Who Is Sylvia? is a 1950 comedy play by the British writer Terence Rattigan about a man obsessed with the image of a woman he met as a seventeen year old and his search for her throughout the rest of his life. The play offered a thinly veiled portrayal of Rattigan's own philandering father.[1] Like Perchance to Dream, Ivor Novello's long-running musical terminating only two years previously, Rattigan chose a line from William Shakespeare for his title. The line is the first wistful question of a song passage in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.[2]
Original production
editThe play opened at the Criterion Theatre, London, on 24 October 1950,[3] with the following cast:[3]
- Mark - Robert Flemyng
- Williams - Esmond Knight
- Daphne - Diane Hart
- Sidney - Alan Woolston
- Ethel - Diana Allen
- Oscar - Roland Culver
- Bubbles - Diana Hope
- Nora, - Diane Hart
- Denis - David Aylmer
- Wilberforce - Roger Maxwell
- Doris - Diane Hart
- Chloe - Joan Benham
- Caroline - Athene Seyler
Reception
editAlthough it ran for over a year, it was not considered as successful as several of the playwright's previous works.[4] This was especially so critically, with the Evening Standard's Beverley Baxter writing, "This Will Not Do, Mr Rattigan."[5]
Film adaptation
editThe play was adapted into a 1955 film The Man Who Loved Redheads.[6][7]
References
edit- ^ "The Man Who Loved Redheads".
- ^ "Song: "Who is Silvia? what is she" by William Shakespeare". Poetry Foundation. 27 September 2017.
- ^ a b "Who is Sylvia? - Drama Online". www.dramaonlinelibrary.com.
- ^ "Who Is Sylvia?". www.samuelfrench.co.uk.
- ^ Pattie p.119
- ^ "The Man Who Loved Redheads (1955)". Archived from the original on 23 September 2017.
- ^ "Terence Rattigan plays: timeline and synopsis". 27 September 2017 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
Bibliography
edit- David Pattie. Modern British Playwriting: The 1950s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations. 2013.
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