Following a critically acclaimed and sold out run as part of Chichester’s Festival 2011, the double bill of Terence Rattigan's one-act masterpiece and David Hare's specially commissioned companion piece will transfer to Harold Pinter Theatre from April 19 with a press night on April 24.
Anna Chancellor and Nicholas Farrell will once again lead the casts in these plays which examine life in boarding public schools. Rattigan's own Harrow School and Hare's own Lancing College provide the backdrop for two moving and resounding stories, one told through the eyes of a master and one told through the eyes of a boy. Both revolve around unexpected acts of kindness which place the harsh and at times cruel worlds of these schools into stark contrast.
South Downs is set at Lancing College in Sussex where a pin sharp young pupil (a role reprised by young actor Alex Lawther, celebrated for this professional debut) is cut off from the rest of the school by virtue of his own intellect, background and questioning spirit. The school in response presents an unyielding and rigid outlook on life that leaves the boy isolated and confused. In an unlikely meeting with the mother of another pupil, her generosity of spirit and sound advice present the boy with a world of kindness and possibility.
Rattigan's The Browning Version presents the retiring Classics master Mr Crocker-Harris, tired, dried up and an abhorred tyrant over his pupils. Stuck in a broken marriage and facing the prospect of a retirement with no money, a simple act of generosity by one of Crocker-Harris’ pupils brings out the deep-rooted dignity and heartbreaking sadness that give this play its power.
South Downs is directed by Jeremy Herrin whose work in 2011 included Joe Penhall’s Haunted Child (Royal Court), Death and the Maiden (Harold Pinter Theatre) and the critically acclaimed Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare’s Globe). In 2007 Herrin directed the UK premiere of another play by David Hare: The Vertical Hour (Royal Court) as well as Polly Stenham’s That Face (also Royal Court), which later transferred to the West End.
The Browning Version is directed by Chichester Festival Theatre Associate Angus Jackson whose credits at Chichester include Wallenstein, Funny Girl, The Waltz of The Toreadors and Carousel. At The National Theatre Jackson has directed Elmina’s Kitchen, Fix Up, Rocket to the Moon and The Power of Yes (by David Hare). His production of Bingo, starring Patrick Stewart, and originally part of Chichester’s Festival 2010, transfers to the Young Vic this month.
Anna Chancellor plays Belinda Duffield in South Downs and Millie Crocker-Harris in The Browning Version. She has recently been seen on screen as Lix in BBC 2’s drama The Hour and onstage as Lady Caroline Blackman in The Last Duchess (Hampstead Theatre). Her theatre credits include Creditors (Donmar Warehouse and Broadway), The Observer, Never So Good and Stanley (National Theatre and Broadway), for which she received an Olivier Award nomination. Previous television credits include Suburban Shootout, Spooks, Tipping the Velvet, Kavanagh QC and the role of Caroline Bingley in the popular BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, which also featured Colin Firth. Film credits include the role of Duckface, Hugh Grant’s jilted fiancée, in Four Weddings and a Funeral.
