DETAILS of expense claims by MPs exposed in recent weeks have outraged the public who feel the politicians’ power is much like an ‘unyielding juggernaut’.
The sense of injustice compares to the public feeling surrounding the real life legal case of George Archer-Shee upon which Rattigan based his 1946 piece.
It was as controversial as anything in the tabloids today and Timothy West thinks the struggle comes across in the production of The Winslow Boy.
He said: “I think it’s an exciting story and it must have been an exciting story when the thing happened.
“But what Rattigan has done very brilliantly is he’s compressed it all to happen in one room.”
Set in 1910, the play tells the story of Ronnie Winslow, a 13-year-old naval cadet, who is falsely accused of theft.
His father and sister take matters into their own hands to prove his innocence and to restore the honour of the Winslow name.
But as the entire family becomes embroiled in the battle for justice against the might of the establishment, there is a high price to be paid by them all.
Timothy said: “I think the feeling of one man or one family headed by one man pitting their efforts against the unyielding juggernaut of the state is something which I think is very apparent to us all now and always really.
“How does the individual make himself heard when it’s inconvenient to the authorities?”
He added: “In the play it’s not so much the government, it’s the naval authorities and the establishment which backs them who are shown to be very unimaginative and very concerned with their own problems and not with any individual.
“This is not really what government and authority is supposed to be about or what democracy is about.”
The 64-year-old, who is married to actress Prunella Scales, has appeared in countless dramas including Bleak House and Edward VII and films such as Iris and most recently Endgame.
But acting on stage is where he started and he thinks touring in productions is especially important.
He said: “There has always been far too much emphasis on the metropolis and what’s going on in London and the assumption if people want to see good theatre they can get in their car or get on the intercity. That’s just insulting.
“We have wonderful theatres all around the country and wonderful audiences; very intelligent, very critical, very faithful audiences who have to be fed in the way London audiences are fed and in some cases rather better fed I think.”
The Winslow Boy, The Churchill Theatre, Bromley, July 13 to July 18. Call 08448 717620 (bkg fee).
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