Jan. 25, 2025
Summer 1954 is a pair of one-act plays by Sir Terrence Rattigan that are currently being performed together at the Chichester Festival Theatre. I really enjoyed both plays.
The first play is Table Number Seven, which is set in a boarding hotel in Bournemouth. We’re gradually introduced to a cast of characters - mostly elderly ladies - who are staying there. One of them, the major, who in a Fawlty Towers way won’t shut up once you get talking to him, is particularly interested in an article in an obscure local paper.
It turns out that the major has been bound over in a case of ‘persistent importuning’ on the esplanade. While trying to ensure that no one finds out about the case, he accidentally draws attention to the article about his case in the paper. The rest of the play follows the impact of this revelation on the other guests.
When the play was first performed, itself as part of a bill of two one-act plays (parts of the other play Table by the Window are interpolated into this presentation of Table Number 7), the censorious role of the Lord Chamberlain was still in place and the nature of the major’s offence was changed to groping a girl at the local cinema. This version of the play was discovered in 1995 and has been performed with this script only a few times. The summer of 1954 itself refers to the release of the Wolfenden Report that recommended that “homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence” - with the law itself changing later in 1957.
The play itself feels modern, in that it feels written like you would write about that time today. I felt some of the performances were a bit knowing, like they were 2025 reaching backwards but that was fine, it added to the entertainment. It would be interesting to know what parts of Table by the Window were included, as I would have been happier without the final scene which is probably what was included from the other play.
The second play is The Browning Version, an earlier and more well-known Rattigan play. The programme I bought referred to it as a masterpiece. I haven’t seen enough plays to truly know if that is true, but it was certainly well plotted and brilliantly played. At points I leant in, really keen to see what would happen next. Its true brilliance is perhaps as a one-act play, that it captures the characters’ arcs in just under an hour. It’s an hour that flies by too.
I’m going to write less about the plot of The Browning Version because in my hands I think I might reveal too much of what happens. It’s about ambition, fidelity, and failure, but also about their opposites. The performances were excellent, and it had the benefit of a smaller cast.
As I watched I alternated between wanting something truly tragic to befall the main character and wanting a happy ending to save him from those around him. I think the main selling point of the play is that you are not sure which of these will occur until right at the end. Is it a happy ending? I’m not sure, but it feels like you leave with things at a pivotal point (the same is true of Table Number 7).
The production began in Bath and it might be touring in other places. If it is, I’d strongly recommend checking it out, particularly if the subject matter intrigues you.