Touched (play)
Encyclopedia
Touched is a play by English playwright Stephen Lowe.
The play opened at the Nottingham Playhouse on 9 June 1977, directed by Richard Eyre
. It was revived at the Royal Court
in January 1981, in a new production by William Gaskill
. Both productions starred Marjorie Yates
as Sandra. The play was joint winner of the George Devine Award in 1977.
In February 2006, it was one of the fifty plays chosen by the Royal Court to represent the fifty year history of the English Stage Company with readings in the Theatre Upstairs - Look Back: 50 readings, 50 writers, 50 plays. The rehearsed reading of Touched took place on 22 February 2006, with Anne-Marie Duff
as Sandra. Nick Hern Books
published a new edition of the play to coincide with this production, with a new afterword by Lowe.
The play has been revived many times by regional theatres in England, including Derby Playhouse and Salisbury Playhouse, and colleges, including RADA and Canterbury College in February 2011.
. The play focuses on a group of women in a working-class suburb of Nottingham
, especially Sandra and her sisters, Joan and Betty. Sandra has lost a child: not killed by an enemy bomb, but by a car in the blackout
. Now, with peace coming, she is full of hope for a different kind of future. She says, "The world's changing. It's not going to go back to the way it was."
Lowe was inspired to write the play by his mother: "I grew up on the usual pulp of heroic war films and comics... While therefore I gained a fairly graphic picture of the life of a soldier, it occurred to me while talking to my mother that I had hardly any picture of those who stayed at home - those whose battles had been fought in the landscape I had grown up in. I knew nothing, really, about the sacrifices and suffering of the women who only a few years later were to pick me up and put me down, and place pennies in my hand. Pennies I had never thought to return."
As critic Lyn Gardner says, the play reflects “both the social mores of the time and the inner emotional lives of these down-to-earth women. It understands their tribal loyalties and their stern sense of working-class morality, forbidding fraternisation with the Italian POWs that might put one of their number beyond the pale.” Time Out said of the play, "Touched is truly identified with working people and a radical vision, unlike many contemporary plays for which the same claim is made."
The play opened at the Nottingham Playhouse on 9 June 1977, 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...
. It was revived at the Royal Court
Royal court
Royal court, as distinguished from a court of law, may refer to:* The Royal Court , Timbaland's production company*Court , the household and entourage of a monarch or other ruler, the princely court...
in January 1981, in a new production by William Gaskill
William Gaskill
William 'Bill' Gaskill is a British theatre director.He worked alongside Laurence Olivier as a founding director of the National Theatre from its time at the Old Vic in 1963...
. Both productions starred Marjorie Yates
Marjorie Yates
Marjorie Yates is a British actress most famous for her role as Carol Fisher in the Channel 4 drama Shameless.Yates was born in Birmingham, England, and studied at the Bournville College of Art...
as Sandra. The play was joint winner of the George Devine Award in 1977.
In February 2006, it was one of the fifty plays chosen by the Royal Court to represent the fifty year history of the English Stage Company with readings in the Theatre Upstairs - Look Back: 50 readings, 50 writers, 50 plays. The rehearsed reading of Touched took place on 22 February 2006, with Anne-Marie Duff
Anne-Marie Duff
Anne-Marie Duff is an English actress best known for playing Fiona Gallagher in Shameless, and Elizabeth I in The Virgin Queen.-Early life:...
as Sandra. Nick Hern Books
Nick Hern Books
Nick Hern Books is a London-based independent specialist publisher of plays, theatre books and screenplays. The company was founded by the former Methuen drama editor Nick Hern in 1988.-History:...
published a new edition of the play to coincide with this production, with a new afterword by Lowe.
The play has been revived many times by regional theatres in England, including Derby Playhouse and Salisbury Playhouse, and colleges, including RADA and Canterbury College in February 2011.
Plot and themes
The play is set in 1945 during the hundred days between VE Day in May 1945 and VJ Day in August 1945, a period which also included the election of the first ever Labour government and the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and NagasakiAtomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
. The play focuses on a group of women in a working-class suburb of Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, especially Sandra and her sisters, Joan and Betty. Sandra has lost a child: not killed by an enemy bomb, but by a car in the blackout
Blackout (wartime)
A blackout during war, or apprehended war, is the practice of collectively minimizing outdoor light, including upwardly directed light. This was done in the 20th century to prevent crews of enemy aircraft from being able to navigate to their targets simply by sight, for example during the London...
. Now, with peace coming, she is full of hope for a different kind of future. She says, "The world's changing. It's not going to go back to the way it was."
Lowe was inspired to write the play by his mother: "I grew up on the usual pulp of heroic war films and comics... While therefore I gained a fairly graphic picture of the life of a soldier, it occurred to me while talking to my mother that I had hardly any picture of those who stayed at home - those whose battles had been fought in the landscape I had grown up in. I knew nothing, really, about the sacrifices and suffering of the women who only a few years later were to pick me up and put me down, and place pennies in my hand. Pennies I had never thought to return."
As critic Lyn Gardner says, the play reflects “both the social mores of the time and the inner emotional lives of these down-to-earth women. It understands their tribal loyalties and their stern sense of working-class morality, forbidding fraternisation with the Italian POWs that might put one of their number beyond the pale.” Time Out said of the play, "Touched is truly identified with working people and a radical vision, unlike many contemporary plays for which the same claim is made."
Sources
- Touched by Stephen Lowe, MethuenMethuenMethuen may refer to:People*Sir Algernon Methuen , founder of Methuen & Co. Ltd.*Paul Methuen , various British politiciansPlaces*Methuen, Massachusetts, a U.S. cityOther*Baron Methuen, a British title of nobility...
1981 ISBN 0413485102 - Touched by Stephen Lowe, Nick Hern BooksNick Hern BooksNick Hern Books is a London-based independent specialist publisher of plays, theatre books and screenplays. The company was founded by the former Methuen drama editor Nick Hern in 1988.-History:...
2006 ISBN 1854599259 - www.stephenlowe.co.uk