''After the Dance'' is a play by

Terence Rattigan Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wan ...

which premièred at the

St James's Theatre The St James's Theatre was in King Street, St James's, London. It opened in 1835 and was demolished in 1957. The theatre was conceived by and built for a popular singer, John Braham; it lost money and after three seasons he retired. A succ ...

, London, on 21 June 1939. It was not one of Rattigan's more successful plays, closing after only sixty performances, a failure that led to its exclusion from his first volume of ''Collected Plays''. Critics have tended to attribute this relative contemporary failure to the play's darkness which may have reminded audiences of the approaching European war. However, the 2010 revival of the play was a commercial and critical success with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' theatre critic Michael Billington stating that

Thea Sharrock Thea Sharrock (born 1976) is an English theatre and film director. In 2001, when at age 24 she became artistic director of London's Southwark Playhouse, she was the youngest artistic director in British theatre. Early life and education Sharro ...

's production starring

Benedict Cumberbatch Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a British Academy Television Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurence Oli ...

confirmed that Rattigan is one of the "supreme dramatists of the 20th century".

Summary

David and Joan Scott-Fowler were '

bright young things __NOTOC__ The Bright Young Things, or Bright Young People, was a nickname given by the tabloid press to a group of Bohemianism, Bohemian young Aristocracy (class), aristocrats and socialites in 1920s London. They threw flamboyant costume party, f ...

' of the 1920s, whose ambition is to treat everything as trivia and to live lives of pure sensation. They always maintained that they married for amusement and not for love. However, Helen Banner, a serious young woman, has fallen in love with David and is determined to change his lifestyle, free him from Joan, stop him from drinking and re-awaken the serious historian in him. Unfortunately, Joan does indeed love David very deeply and is trapped by her posture of carelessness. At a party they are holding, Joan is bruised by the clash between private agony and public joy and she kills herself. The characters are shattered by the revelation and even though David and Helen plan to get away from this life, the play ends with a clear sign that David will continue as he did.

Revivals

The play remained largely forgotten until a BBC2 television production by

Stuart Burge Stuart Burge (15 January 1918 – 24 January 2002) was an English stage and film director, actor and producer. The son of H. O. Burge, by his marriage to K. M. Haig, Burge was educated at Eagle House School, Sandhurst, and Felsted School, Esse ...

in December 1992. It was revived by the Oxford Stage Company in 2002. A National Theatre revival directed by

was staged in May 2010. It was led by

as David Scott-Fowler with

Nancy Carroll Nancy Carroll (born Ann Veronica Lahiff; November 19, 1903 – August 6, 1965) was an American actress. She started her career in Broadway musicals and then became an actress in sound films and was in many films from 1927 to 1938. She was t ...

as his wife Joan and

Adrian Scarborough Adrian Philip Scarborough (born 10 May 1968) is an English actor. He has appeared in films including ''The Madness of King George'' (1994), ''Gosford Park'' (2001), ''Vera Drake'' (2004), ''The History Boys'' (2006), ''The King's Speech'' (2010 ...

as John Reid to commercial and critical success. According to ''

'' theatre critic Michael Billington, reviewing Sharrock's production, the play confirms Rattigan as one of the "supreme dramatists of the 20th century". The 2010 revival won four

Olivier Awards The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known as ...

including Best Revival. Noel and Company presented a staged reading of the play in 2012 at the National Arts Club in New York City, directed by Keith Merrill. The cast included

Tina Benko Tina Benko is an American actress and acting teacher known for her roles in film, theatre, and television. Early life Benko was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Career Benko was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for her portrayal of Jacq ...

John Bolton John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, diplomat, Republican consultant, and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as the 26th United Sta ...

, Jessica Dickey, Amy Rutberg, Max Gordon Moore and Tug Rice.

References

{{OlivierAward PlayRevival 2001–2025 1939 plays Plays by Terence Rattigan Laurence Olivier Award-winning plays Fiction about suicide West End plays Plays set in London