After the Dance (play)
Encyclopedia
After the Dance is a play by Terence Rattigan
which premièred at the St James's Theatre
, London, on 21 June 1939. It was not one of Rattigan's more successful plays, closing after only sixty performances, a failure that led to its exclusion from his first volume of Collected Plays. Critics have tended to attribute this relative contemporary failure to the play's darkness which may have reminded audiences of the approaching European war.
in December 1992. It was revived by the Oxford Stage Company in 2002 and then at the National Theatre in June 2010, directed by Thea Sharrock
. According to The Guardian
theatre critic Michael Billington
, reviewing Sharrock's production, the play confirms Rattigan as one of the "supreme dramatists of the 20th century". The 2010 revival won four Olivier Awards including Best Revival.
Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
which premièred at the St James's Theatre
St James's Theatre
The St James's Theatre was a 1,200-seat theatre located in King Street, at Duke Street, St James's, London. The elaborate theatre was designed with a neo-classical exterior and a Louis XIV style interior by Samuel Beazley and built by the partnership of Peto & Grissell for the tenor and theatre...
, London, on 21 June 1939. It was not one of Rattigan's more successful plays, closing after only sixty performances, a failure that led to its exclusion from his first volume of Collected Plays. Critics have tended to attribute this relative contemporary failure to the play's darkness which may have reminded audiences of the approaching European war.
Summary
David and Joan Scott-Fowler were 'Bright Young Things' of the 1920s, whose ambition is to treat everything as trivia and to live lives of pure sensation. They always maintained that they married for amusement and not for love. However, Helen Banner, a serious young woman, has fallen in love with David and is determined to change his lifestyle, free him from Joan, stop him from drinking and re-awaken the serious historian in him. Unfortunately, Joan does indeed love David very deeply and is trapped by her posture of carelessness. At a party they are holding, Joan is bruised by the clash between private agony and public joy and she kills herself. The characters are shattered by the revelation and even though David and Helen plan to get away from this life, the play ends with a clear sign that David will continue as he did.Revivals
The play remained largely forgotten until a BBC2 television production by Stuart BurgeStuart Burge
Stuart Burge was an English film director, actor and producer.Educated at Felsted School, he originally trained as a civil engineer, but later began acting in theater in the 1940s, and became a director by 1948...
in December 1992. It was revived by the Oxford Stage Company in 2002 and then at the National Theatre in June 2010, directed by Thea Sharrock
Thea Sharrock
Thea Sharrock is an award-winning English theatre director. In 2001, when at age 24 she became artistic director of London's Southwark Playhouse, she was the youngest artistic director in British theatre....
. According to The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
theatre critic Michael Billington
Michael Billington (critic)
Michael Keith Billington is a British author and arts critic. Drama critic of The Guardian since October 1971, he is "Britain's longest-serving theatre critic" and the author of biographical and critical studies relating to British theatre and the arts; most notably, he is the authorised...
, reviewing Sharrock's production, the play confirms Rattigan as one of the "supreme dramatists of the 20th century". The 2010 revival won four Olivier Awards including Best Revival.