THE BROWNING VERSION

~ Terrence Rattigan

Made by: Disha Date & Akshat Trivedi.

INTRODUCTIONThe Browning Version is the play that cemented Terence Rattigan’s reputation as a serious, mature playwright. It is viewed as one of his best works, and one of the best one-acts ever written. First performed at the Phoenix Theatre, London, England, on September 8, 1948, The Browning Version was coupled with another one-act by Rattigan entitled Harlequinade under the umbrella name e, Playbill. This show ran for 245 performances, and Rattigan received the Ellen Terry Award for The Browning Version, his second. (The first was won two years earlier for The Winslow Boy.)The Browning Version made Its New York debut with Harlequinade on October 12, 1949, but only ran for sixty-two performances. The praise from British audiences and critics was nearly universal when the play was performed in England.

ABOUT THE AUTHORTerrence Rattigan was born on June 10, 1911, in London, England. His father, William, was a career diplomat, and served in countries such as Turkey and Romania. While his parents lived abroad, Terence and his brother were raised by their grandparents in England. Rattigan was about eleven years old when his parents returned. By that time, he had fallen in love with reading and going to plays. He wrote his first play about the age of ten.Rattigan was educated at the Harrow School from 1925 until 1930, when he entered Trinity College, Oxford. His experiences at the former, a public school, informed such plays as The Browning Version. Although Rattigan was training for the diplomatic core, by the time he reached Oxford, his interest was focused on the stage.

He achieved early success with his comedic play French without Tears (1934), which did extraordinarily well in London and in several other countries. At the time, the play held the record for the longest-running play in England. It was based on Rattigan’s experiences studying French. His next few plays were much less successful, both at home and in New York.While Rattigan served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, he continued to write plays, producing about one a year until the early 1960s.His Flare Path (1942), a war-themed romantic drama, was well-received in London. Rattigan also began a career writing screenplays with A Quiet Wedding (1940). Although his plays were popular with critics and audiences in London, critical acclaim in the United States continued to elude him. After 1948 Rattigan’s plays garnered mixed critical and commercial success. Such plays as The

Deep Blue Sea (1952) about a woman’s obsessive love for an unworthy man were not well-received. One of Rattigan’s last big successes was Separate Tables (1954), which concerns people’s loneliness and isolation. By the early 1960s, Rattigan stopped writing for the stage when his ideas about the theatre were criticized for being old-fashioned. He focused on writing screenplays and traveling for several years; but he returned to writing for the stage in his final years. His last produced play was Cause Celebre (1977), based on the trial of Alama Rattenbury in 1930s England. Rattigan died of bone cancer on November 30, 1977.

IN THE TEXTThe main course textbook – Hornbill, only includes a small part of the play. In it;The scene begins with Taplow (a student) and Frank(science master),Who start a conversation while waiting outside of Mr. Crocker Harris 'room. Frank Hunter arrives, and in the course of the conversation between the two it becomes clear that Crocker-Harris is retiring because of ill health. Known for his strict discipline, students dub him the “Crock” and “Himmler of the lower fifth.” Hunter, on the other hand, enjoys easy rapport with students, as can be seen in Taplow’s readiness to share confidences with him. While they wait for the “Crock” to appear, Hunter instructs Taplow in a proper golf swing. Taplow admits that, although like most students he had his share of fun at Crocker-Harris’s expense, he does have sympathy for him.Taplow is in the midst of mimicking the classics master when Millie Crocker-Harris enters and overhears the mimicry. She dispatches Taplow on an errand to the druggist for Crocker-Harris’s heart medicine to make him go outside till Mr. Harris arrives.

CHARACTER SKETCH (TEXT)Mr. Crocker HarrisMr Crocker Harris is a middle aged teacher . He is quite reserved and doesn’t mix up with his students. He maintains some distance with them. Crocker Harris a strict Follower of Rules. Mr. Crocker Harris follows them very strictly. In this regard he is different from other teachers. He never leaks out results till they are formally announced. He has a wonderful hold over his students. They are scared of him. Crocker Harris-Shrivelled Inside Like a Nut. Taplow says that Crocker Harris is shrivelled inside like a nut. It is quite true. He is a not open. He doesn’t like flattery. Nor does he like anyone who likes him. He is a hard task-master. He gives extra work to Taplow even on the last day of school. This he does to punish Taplow for being absent for a day last week. Sometimes he cracks jokes. His ‘classical’ jokes lack humour. No one understands them except him. They are as dry and humourless as he himself is.

FrankFrank is quite open to his students. He doesn’t keep any distance whiledealing with his students. Taplow is not a student of his class but still he takes a lot of interest in him. His long conversation with Taplow reveals his open nature. Frank doesn’t believe in observing formalities. He cares little regarding rules and regulations. Mr Crocker Harris is feared and even respected. He has a wonderful hold over his students. They are scared of him. Frank admits that he is envious of Mr Crocker Harris. Perhaps he lacks that ‘effect’ which Harris has left over his students. Frank encourages Taplow to criticize Crocker Harris. Actually, he urges him to intimate Harris. This clearly reveals the working of his mind. He even asks Taplow to ‘cut’ Crocker Harris. He lacks Harris’s devotion. He teaches science but shows no interest in his subject. This shows his lack of dedication and commitment towards his profession.

TaplowTaplow is a boy of sixteen studying in lower fifth. His attitude towards his master Crocker Harris was quite mixed. He recognized his sense of discipline, sense of devotion and stoic nature. But he had a personal grudge against Mr. Crocker Harris. He had to do some extra work on the last day of the school. Taplow was a bit anxious about his result, he afraid that Harris might have marked him down. Taplow considered Mr. Crocker Harris different from other teachers. Taplow criticized him for being feeling less yet regards him an extraordinary man. He was mortally afraid of him but never called him sadist. Taplow called his jokes classical and dry and condemned him 4 being little emotional. He didn’t like flattery and couldn’t be flattered. Though he hated people to like him Taplow rather liked him. He recognized the qualities of his teacher and never failed to praise those qualities before others.

AGAMEMNONAgamemnon is a Greek tragic character written by Aeschylus. Aeschylus describes Agamemnon’s death at the hands of his wife Clytemnestra, who was angry at his sacrificing their daughter Iphigenia and keeping the TrojanProphetess Cassandra as a concubine. Cassandra enters the palace even though she knows she is going to be murdered by Clytemnestra, knowing that she cannot avoid her fate. The ending of the play includes a prediction of the return of Orestes, son of Agamemnon, who will seek to avenge his father.Why is this significant in the browning version?Crocker Harris in this play, runs a lot of similarities with Agamemnon. The most remarkable of them all is that both Agamemnon and Crocker Harris had unfaithful wives and both were adamant and frightening. In Rattigan's play, Harris was the most feared teacher in the school. In the given acts of play, he is about to retire from the school service due to his advancing age and illness. on the other hand, he is pained by the fact that his wife cheated on him with his colleague, Frank.

WHY THE NAME?

In this play a translated version of Agamemnon plays a very important role and the original play is translated to English by Robert Browning.

THE PLAY- IN BR IEF -

Andrew Crocker-Harris is a classics teacher at an English boys' school. After eighteen years of teaching there, today is his last day before moving on to a position at another school. The students speculate on why he is leaving, but do not much care since despite being academically brilliant, he is generally despised as being strict, stern and humourless. They have nicknamed him "The Crock". Even the school administrators treat him poorly regardless of his long tenure. Millie Crocker-Harris, his wife, is younger and vivacious and quite different from her husband. She no longer loves him but rather loves Frank Hunter, another teacher, yet despite having an affair with him she knows he is not in love with her. On this last day, one student named Taplow, who does not hate Crocker-Harris but feels sorry for him, gives him a small going-away gift. The gift brings about a series of actions which make Crocker-Harris reflect on his past, contemplate his future, and evaluate how he is going to finish his tenure at the school.

PRODUCTIONSIn the original production, Crocker-Harris was played by Eric Portman, and his wife by Mary Ellis. Barry Jones took over the role of Crocker-Harris when Portman left in March 1949. The run ended on 9 April 1949.In 1949 the play was performed on Broadway, opening on 12 October at the Coronet Theater on 49th street with Maurice Evans and Edna Best. The play and its companion-piece Harlequinade failed to find favour with the New York critics, and closed after 62 performances. Peter Scott-Smith as John Taplow was the sole member of the West End cast to reprise his role on Broadway.The Theatre Royal Bath put the play on in 2009 in a double bill with Chekhov's one-act play Swansong, both starring Peter Bowles. A production at the Chichester Festival Theatre (alongside South Downs, a new play written in response to it by David Hare) marked Rattigan's centenary in 2011.

ADAPTATIONSThe play was subsequently made into two film versions, and at least four television adaptations. The 1951 film version, starring Michael Redgrave as Crocker-Harris, won two awards at the Cannes Film Festival, one for Rattigan's screenplay, the other for Redgrave's performance. It was remade in 1994, starring Albert Finney, Michael Gambon, Greta Scacchi, Matthew Modine, Julian Sands and young Ben Silverstone. A British television version was made in 1955, starring Peter Cushing as Crocker-Harris. John Frankenheimer directed John Gielgud in a 1959 television version for CBS. In 1960, Maurice Evans repeated his Broadway role for CBC television under the sponsorship of Ford of Canada in their Startime series. Another made-for-TV version in 1985 starred Ian Holm as the main character for the BBC.A radio version was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2011. It was directed by Martin Jarvis, and featured Michael York, Joanne Whalley, Ioan Gruffudd and Ian Ogilvy.A staged reading was performed on 3 April 2012 at The Players Club in New York City, presented by TAPT (The Artists' Playground Theater), directed by Alex Kelly and starring Matthew Dure', Robert Lyons, Nichole Donje' Jeffrey Hardy, Steven Hauck, Max Rhyser, Jessica Beaudry and Kate Downey.

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