''Goodnight Mister Tom'' is a 2011 play by David Wood, based on the 1981 children's novel of the same name by Michelle Magorian. The play earned the

Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Family Show is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976 ...

at the

2013 Laurence Olivier Awards The 2013 Laurence Olivier Awards were held on Sunday 28 April 2013 at the Royal Opera House, London. The awards were sponsored by MasterCard for the third consecutive year and presented by Hugh Bonneville and Sheridan Smith, with music from the BB ...

Plot

Early in World War II, William Beech is billetted upon Tom Oakley in rural Dorset. Oakley, a reclusive curmudgeon, has been a solitary resident for 40 years since he became a widower and lost his infant son; Beech is an illiterate, bruised, and starving Deptford evacuee. Oakley nourishes Beech physically and emotionally until Beech's mother calls for his return to London. In the second act, Beech is back in Deptford as the Blitz continues around him. With no father figure (his father had died several years earlier), his mother, "a militant Christian of the fire-and-brimstone variety," again influences his emotional demise as she abusively raises a "found" baby daughter.

Production history

''Goodnight Mister Tom'' premiered in 2011 at the Chichester Festival Theatre, directed by

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. The production moved to London with previews starting on November 22, 2012 and then ran for 9 weeks from November 27 until January 26, 2013 at the West End Phoenix Theatre, with Oliver Ford Davies as Tom Oakley, Ewan Harris and two other actors alternating as William Beech, and William Price as Zach. Subsequently the production traveled throughout the United Kingdom to locations such as

The Everyman Theatre Everyman Theatre is a regional theatre with a professional repertory company of artists in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. Everyman's mission is to bring accessible and affordable theatre to the city of Baltimore. Everyman Theatre is located in dow ...

Aylesbury Waterside Theatre Aylesbury Waterside Theatre is a £47 million theatre in Aylesbury, England, presenting a range of West End and touring musicals and plays, along with performances of opera and ballet and a Christmas pantomime. History In 2003, Aylesbury Vale D ...

, and Birmingham's

New Alexandra Theatre The Alexandra, commonly known as the Alex, is a theatre on Suffolk Queensway in Birmingham, England. History Construction of the theatre commenced in 1900 and was completed in 1901. The architects were Owen & Ward and the theatre was opened on 2 ...

. In December 2015, a new production of Goodnight Mister showed at the Duke of York's Theatre in London from December 2015 until February 2016. The show will open again in London on 25 July 2018 to 25 August 2018, at the Southwark Playhouse. The production will star James Sampson and Eoin McKenna as Tom Oakley, with other cast including Millie Brolly, Ethan Quinn and Bradley Riches.

Awards and nominations

The play won its nomination at the April 28,

for

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Critical reception

Michael Billington, after explaining that he had not read the source material, said that he was "struck by the story's debt to

Oliver Twist ''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...

: in both, a serially abused boy is rescued, and briefly lost, by a solitary senior." Billington praised the cast's performances and called the production "a strong seasonal show, unafraid to target the emotions." Jane Shilling of '' The Daily Telegraph'' noted that "Ewan Harris as William touchingly conveys the flowering of the crushed child...but the show is stolen by William Price as Zach, whose outrageously over-the-top performance lights up the stage."

West End production

Notes

{{OlivierAward Entertainment 2012 plays Laurence Olivier Award-winning plays Plays based on novels West End plays