The Churchill Play is a play

Play (theatre)

A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

 by Howard Brenton

Howard Brenton

-Early years:Brenton was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, son of Methodist minister Donald Henry Brenton and his wife Rose Lilian . He was educated at Chichester High School For Boys and read English Literature at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. In 1964 he was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal...

. Written in 1974, the play offers a dystopian picture of an authoritarian England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 ten years in the future (i.e. 1984

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...

) and is set in an internment camp named after Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

. The play of the title is actually a play within a play, one put on by inmates of the camp, in which soldiers stand guard over Churchill's catafalque

Catafalque

A catafalque is a raised bier, soapbox, or similar platform, often movable, that is used to support the casket, coffin, or body of the deceased during a funeral or memorial service. Following a Roman Catholic Requiem Mass, a catafalque may be used to stand in place of the body at the Absolution of...

, only for him to rise from the dead.

Originally performed at the Nottingham Playhouse

Nottingham Playhouse

The Nottingham Playhouse is a theatre in Nottingham, England. It was first established as a repertory theatre in the 1950s when it operated from a former cinema. Directors during this period included Val May and Frank Dunlop.-The building:...

 in 1974, it was directed by Richard Eyre

Richard Eyre

Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre CBE is an English director of film, theatre, television, and opera.-Biography:Eyre was educated at Sherborne School, an independent school for boys in the market town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset in south-west England, followed by Peterhouse at the University...

 and designed by Hayden Griffin. Among the cast were Julian Curry

Julian Curry

Julian Curry is a British actor best known for playing Claude Erskine-Browne in ITV's comedy-drama Rumpole of the Bailey....

, Bill Dean

Bill Dean

Bill Dean was a British actor who was born in Everton, Liverpool. He was born Patrick Connolly but took his stage name in honour of Everton football legend William 'Dixie' Dean.- Biography :...

, Dave Hill

Dave Hill (actor)

David "Dave" Hill is a British actor. He was born in Skipton, North Yorkshire. He attended Ermysted's Grammar School for boys in Skipton. He has appeared in The Full Monty as well as many other TV series and films...

, Colin McCormack

Colin McCormack

Colin McCormack was a professional Welsh actor who enjoyed considerable success in classical stage performances and television shows over a career approaching fifty years from his debut as a child actor in a BBC TV's Dixon of Dock Green episode, a show he returned to twenty years later when he...

, Jonathan Pryce

Jonathan Pryce

Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...

, Eric Richard

Eric Richard

Eric Richard is an English actor.His theatre work includes plays at the Royal Court Theatre and the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, as well as seasons with the Royal Exchange, Manchester, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Sheffield Crucible Theatre and Paines Plough...

, Roger Sloman

Roger Sloman

Roger Sloman is an English actor. Born in the Harlesden district of London, he has performed in dozens of television and film appearances since the late 1970s...

, Tom Wilkinson

Tom Wilkinson

Thomas Geoffrey "Tom" Wilkinson, OBE is a British actor. He has twice been nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in In the Bedroom and Michael Clayton...

, and Jane Wymark

Jane Wymark

Jane Wymark is an English actress. The daughter of well-known actor Patrick Wymark , she is best known for playing Morwenna Chynoweth Whitworth in the 1970s BBC television period drama Poldark , and more recently Joyce Barnaby in the hugely popular ITV detective series Midsomer Murders, a role...

.

A slightly rewritten version of the play was presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company

Royal Shakespeare Company

The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...

 in 1978, first at The Other Place

The Other Place (theatre)

The Other Place was a black box theatre on Southern Lane, near to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. It was owned and operated by the Royal Shakespeare Company....

, then at the Warehouse Theatre

Donmar Warehouse

Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...

. For this production the director was Barry Kyle

Barry Kyle

Barry Albert Kyle is an English theatre director, currently Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, England, and Professor of Theatre Arts at the University of Missouri–Kansas City....

 and the cast included John Bowe, David Bradley

David Bradley (actor)

David Bradley is an English character actor. He has recently become known for playing the caretaker of Hogwarts, Argus Filch, in the Harry Potter film franchise.-Life and career :...

, Bill Dean, Donald Douglas

Donald Douglas (actor)

Donald Douglas is a Scottish actor who has appeared in films and many well known television shows including Doctor Who, Blake's 7, and The Avengers....

, Geoffrey Freshwater

Geoffrey Freshwater

Geoffrey Freshwater is an English actor. His television appearances include The Government Inspector and the recurring character of Sgt Eric Rivers in 5 episodes of Foyle's War, and he is also a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in their 2007-08 This England cycle of Shakespeare's...

, Philip McGough

Philip McGough

Phillip McGough is an English television actor best known for his 2010 role of Dr. Charlie Bradfield in the BBC Birmingham based soap opera, Doctors.-Career:...

, Hilton McRae

Hilton McRae

Hilton McRae is a Scottish actor in the fields of theatre, television and film.-Career:McRae was part of the radical theatre group 7:84 before graduating from Edinburgh University, and by 1977 he had joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. His most mainstream American film was his role as Green...

, John Nettles

John Nettles

John Vivian Drummond Nettles, OBE is an English actor, historian and writer who is best known for playing the lead roles in Bergerac and Midsomer Murders.-Early life:...

, Ian Reddington

Ian Reddington

- Early life :Ian Reddington was born in Sheffield. He was educated at Frecheville Comprehensive. He had no formal drama training, but became a leading figure in the Meatwhistle youth theatre project run by youth workers in the city. This gave him his first appearance as The Herald in Peter...

, and Juliet Stevenson

Juliet Stevenson

Juliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, CBE is an English actor of stage and screen.- Early life :Stevenson was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England, the daughter of Virginia Ruth , a teacher, and Michael Guy Stevenson, an army officer. Stevenson's father was in the army and was posted to a new place every...

.

The critic Harold Hobson

Harold Hobson

Sir Harold Hobson was an influential English drama critic and author.He was born in Thorpe Hesley near Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England and read History at Oxford University. He was an assistant literary editor for the Sunday Times from 1944 and later became its drama critic...

 admired Brenton's writing, but found much of his perceived criticism of Churchill and take on the Second World War to be misplaced.