An English Tragedy

...........presents

Watford Palace Centenary Season

World Premiere of An English Tragedy ....by Ronald Harwood

Thursday 14 February – Saturday 8 March

Watford Palace Theatre is delighted to announce the world premiere of An English Tragedy, by Oscar-Winning Playwright Ronald Harwood, which launches its centenary season in February 2008. (Ronald is pictured top right)

The play is a powerful, gripping tale of conflicting loyalties and wartime treason. It is based on the true story of the British fascist John Amery, a complex and fascinating man, who was arrested and charged with high treason in 1945 after making propaganda broadcasts for Nazi Germany. The trial was made more sensational by the fact he was the son of Leo Amery who served in Winston Churchill’s cabinet during the war.

Director Di Trevis (pictured below the union jack/swaztika)

Designer Ralph Koltai

Music Dominic Muldowney

Lighting designer Roger Frith

What Flea thought of it…….

Review by our performing arts reporter

An English Tragedy – it’s a “must see”

Last night, I was extremely privileged to attend the world premiere of Ronald Harwood’s “An English Tragedy” at Watford Palace Theatre. What a fantastic and memorable production for the Palace in its centenary season.

I knew in advance that the audience and I wouldn’t be disappointed when an Oscar winning writer worked his magic again with a truly exceptional cast including Jeremy Child, Michael Fenton-Stevens, Richard Goulding, Diana Hardcastle, Lucinda Millward, Nicholas Rowe and Bill Thomas. I was especially delighted if not a little star struck to see Anna Cartaret of Juliet Bravo fame, Katharine Rogers of London’s Burning fame and Will Young, the nations favourite pop idol turned actor, to name but a few, sharing in this special evening with Ronald and the Palace.

Based on real-life events following VE Day, An English Tragedy focuses on John Amery, a British Fascist who made propaganda broadcasts for Nazi Germany during the war and, following his arrest in Italy, was returned to England and charged with high treason. His parents are left devastated by this news especially as his father, Leo Amery, had been a close friend of Winston Churchill since their schooldays and served in Churchill’s war-time cabinet. There is also a twist to the tale which I won’t reveal, so you’ll have to go and see it for yourself.

The play reels you in from the very beginning, focusing on conflicting loyalties, both within the family and between individual and the State. I found it dark, powerful and moving, but there were also moments of great humour and even some singing to lighten proceedings. I can still hear ‘life is just a bowl of cherries’ and ‘goodnight sweetheart’ ringing in my ears!!

It worked for me because it featured a magnificent and thought provoking script delivered by a strong cast in an environment which accurately and holistically conjured the atmosphere of the time . This combination engaged the audience throughout and left us intrigued to the very end.

If you want the opportunity to share in life changing events and encounter the rollercoaster of emotions they entail, then I would urge you to go and see it. I can guarantee you’ll find yourself thinking and talking about it long after the performance ends.

Well done to everyone involved in this superb and memorable production – a worthy tribute for the Palace Theatre’s centenary year.

An English Tragedy plays nightly until 8^th March. Don’t miss it !

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More Detail

Leading British playwright Ronald Harwood, who won an Oscar for his screenplay The Pianist (2002), is best known to theatre audiences for his international hit play The Dresser (1983) which played in the West End and around the world. It was made into a hugely successful film starring Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay and was revived in the West End in 2006. Other notable plays include Taking Sides (1995) about the German conductor and composer Wilhelm Furtwängler,and Quartet (1999).

Harwood’s film adaptation of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly recently opened to critical acclaim in the US and is due to open in the UK at around the same time as An English Tragedy. Other forthcoming screenplays include an adaptation of Gabriel Gárcia Márquez’s bestselling novel Love In The Time Of Cholera, which is also due to open in 2008. Previous screenplays include The Browning Version (1994, with Albert Finney), Being Julia (2004, with Annette Bening and Jeremy Irons) and Roman Polanski’s version of Oliver Twist (2005, with Ben Kingsley).

An English Tragedy is produced for the stage by Watford Palace Theatre. The creative team includes director Di Trevis, whose work at the National Theatre includes The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui;Inadmissible Evidenceand Harold Pinter’s Remembrance of Things Past. Di has directed extensively in the UK and US, and was Head of Directing at the Drama Centre 2003-7.

The design is by internationally acclaimed theatre and opera designer Ralph Koltai. He is an Associate Artist of the RSC, and was a Sergeant with the British Intelligence Corps during the Second World War in the War Crimes Interrogation Unit, based at the London District Cage.

The music for An English Tragedy is by Dominic Muldowney who was Music Director at the National Theatre from 1981 to 1997. Muldowney’s radio opera The Voluptuous Tango (1996) won the Prix Italia in 1997, and the Gold Award for Best Radio Drama at the 1997 Sony Drama Awards. Muldowney has written much music for TV and film, including The Ploughman’s Lunch (1983), 1984 with Richard Burton and John Hurt (1984), and Bloody Sunday (2002) and Copenhagen (2002), and numerous original music commissions.

The central role of John Amery is played by Richard Goulding, (bottom picture on the right) who graduated early from Guildhall to play Konstantin in Trevor Nunn’s RSC The Seagull, currently in the West End. Leo Amery is played by Jeremy Child, whose work includes The Madness of King George III at The National Theatre and Scenes from an Execution at the Almeida. His West End appearances include Ying Tong, and films include Wimbledon (2004) and the BBC’s TheFalklandsPlay. Diana Hardcastle who plays John’s mother ‘Bryddie’ Amery appeared in A Kind of Alaska and Tejas Verdes, both directed by Thea Sharrock at the Gate Theatre. Her television credits include HolbyCity and Taggart.Nicholas Rowe, whorecently appeared at the Bush and the West End in Whipping It Up, and whose film work includes Enigma and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, plays Mr Taylor.

Michael Fenton-Stevens (The Major - centre picture on the right) has appeared in television programmes such as Footballers’ Wives and Two Pints of Lager and A Packet of Crisps as well as work in the West End and at the Almeida. Lucinda Millward (Dr Rosemary Pimlott) was at Guildhall with Richard Goulding and has since appeared on TV in Sensitive Skin,The Bill and at Salisbury Playhouse. Finally, Bill Thomas, whose extensive career on stage and on film includes appearances in Cutting It, Emmerdale, and work for The National Theatre and Stratford East, plays The Warder.

Artistic Director Brigid Larmour says:‘I am delighted that we are premiering Ronald Harwood’s riveting and important play at the Watford Palace Theatre. Through its historical story, it explores very present issues like the meaning of patriotism and the difficult question of when an unpalatable opinion becomes treason. At the heart of the play is a father-son conflict over the fundamental question of cultural and personal identity.’

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