outward appearances. They begin to contemplate life anew, inspired by the example of Devenish's rebellious uncle, Vaughan Cunningham (who, in a subplot, visits the school). Bennett picks up Judd's copy of Das Kapital, and muses, 'Wouldn't it be wonderful if all this was true?’[5]
Productions
The original 1981 Greenwich Theatre production featured Rupert Everett as Guy Bennett and Joshua Le Touzel as Tommy Judd. The other cast members being Devenish Piers Flint-Shipman, Menzies David Parfitt, Fowler Michael Parkhouse, Sanderson Christopher Villiers, Barclay Matthew Solon, Delahay Simon Dutton, Wharton Gary Carp, and Vaughan Cunningham David Wiliam. Upon transferring to the Queen's Theatre in the West End in March 1982, where Kenneth Branagh took the role of Judd and after the first six months, Daniel Day-Lewis took over the role of Guy Bennett, and in 1983 the role of Guy Bennett was played by Colin Firth.[4]
The play won the Society of West End Theatre Awards Play of the Year title for 1982.[6]
The play has developed a strong connection with
In September 2013, a co-production of
Adaptations
In 1984, the play was adapted into a movie directed by Marek Kanievska and starring Rupert Everett as Guy Bennett and Colin Firth as Tommy Judd. The film also starred Michael Jenn (Barclay), Robert Addie (Delahay), Rupert Wainwright (Donald Devenish), Tristan Oliver (Fowler), Cary Elwes (James Harcourt), Piers Flint-Shipman (Menzies) and Anna Massey (Imogen Bennett).[10]
The play was adapted for radio and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra on 26 May 2013 as part of BBC Radio 4 Extra's Cambridge Spies season, starring Tom Hiddleston as Tommy Judd.[11]
References
- ^ Nancy Groves (24 March 2014). "Kenneth Branagh and Julian Mitchell: how we made Another Country". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
- ISBN 9781134967292. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ a b c Robert Gore-Langton (22 March 2014). "Julian Mitchell on Another Country: 'I based it on my fury and anger and I wrote it fast and it flowed'". The Spectator. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ a b "Cambridge spies play Another Country impresses critics". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC. 4 April 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ISBN 0-573-64040-8.
- ^ "Another Country revival". www.univ.ox.ac.uk. University College, Oxford. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ Hoile, Christopher. "London, GBR: Another Country". Elsewhere. stage-door.com. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ Ward, Helen (15 February 2013). "Another Country: The History Boys meets The Cambridge Spies: an award-winning play by Julian Mitchell". Daily Information.
- ^ Ryley, Hannah. "Praise for Another Country". Archived from the original on 13 March 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
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: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - IMDb
- ^ "Julian Mitchell - Another Country". BBC Radio 4 Extra. 26 May 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2021.