Cause Célèbre (play)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

First edition (publ. Hamish Hamilton, 1978)

Cause Célèbre or A Woman of Principle is a 1975 radio play by the English author Terence Rattigan. It was inspired by the trial of Alma Rattenbury and her teenage lover in 1935 for the murder of her third husband Francis Rattenbury and first broadcast on the BBC on 27 October 1975. Alma was played by Diana Dors. Rattigan was then commissioned to rewrite it into a stage play ready to be produced in Autumn 1976, but his terminal cancer and casting problems meant he was only able to start work in January 1977, alongside Robin Midgely. This stage version premiered on 4 July 1977 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London.

A 1987 television version of the stage play starred Helen Mirren as Alma. The stage play itself was revived at the Old Vic from March to June 2011 to mark Rattigan's centenary, with Alma played by Anne-Marie Duff and Edith Davenport by Niamh Cusack. A new production of the radio play was aired again by BBC Radio 4 on 25 June 2011 directed by Thea Sharrock with original music by Adrian Johnston.

Old Vic cast

Joan Webster ..... Lucy Black
Francis Rattenbury .... Timothy Carlton
John Davenport .... Simon Chandler
Croom-Johnson ..... Richard Clifford
Christopher .... Oliver Coopersmith
Christopher (Understudy) - Oscar Dunbar
Edith Davenport .... Niamh Cusack
Alma Rattenbury ..... Anne-Marie Duff
Ewen Montagu ..... Rory Fleck-Byrne
Tony Davenport .... Freddie Fox
Irene Riggs .... Jenny Galloway
Judge ...... Patrick Godfrey
O'Connor .... Nicholas Jones
George Wood .......Tommy McDonnell
Stella Morrison ....... Lucy Robinson
Clerk of the court .....Tristan Shepherd
Casswell ....... Richard Teverson
Wardress ....... Sarah Waddell
Sergeant Bagwell ....... Michael Webber
Coroner ....... Tristram Wymark

References

v t e The works of Terence Rattigan

Plays	First Episode (1933) A Tale of Two Cities (with John Gielgud) (1935) French Without Tears (1936) After the Dance (1939) Follow My Leader (1940) Grey Farm (1940) Flare Path (1942) While The Sun Shines (1943) Love In Idleness (1944) The Winslow Boy (1946) The Browning Version (1948) Harlequinade (1948) Adventure Story (1949) Who Is Sylvia? (1950) The Deep Blue Sea (1952) The Sleeping Prince (1953) Separate Tables (1954) Variations On A Theme (1958) Ross (1960) Man and Boy (1963) A Bequest to the Nation (1970) After Lydia (1973) Before Dawn (In Praise Of Love II) (1973) All on Her Own (1974) Cause Célèbre (1975/77)

Films and TV	The Belles of St. Clements (1936) Gypsy (1937) French Without Tears (1940) Quiet Wedding (1941) The Day Will Dawn (1942) Uncensored (1942) English Without Tears (1944) The Way to the Stars (1945) While the Sun Shines (1947) Brighton Rock (1947) Bond Street (1948) The Winslow Boy (1948) The Browning Version (1951) The Sound Barrier (1952) The Final Test (1953) The Man Who Loved Redheads (1955) The Deep Blue Sea (1955) The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) Separate Tables (1958) The V.I.P.s (1963) The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964) Nelson (1966) Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) Bequest to the Nation (1973) The Browning Version (1994) The Winslow Boy (1999)

Related works	The Girl Who Came to Supper (1963)

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.