Harlequinade (Rattigan)
Encyclopedia
Harlequinade is a play by Terence Rattigan
.
The play was first performed on 8 September 1948 at the Phoenix Theatre
, London
, along with The Browning Version.
This is a play in one act and concerns a professional theatre company presenting Romeo and Juliet
. The opening night is in the town of Brackley in the English Midlands. The principal characters are Arthur and his wife Edna (who play Romeo and Juliet) and the stage manager Jack. Arthur is horrified to be confronted by his grown up daughter (Muriel) and grandchild, of neither of whose existences he had been aware. To discover that he's a grandfather just before playing Romeo is too much for him. They later learn that he's still married to Muriel's mother (Flossie) and that he is bigamously married to Edna. There are a number of other threads running through this play, such as Jack's attempts to leave the theatre and do a 'real job' and the humdrum world of bit players and the attempts in post war Britain to bring culture to the masses. It is a funny farce which has a strong satirical element to it.
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...
.
The play was first performed on 8 September 1948 at the Phoenix Theatre
Phoenix Theatre (London)
The Phoenix Theatre is a West End theatre in the London Borough of Camden, located on Charing Cross Road . The entrance is in Phoenix Street....
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, along with The Browning Version.
This is a play in one act and concerns a professional theatre company presenting Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
. The opening night is in the town of Brackley in the English Midlands. The principal characters are Arthur and his wife Edna (who play Romeo and Juliet) and the stage manager Jack. Arthur is horrified to be confronted by his grown up daughter (Muriel) and grandchild, of neither of whose existences he had been aware. To discover that he's a grandfather just before playing Romeo is too much for him. They later learn that he's still married to Muriel's mother (Flossie) and that he is bigamously married to Edna. There are a number of other threads running through this play, such as Jack's attempts to leave the theatre and do a 'real job' and the humdrum world of bit players and the attempts in post war Britain to bring culture to the masses. It is a funny farce which has a strong satirical element to it.