After the Dance - National Theatre (Lyttelton)
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
THEA Sharrock will direct Terence Rattigan’s After the Dance, which opens in the National’s Lyttelton Theatre on June 8 (previews from June 1) before continuing in repertoire.
Considered by many to be Rattigan’s masterpiece, After the Dance was first staged in 1939 and is a subtle, witty unmasking of the hedonistic 20s generation and a devastating study of repression and the human heart.
As the world races towards catastrophe, a crowd of Mayfair socialites party their way to oblivion.
At its centre is David, who idles away his sober moments researching a futile book until the beautiful Helen decides to save him, shattering his marriage and learning too late the depth of both David’s indolence and his wife’s undeclared love.
But with finances about to crash and humanity on the brink of global conflict, the drink keeps flowing and the revellers dance on.
One of the most influential playwrights of the mid-20th century, Rattigan’s plays include The Winslow Boy, The Browning Version, The Deep Blue Sea and Separate Tables. He is still the only playwright who has had two straight plays run for over 1000 performances in London’s West End simultaneously. He also wrote numerous screenplays, such as The Prince and the Show Girl, Goodbye Mr Chips, The Yellow Rolls Royce and The VIPs.
The new production of After the Dance will launch a series of events leading up to the centenary of Terence Rattigan’s birth in 2011.
Thea Sharrock’s productions include The Emperor Jones and Happy Now? (National Theatre); The Misanthrope, Equus, A Voyage Round My Father and Heroes (West End); Cloud Nine (Almeida Theatre); and several productions for The Peter Hall Company including Blithe Spirit. She was formerly Artistic Director of The Gate Theatre.
After the Dance will be designed by Hildegard Bechtler, with lighting by Mark Henderson and sound by Ian Dickinson.