''After the Rain'' is a play by

John Griffith Bowen John Griffith Bowen (5 November 1924 – 18 April 2019) was a British playwright and novelist. Early life John Bowen was born in Calcutta, India, to Ethel (née Cook) and Hugh Bowen; his father was the manager of the Shalimar Print Works in Goba ...

, based on his 1958 novel about a 200-year flood. The action takes place in a university lecture hall two centuries after a massive rainfall. The play's first English staging was at the

Hampstead Theatre Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. Roxana Silbert has been the artistic director since ...

in 1966, and was notable for involving the audience in the action of the play by situating them as students in a lecture hall. Its U.S. premiere on October 9, 1967, at the

John Golden Theatre The John Golden Theatre, formerly the Theatre Masque and Masque Theater, is a Broadway theater at 252 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, the Golden Theatre was de ...

in New York City starred

Alec McCowen Alexander Duncan McCowen, (26 May 1925 – 6 February 2017) was an English actor. He was known for his work in numerous film and stage productions. Early life McCowen was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, the son of Mary (née Walkden), a dancer ...

and was directed by

Vivian Matalon Vivian Matalon (11 October 1929 – 15 August 2018) was a British theatre director. Born in Manchester, Matalon began his career as an actor in a series of forgettable British films, but his greatest success has been as a director of West End, ...

. It received a good review in ''The New York Times'' but only ran a short time. The play was profiled in the

William Goldman William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 16, 2018) was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He first came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist before turning to screenwriting. He won Academy Awards for his screenplays '' ...

book '' The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway''.

References

External

* 1968 plays {{1960s-play-stub