| French Without Tears | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Written by | Terence Rattigan |
| Date premiered | 1936 |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Comedy |
French Without Tears is a comic play written by a 25-year-old Terence Rattigan in 1936.
| French Without Tears | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Written by | Terence Rattigan |
| Date premiered | 1936 |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Comedy |
French Without Tears is a comic play written by a 25-year-old Terence Rattigan in 1936.
It takes place in a cram school for adults needing to acquire French for business reasons. Scattered throughout are Franglais phrases and schoolboy misunderstandings of the French language.
The play was inspired by a 1933 visit to a village called Marxzell in the Black Forest, where young English gentlemen went to cram German.
The play was a success on its London debut, establishing Rattigan as a dramatist. A critic thought it "gay, witty, thoroughly contemporary ... with a touch of lovable truth behind all its satire." [1]
It ran for over 1,000 performances in London, and over 100 in New York. [2] It also established Rex Harrison as a major star.
The play, directed by Harold French, opened on 6 November 1936 at the Criterion Theatre, London, with the following cast: [3]
A film version, directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Ray Milland, was released in 1940. [4] In 1960 Rattigan himself refashioned the work as the musical Joie de Vivre but it was not a success. [5]
A television production was featured in the Saturday Playhouse TV series on 7 June 1958, with Denholm Elliott, Elvi Hale, Colin Broadley, Nicholas Parsons, and Andrew Irvine [6] and another in the BBC's Play of the Month series on 16 May 1976, starring Nigel Havers, Anthony Andrews and David Robb. [7]
A radio version directed by Gerry Jones was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 25 December 1986, repeated on 14 May 1989 and 20 July 1992. [8]
Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison was an English actor. Harrison began his career on the stage in 1924. He made his West End debut in 1936 appearing in the Terence Rattigan play French Without Tears, in what was his breakthrough role. He won his first Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance as Henry VIII in the Broadway play Anne of the Thousand Days in 1949. He returned to Broadway portraying Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady (1956) where he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan 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. He wrote The Winslow Boy (1946), The Browning Version (1948), The Deep Blue Sea (1952) and Separate Tables (1954), among many others.
The Browning Version is a play by Terence Rattigan, seen by many as his best work, and first performed on 8 September 1948 at the Phoenix Theatre, London. It was originally one of two short plays, jointly titled "Playbill"; the companion piece being Harlequinade, which forms the second half of the evening. The Browning Version is set in a boys' public school and the Classics teacher in the play, Crocker-Harris, is believed to have been based on Rattigan's Classics tutor at Harrow School, J. W. Coke Norris (1874–1961).
The Deep Blue Sea is a British stage play by Terence Rattigan from 1952. Rattigan based his story and characters in part on his secret relationship with Kenny Morgan, and the aftermath of the end of their relationship. The play was first performed in London on 6 March 1952, directed by Frith Banbury, and won praise for actress Peggy Ashcroft, who co-starred with Kenneth More. In the US, the Plymouth Theater staged the play in October 1952, with Margaret Sullavan. The play with Sullavan subsequently transferred to Broadway, with its Broadway premiere on 5 November 1953, and running for 132 performances.
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre on Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use. Samuel Foote acquired the lease in 1747, and in 1766 he gained a royal patent to play legitimate drama in the summer months. The original building was a little further north in the same street. It has been at its current location since 1821, when it was redesigned by John Nash. It is a Grade I listed building, with a seating capacity of 888. The freehold of the theatre is owned by the Crown Estate.
The Winslow Boy is an English play from 1946 by Terence Rattigan based on an incident involving George Archer-Shee in the Edwardian era. The incident took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne.
The Sleeping Prince: An Occasional Fairy Tale is a 1953 play by Terence Rattigan, conceived to coincide with the coronation of Elizabeth II in the same year. Set in London in 1911, it tells the story of Mary Morgan, a young actress, who meets and ultimately captivates Prince Charles of Carpathia, considered to be inspired by Carol II of Romania.
Michael Culver is an English actor. He was born in Hampstead, London, the son of actor Roland Culver and casting director Daphne Rye. He was educated at Gresham's School.
Benjamin Arthur Flemyng, known professionally as Robert Flemyng, was a British actor. The son of a doctor, and originally intended for a medical career, Flemyng learned his stagecraft in provincial repertory theatre. In 1935 he appeared in a leading role in the West End, and the following year had his first major success, in Terence Rattigan's comedy French Without Tears. Between then and the Second World War he appeared in London and New York in a succession of comedies.
Kay Adshead is a poet, playwright, theatremaker, actress and producer.
Ross is a 1960 play by British playwright Terence Rattigan.
Thea Sharrock 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.
French Without Tears is a 1939 British comedy film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Ray Milland. It was based on the 1936 play of the same name by Terence Rattigan, who also co-wrote the script. An on-off working relationship between Asquith and Rattigan began with this film and continued over the next 15 years.
Diane Lavinia Hart was an English actress in both films and the theatre in the West End Theatre of London, political campaigner, and inventor.
Robin Midgley was a director in theatre, television and radio and responsible for some of the earliest episodes of Z-Cars and for the television version of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Wars of the Roses.
In Praise of Love, originally entitled After Lydia, is the first part of a 1973 double-bill play by the English playwright Terence Rattigan. It was the penultimate play he wrote.
Paul Miller was the artistic director of the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, London from 2014 to 2022, succeeding the theatre's founder, Sam Walters.
The Complaisant Lover is a 1959 comedy play by Graham Greene. Consisting of two acts, each of two scenes, the play revolves around an affair between Mary Rhodes and Clive Root, the book seller friend of her husband, Victor. The play takes place in the Rhodes family home and an Amsterdam guesthouse.
While the Sun Shines is a comedy play by the British writer Terence Rattigan which was first staged in 1943. It was a popular success, running for 1,154 performances, even more than Rattigan's previous hit French Without Tears, and proved his longest running West End play. A Broadway production followed in 1944, though it ran for only 39 performances.
Variation on a Theme is a 1958 play by the British writer Terence Rattigan. It is a reworking of Alexandre Dumas, fils's nineteenth century novel and subsequent play La Dame aux Camélias.
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