London Theatre Direct

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 the 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.

All Live Events

39 Steps | A Walk On Part: The Fall Of New Labour | Abigail's Party | Afternoon Tea Cruise | Akram Khan - Desh | Ballet Revolucion | Billy Elliot | Blood Brothers | Cabaret | Celebrity Night At Cafe Red | Chariots of Fire | Chicago | Chicken | Classic Lunch Cruise | Democracy | Derren Brown: Svengali | Drag Divas | Dreamboats and Petticoats | Evening Dinner Cruise | GATZ | Ghost | Hay Fever | Horrible Histories | Jersey Boys | Julius Caesar | Jumpy | Les Miserables | Let It Be | Lion King | London Dungeon | London Eye | Long Day’s Journey Into Night | Madame Tussauds | Mamma Mia! | Mamma Mia! | Matilda The Musical | Matthew Bourne's Play Without Words | Mercury Fur | Mousetrap | Much Ado About Nothing | Naked Boys Singing | Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer LIVE! | Noises Off | One Man, Two Guvnors | Paul Merton Out Of My Head | Phantom of The Opera | Posh | Rambert Dance Company: Mixed Bill | Reduced Shakespeare Company's The Complete World Of Sports(Abridged) | Richard III | Rock Of Ages | Room On The Broom | San Francisco Ballet: Programme A | San Francisco Ballet: Programme B | San Franciso Ballet: Programme C | Shrek The Musical | Singin' In The Rain | Snowman, The | South Downs/The Browning Version | Step 9 (of 12) | Stomp | Sweeney Todd | The Bodyguard | The Duchess of Malfi | The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe | The Mystery Of Edwin Drood | The Sunshine Boys | Thriller Live | Tiger Who Came to Tea | Top Hat | Torch Song Trilogy | Travelling Light | Twelfth Night | Wah! Wah! Girls | Walking With Dinosaurs | War Horse | We Will Rock You | What The Butler Saw | Wicked | Wizard of Oz | Woman In Black | Written On The Heart | Yes, Prime Minister | ZooNation: Some Like It Hip Hop

 

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