''Adventure Story'' is a 1949, play by the English dramatist
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 ...
.
The play tells the story of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
and his conquests.
In this play Rattigan portrays the historical Alexander faithfully, at the same time revealing that his life was what it was because he was the kind of person who very well might have wept because nothing remained to conquer.
The play focuses on the transformation of Alexander after his conquest of Persia from a military adventurist to an uncompromising despot with grand vision of a world empire which estranges him from his erstwhile friends. Driven by a deep-felt insecurity, he has to kill people close to him including even the father figure
Cleitus. He tries to justify his actions in the name of his dreams of the world empire, but is haunted by loneliness in the end
The play holds a deeper significance, that the conquests of Alexander were actually trials to find himself and achieve spiritual enlightenment, through becoming a god (see
Theosis).
The play ends with a
nihilistic tone, that Alexander was to die and fade after all, his last words in the play are 'Who is to succeed me to the throne of
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
? Who shall I condemn to death?'
Original production
The play opened 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 suc ...
on 17 March 1949,
with
Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was a British actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the US Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Award, Emmy, and Tony for his work. He won the three awards in a seve ...
in his first starring
West End role, as Alexander.
[
]
Adaptations
The BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in the role. Of his performance, ''
'' wrote, "certain inflexions and swift deliberations of gesture at times made one feel that the part had found the young