Waste is a play by the English author Harley Granville Barker. It exists in two wholly different versions, from 1906 and 1927. The first version was refused a license by the Lord Chamberlain

Lord Chamberlain

The Lord Chamberlain or Lord Chamberlain of the Household is one of the chief officers of the Royal Household in the United Kingdom and is to be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, one of the Great Officers of State....

 and had to be performed privately by the Stage Society

Stage Society

The Incorporated Stage Society, commonly known as the Stage Society, was an English theatre society with limited membership which mounted private Sunday performances of new and experimental plays, mainly at the Royal Court Theatre but also at other London West End venues...

 in 1907; the second was finally staged in public at the Westminster Theatre

Westminster Theatre

The Westminster Theatre was a London theatre, on Palace Street in Westminster. It was originally built as the Charlotte Chapel in 1766, which was altered and given a new frontage for use as a cinema from 1924 onwards. It finally became a theatre in 1931 after radical alterations...

 in 1936.

Plot

The plot centres around ambitious independent politician Henry Trebell, his plans for a bill to disestablish the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 and his fall from grace and suicide after his affair with married woman Amy O'Connell, who dies after a botched abortion

Abortion

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

. The title may refer to the waste of his potential talents due to the scandal, the loss of the disestablishment bill and the termination of Amy's pregnancy.

Dramatis personae (1927 version)

• Gilbert Wedgecroft, Trebell's doctor
• Walter Kent, Trebell's secretary
• Amy O'Connell, Trebell's lover
• Russell Blackborough, Tory MP and financier
• Justin O'Connell, Amy's estranged Irish husband
• Lord Charles Cantilupe, Tory MP
• Henry Trebell, Independent and later Tory MP
• Lady Mortimer, Lady Julia's mother
• Bertha, the Trebells' maid
• Frances Trebell, Henry's sister
• Cyril Horsham, Tory Prime Minister
• Lucy Davenport, Kent's fiancee
• Butler at the Farrant residence
• Vivian Saumarez, Horsham's secretary
• George Farrant, Tory MP
• Lady Julia Farrant, George's wife

Production history

Recent productions include a 1997 one at the Old Vic

Old Vic

The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...

 by the Peter Hall Company (with Michael Pennington

Michael Pennington

Michael Vivian Fyfe Pennington is a British director and actor who, together with director Michael Bogdanov, founded the English Shakespeare Company...

 as Trebell, Anna Carteret

Anna Carteret

Anna Carteret is a British stage and screen actress, born in Bangalore, India the daughter of Peter John Wilkinson and his wife Patricia Carteret . She is married to the television and film director Christopher Morahan and has often worked with him...

 as Frances and Peter Blythe

Peter Blythe

Peter Blythe was a British character actor, best known as Samuel "Soapy Sam" Ballard on Rumpole of the Bailey.-Early life:...

 as Charles Cantilupe) and a 2008 one at the Almeida Theatre

Almeida Theatre

The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325 seat studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama and holds an annual summer festival of...

 (directed by Samuel West

Samuel West

Samuel Alexander Joseph West is an English actor and theatre director. He is perhaps best known for his role in Howards End and his work on stage. He also starred in the award-winning play ENRON...

 and starring Will Keen

Will Keen

Will Keen is an English actor. He is also a trustee of the James Menzies Kitchen Award, an award set up for young theatre directors in memory of the director with whom Keen collaborated early in his career...

 as Trebell, Nancy Carroll

Nancy Carroll (British actress)

Nancy Carroll is a British actress. Trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, she graduated in June 1998.-Family:She is married to actor Jo Stone-Fewings. The couple has two children...

 as Amy and Phoebe Nicholls

Phoebe Nicholls

Phoebe Nicholls is an English film, television, and stage actor. She is known for her roles as Cordelia Flyte in Brideshead Revisited and as the mother of John Merrick in The Elephant Man....

 as Frances). Recent North American productions include one in 1995 at the Shaw Festival (directed by Neil Munro

Neil Munro

-Acting career:Born in Musselburgh, Scotland, Munro moved to Toronto at an early age. After graduating from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1967, he quickly established himself as one of the most compelling theatre actors in Canada, performing with Toronto Arts Productions, the National...

) and one in 2000 directed by Bartlett Sher

Bartlett Sher

Bartlett Sher , is an American theatre director. He received both the 2008 Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for his direction of the Broadway revival of South Pacific. The New York Times has described him as "one of the most original and exciting directors, not only in the American theater but...

.