The Winslow Boy By Terence Rattigan

The Winslow Boy
By TERENCE RATTIGAN Directed by ROSS JOLLY

A father’s belief. A Nation’s obsession.
Let Right be Done!

Rattigan’s riveting drama based on a real-life cause célèbre, The Winslow Boy opens in CIRCA One on Saturday 1st September, and runs until 6 October.

The Winslow Boy is a powerful, affecting and gripping thriller, and is Rattigan’s most acclaimed work. A superbly crafted modern classic, it is a tense, masterly story about one small man’s fight for right against soulless authority and injustice. The David and Goliath-style fight for the right to a fair hearing is both universal and timeless, with the Joe Karam/David Bain story being just the most recent example in New Zealand.

London 1912. Ronnie Winslow, a 13 year-old naval cadet, has been expelled from Naval College for allegedly stealing a five-shilling postal note, and his banker father, Arthur Winslow begins an all-consuming attempt to prove his innocence and clear his name.

When Arthur enlists famed barrister Sir Robert Morton the case is taken to court where a mysterious and surprising chain of events are unravelled, turning the matter into a national obsession. As the strain on the Winslow family threatens its downfall, both emotionally and financially, the entire country stands transfixed for a verdict.

Rattigan’s The Winslow Boy is based on the true struggle of Martin Archer-Shee to clear the name of his son, George, a 13-yesr-old cadet at Osborne Naval College, of the charge that he stole a postal order. He fought a two-year battle until the boy was vindicated in court. Archer-Shee’s determination is a lesson for all time.

With his eye for a good story, Rattigan penned perhaps his finest full-length work, which has all the qualities that gave the well-made play a good name. Well-made plays went out of fashion, not least because few writers could do them as well as Rattigan, but also because their formal “completeness” came to seem unreal in a world where few experiences end neatly. But neat endings are the stuff of thrillers and whatever else it is The Winslow Boy is also a gripping thriller of a peculiarly rare kind – a courtroom drama without an on-stage court room. Indeed, it recently inspired David Mamet to direct a respectful film version.

Director, Ross Jolly says, “This is the first Rattigan play for most of the cast, and we are loving it. Revealing the beating hearts beneath the Edwardian façade is challenging and fun.
Like that other well-crafted thriller, An Inspector Calls, it has great characters, a nail-biting plot, and The Winslow Boy is funny - ironic, compassionate and, yes, funny. So welcome to Rattigan’s realm of the well-made English play. It is a surprising delight.”

Starring:
JEFFREY THOMAS Uncle Vanya, Dinner
JUDE GIBSON Monarchy- the musical, Under Milk Wood (Downstage)
K C KELLY Death of a Salesman, King Lear (Centrepoint)
STEPHEN GLEDHILL An Inspector Calls, Dumb Show
EMMA KINANE Fat Pig, Monarchy - the musical
SIMON VINCENT Death of a Salesman, An Inspector Calls
DANIELLE MASON Dinner, Uncle Vanya
GAVIN RUTHERFORD Uncle Vanya, Dumb Show
KATE PRIOR Baghdad Baby (Bats), Doubt (ATC)
and
NICK FENTON or FELIX SAMPSON who share the part of Ronnie Winslow.

TERENCE RATTIGAN
Playwright

Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (1911 – 1977) is one of the most important and successful playwrights of the last century. In a career that sprung from an early success with the opening of French Without Tears in 1936 until the closing of Cause Célèbre in 1977, he wrote more than 40 Stage and Screen plays including The Browning Version (1948), The Winslow Boy (1946), The Deep Blue Sea (1952) and Separate Tables (1954). Today, more than 25 years after his death, his plays are still performed all over the world.

ROSS JOLLY
Director

Founding member of Circa Theatre, Circa councillor, actor and freelance theatre and television director, Ross has directed many productions for Circa over the past years including the original production of Master Class in 1986, and Moonlight, F.I.L.T.H., Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Travels with my Aunt, the record-breaking smash hit Social Climbers, the award-winning Taking Sides (Best Circa Production 1997), the acclaimed production of Heretic for the 1998 NZ International Festival of the Arts, and most recently, The Cripple of Inishmaan, How I Learned to Drive, Waiting for Godot, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, the sell-out success ART (and its return season), The Unexpected Man, The Memory of Water, The Weir, Madame Melville, the NZ Festival 2002 success Copenhagen, Life x 3, The Birthday Party, Conversations after a Burial, Ancient Lights, Humble Boy, the sell-out hit of the 2004 Festival of the Arts, Roger Hall’s Spreading Out, Stones in his Pockets, Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things which was nominated for Best Director and Best Production at the Chapman Tripp awards 2004, An Inspector Calls, The Mercy Seat and Democracy. Last year Ross directed the NZ premiere of Ross Gumbley’s Happy Coupling for the Court Theatre, and The Underpants, Wild East and a revival of Master Class for Circa. 2007 started with Ross re-directing Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things for the Court Theatre, followed by the sell-out season of Heroes in Circa Two before returning to the world of LaBute for Fat Pig.
Ross won Director of the Year for his production of Waiting for Godot, at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards 1999.

STEPHEN GLEDHILL
Desmond Curry

With over 40 years experience in stage, film, television and radio, Stephen’s career has spanned productions in both New Zealand and the UK.
From 1977 - 1985 Stephen delighted audiences at Downstage appearing in most of their main bill productions, performed for 12 months on the West End (1982) and was known throughout NZ for his TV role as Joe in Joe and Koro.
Television credits include Fallout, Cover Story and Mirror, Mirror, Dark Knight and Willy Nilly. Film: Send a Gorilla, Stalin’s Sickle, AWOL, Ants and The Shirt.
and a TV mini-series Blonde Cargo for German Television.
Stephen’s stage work in Wellington ranges from leading roles in Guys and Dolls, Oliver and 42nd Street, to Twelfth Night, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Broken Glass, Arcadia, F.I.L.T.H. (Best Supporting Actor 1995) at Circa, and the NZ tour playing Claude in Full Marx!.
Stephen has appeared at Circa in Travels with my Aunt, Heretic, Dirty Weekends, The John Wayne Principle, ART, both seasons of Take a Chance on Me, An Inspector Calls and Democracy. He was last seen in Circa Two playing Barry in Dumb Show.
He was also seen in Wellington in the long-running production (over 200 performances) of Shear Madness, and most recently in Beauty and the Beast.

JUDE GIBSON
Grace Winslow

Jude is well-known for her work as an actor and director throughout New Zealand, and has also been a recipient of a Shakespeare Globe Centre International Artistic Fellowship which had her travelling to London to study at the Globe.
Jude is currently performing 15 roles in Monarchy, the Musical and before that was last seen at Circa as Mercy Lott in the Humble Boy. Some of her recent theatre credits include Elizabeth in Middle Age Spread, and directing The Vagina Monologues (Centrepoint), Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, and Under Milkwood at Downstage where she also directed Boston Marriage. She recently appeared in Dunedin at the Fortune Theatre in The Clean House, Cinderella and Paradise Package. She has also combined with Geraldine Brophy to mount productions of Confessions of a Chocaholic and Real Estate around the country and in Wellington. Jude has also worked as Acting Tutor at Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School.
Television and film credits include Shortland Street, The Chosen (a mini-series), a Garth Maxwell film, When Love Comes, and The Strip.

K C KELLY
Sir Robert Morton

A professional actor for thirty years - a Kiwi for the past fifteen - KC has appeared on- and off-Broadway, in regional and community theatre and on radio, television and film. Previous Circa performances include Death of a Salesman, Taking Sides, Julius Caesar, The Censor, Speaking in Tongues and Madame Melville. KC has most recently been seen as the Old Man in Fool for Love at BATS. Most recent stage appearances include Duncan/Macduff in Macbeth (Circa) and Lear in King Lear and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice for Centrepoint Theatre.

EMMA KINANE
Violet

Emma graduated from NZ Drama School in 1988. Her first professional role was playing a 7-foot-long homicidal axolotyl in Jism. Since then she has played diverse roles in musicals such as Lifelines, Aunt Daisy!, Shakers, Tomfoolery, and the corporate-commissioned, group-devised, Glaxo the Musical which is perhaps best forgotten. Emma’s favourite singing role involved channelling various pop stars in Dead Tragic.
Her dramatic roles include Gertrude in Hamlet, Zebrowski in The Temptations of St Max, and Violet in Steaming. She played “Miss” Aslaksen in Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, which won the Chapman Tripp 2003 Production of the Year Award.
Emma’s comedy roles include Yvonne in Sisters, Phil in The Sex Fiend, Phoebe in As You Like It, Emily in Social Climbers, Titania/Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Trish in Pack of Girls, and Robin in Mum’s the Word.
Emma’s TV credits include guest spots on Outrageous Fortune, The Killian Curse, Coverstory, Ivanhoe (Dark Knight), Freaky and Willy Nilly. Her favourite short film role was Sue in The Man Who Couldn’t Dance.
Last year Emma played multiple roles in Troy, The Musical at Circa, and co-wrote and performed Turbine with the SEEyD Collective. This year she has performed Helen in Neil LaBute’s Fat Pig at Circa, and is currently playing 11 roles in Monarchy, The Musical.
She received the Evening Post Best Actress of 1990 Award for her work as Ruth in Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit.
Emma is married to Musical Director Michael Williams and they have two children Barnaby and Claire.
DANIELLE MASON
Miss Barnes

A 2002 graduate of Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School, Danielle holds a Bachelor of Arts from Waikato University. Since completing her studies Danielle has performed widely for stage, screen and radio.
In 2004 she won Chapman Tripp Theatre awards for Best Female Newcomer in Collected Stories directed by Miranda Harcourt, and Most Outstanding Performance in The Shape of Things directed by Ross Jolly (both at Circa Theatre).
Other stage credits include Private Lives, Fond Love and Kisses, An Inspector Calls, The Remedy Syndrome, Finding Willy, Lulu, Dinner, Hitchcock Blonde, Dracula, Uncle Vanya, and Finding Murdoch.
Danielle appears as the lead female role in the NZ feature film Black Sheep.

KATE PRIOR
Catherine Winslow

Kate graduated from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School in 2004. Since graduating she has been in various theatre productions in Auckland and Wellington, including A Clockwork Orange and Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris for Auckland’s Silo Theatre, Baghdad, Baby! at Bats, and Doubt for Auckland Theatre Company. Most recently, Kate has been working on a television series, Ride with the Devil, to be screened later this year.

GAVIN RUTHERFORD
John Watherstone

Gavin Rutherford has been working as an actor and director since graduating from UNITEC School of Performing and Screen Arts in 2001. Last seen at Circa Two in Dumb Show, he also recently performed in Wellington at the Museum Hotel in the multi award winning sitespecific.co.nz show Hotel during the Fringe Festival for which he received the Most Outstanding Performance award. He has also recently performed at Court Theatre in Christchurch and Fortune Theatre in Dunedin. Circa audiences may remember him from Wild East, An Inspector Calls, This Lime Tree Bower, Ugly Customers, The Cherry Orchard and he has just finished playing Telyegin in Uncle Vanya. His most recent film and television credits include Insiders Guide to Love and Lost Children.

JEFFREY THOMAS
Arthur Winslow

Jeffrey Thomas has written two books, including a collection of stories for children, and also written and directed one short film, Making Money.
Winner of Best Actor Award for TV’s Mercy Peak, Jeffrey’s most recent stage appearances at Circa have been as Lars in Dinner, and Mikhail Astrov in Uncle Vanya.
He has recently returned from the UK where he appeared in the long-running BBC Welsh language drama series Pobol Y Cwm.

SIMON VINCENT
Dickie Winslow

Simon graduated BA in Performing Arts from Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School in December 2000.
Simon's first appeared at Circa in Madame Melville and has since been seen there in The Real Thing, A Passionate Woman (for which he won Best Male Newcomer at 2003 Chapman Tripp Awards), Speed the Plow, This Lime Tree Bower The Shape of Things and An Inspector Calls and last year Susan Wilson's award-winning production of Death of a Salesman. Other acting credits include, Noises Off (Centrepoint), Gross Indecency, Private Lives, Fond Love and Kisses and Romeo and Juliet (Downstage), Gagarin Way And What Remains (Bats) and Much Ado About Nothing (Summer Shakespeare) Most recently Simon Played the title role in The Bacchanals production of Hamlet and this year he's appeared in Othello and Finding Murdoch for Downstage. Film credits include Chogar and Dead Letters . Radio includes Young Nick's Head, Allen Adair. And early in 2008 his first play A Renaissance Man is set to be produced at Bats.

NICK FENTON
Ronnie Winslow (shared)

Nick is in Year 9 at Wellington College, and has been acting since he was six. His roles have included parts in the television series The Insiders’ Guide to Happiness and The New Tomorrow, feature film Black Sheep, and short film Run. Besides acting, Nick’s interests include cricket, tennis, rugby and debating. The Winslow Boy is his first role in professional theatre.

FELIX SAMPSON
Ronnie Winslow (shared)

Felix is 12 years old and is in Year 8 at Wellesley College. His interests including dancing (ballet, tap and jazz), singing, drama and sport (tennis, hockey, waterpolo). He shared the role of Allan in Circa’s 2005 production of Bright Star. He also appeared in Wellington Musical Theatre’s Phantasmic as part of the children’s choir. Felix is member of the Wellesley College band in which he plays drums. Earlier this year, he competed at the Alana Haines Australasian Awards for ballet where he was a finalist in the Junior Section. Felix is a Wellington representative in hockey.

The Winslow Boy
Opens on SATURDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER at 8pm
and runs until 6TH OCTOBER 2007.

$20 PREVIEW - Friday 31st August - 8pm

$20 SUNDAY SPECIAL - Sunday 2nd September – 4pm

AFTER-SHOW FORUM – Tuesday 11th September

Performance times: Tues & Wed - 6.30pm; Thurs, Fri and Sat - 8pm; Sun - 4pm.

Prices: $35 Adults; $28 Students, Senior Citizens and Beneficiaries
$30 Groups 6+ $18 Student Standby - from 1 hour before the show

BOOKINGS: CIRCA Theatre, 1 Taranaki Street, Wellington Phone 801 7992
www.circa.co.nz

ENDS

© Scoop Media