Quartermaine's Terms

Theatre

Wyndham's Theatre (London, )
(Leicester Square) Charing Cross Road
London,

Schedule

Monday 7:30PM
Tuesday 7:00PM, 7:30PM
Wednesday 7:30PM
Thursday 2:30PM, 7:30PM
Friday 7:30PM
Saturday 2:30PM, 7:30PM

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Quartermaine's Terms takes place over a period of two years in the 1960s in the staffroom at a Cambridge school for teaching English to foreigners. It deals with the interrelationship between seven teachers at the school in particular that between St John (pronounced 'Sinjon') Quartermaine and the others. St John is a kind-hearted and agreeable person always willing to listen to the other teacher's woes, but is pretty hopeless as a teacher himself. The appointment of a new Principal casts doubt on Quartermain's future.

Exploring the theme of loneliness, during the course of the play the characters experience the trauma of being or feeling alone. Mark has marriage trouble; Derek, from Hull, finds Cambridge initially unwelcoming; Eddie faces bereavement; Anita’s husband is a philanderer; Henry is trapped in a dysfunctional nuclear family and Melanie is similarly trapped caring for a Mother who she despises. Quartermaine is a painfully lonely bachelor with seemingly no friends or hinterland other than his colleagues at the school.

Quartermaine’s Terms is a quintessentially British play and Simon Gray pokes gentle fun at the British penchant for “muddling through” and “not complaining” – coupled with a tendency not to take firm action when necessary. The verbal style is characteristically British with form and euphemism dominant and with real issues constantly being ducked out of politeness. When clouded signals are offered (especially signals that suggest a character needs help) they are so obscure that it is possible for others to ignore them – and they usually do.

Conleth Hill, Will Keen, Felicity Montagu & Malcolm Sinclair Join Rowan Atkinson in QUARTERMAINE'S TERMS, Opening Tonight
by BWW News Desk - January 23, 2013

Rowan Atkinson will be joined by Conleth Hill, Will Keen, Felicity Montagu and Malcolm Sinclair in the first major West End revival of Simon Gray's play ‘Quartermaine's Terms', from tonight, 23 January 2013 at Wyndham's Theatre, London. (more...)

Conleth Hill, Will Keen, Felicity Montagu & Malcolm Sinclair Join Rowan Atkinson in QUARTERMAINE'S TERMS
by BWW News Desk - September 7, 2012

Rowan Atkinson will be joined by Conleth Hill, Will Keen, Felicity Montagu and Malcolm Sinclair in the first major West End revival of Simon Gray's play 'Quartermaine's Terms', from 23 January 2013 at Wyndham's Theatre, London. (more...)

Rowan Atkinson Set for QUARTERMAINE'S TERMS at Wyndham's Theatre
by BWW News Desk - June 7, 2012

According to the Daily Mail, Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) is set to star in Simon Gray's Quartermaine's Terms at Wyndham's Theatre. The show will go on a short tour before opening at Wyndham's on Jan. 23. (more...)