A classic one-act play will be performed as a staged reading in Armagh Public Library on Tuesday 7 February 2017 at 7.30pm, when Centre Stage Theatre Company will present ‘The Browning Version’ by Terence Rattigan, who was one of the most popular dramatists of the twentieth century.
Roma Tomelty, who directs the play, said “It seemed very obvious if one wanted to do a play in a Library, it should be about a book, and what a play! It’s also a great opportunity to see it. It’s a one act and not often staged now as it’s not always easy to schedule. The actors will wear a suggestion of costume and will not simply sit at a table reading, so in less than a few minutes the audience will find they have forgotten about the scripts”.
A moving piece, it deals with the last days of Andrew Crocker-Harris, a dedicated classics master at an English public school. He is disliked by the boys, who nick-name him ‘The Crock’, and by the staff for his old fashioned attitudes and lack of humour. When, to his great surprise, Taplow, the one pupil who likes and respects him, gives him a copy of Browning’s version of ‘Agamemnon’, it sets off a chain of events that will change ‘The Crock’ forever. Meanwhile, his unfaithful wife, her lover who is one of her husband’s teaching colleagues, and his bullish head-master will face a very uncertain future.
John Gielgud, Michael Redgrave, Albert Finney, Peter Cushing and Peter Bowles are just some of the great actors who have played ‘The Crock’, and the play has been filmed, winning two Cannes Festival awards, televised and broadcast.
As is usual with Centre Stage Theatre Company there is a strong local cast, including Colin Carnegie, Mary Moulds, Alex McClay, Mark Claney, Cathan McRoberts, Louise Parker and James Warde Hunter.
The trustees of the literary estate of Sir Terence Rattigan have generously given the rights of the play free, in support of Armagh Public Library.
Keeper of Armagh Public Library, the Very Revd Gregory Dunstan, said, “This is a most generous initiative of Centre Stage Theatre Company, in support of the Library. It is not often that Terence Rattigan is performed in Armagh. The Long Room is a wonderful, intimate venue for an event like this and we look forward to an enthralling evening.”
Admission to the performance will be free, with donations gratefully received for the work of the Library. A minimum donation of £10.00 is suggested. Light refreshments will be served after the performance, with an opportunity to meet the cast. For further information, please contact the Library by telephoning 028 37523142.
