Lyttelton, London
Allam shines as the tyrannical capitalist patriarch at the heart of Githa Sowerby’s powerful story of a society in transition
It has been exactly 25 years since a National Theatre revival put Githa Sowerby’s play back on the theatrical map. Written in 1912, it is now firmly established not just as a landmark of Edwardian feminism but as one of the most durable plays of the last century, comparable to the best of Harley Granville-Barker and DH Lawrence. Though I have a few cavils about Polly Findlay’s new production, it still makes a powerful impact thanks, in no small part, to Roger Allam.
Seeing the play again, I am struck by Sowerby’s synthesis of socialism and feminism. Her protagonist, John Rutherford, is the patriarchal owner of a Northumbrian glassworks whose world is crumbling and who succeeds, in the play, at alienating all of his family. One son, John Jr, is cheated out of an invention that may save the tottering firm. Another, Richard, is a despised cleric who takes his pastoral mission elsewhere. Janet, the 37-year-old daughter, is banished for supposedly sullying the family name. That leaves Rutherford with a daughter-in-law, Mary, who proves to be pivotal and have unexpected agency.
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