24 0ct0ber – 2 November
Multiple award winners Nathaniel Parker, Siân Phillips and Lolita Chakrabarti lead an ensemble cast in Summer 1954 featuring Terence Rattigan’s most personal one act masterpieces Table Number Seven and The Browning Version, which are paired for the first time, directed by Olivier Award winner James Dacre. This unique tribute to Terence Rattigan will be staged at Theatre Royal Bath from Thursday 24th October to Saturday 2nd November prior to a UK tour.
Both from the pen of one of Britain’s most popular 20th century playwrights, Table Number Seven (from Separate Tables) and The Browning Version capture one quietly momentous evening seventy years ago. Together, they present Terence Rattigan as one of the great twentieth century chroniclers of the paradoxes of the human heart.
Summer, 1954. Britain is changing. Nothing will ever be the same again.
The atmosphere at The Beauregard Private Hotel, Bournemouth, is marked by a blend of repressed emotions and post-war gentility. Each of the staff and guests has their own reason for seeking the solace of quiet anonymity, but trying to hide from the social and cultural change sweeping over the country is proving impossible.
Meanwhile, in the heart of the Midlands, the end of the school term brings to a climax the intrigues, deceptions and lies in the lives of its teachers. The ensuing implosion of classicist Andrew Crocker Harris’s career triggers the collapse of his marriage.
Olivier Award winner Nathaniel Parker stars as Major Pollock in Table Number Seven and Andrew Crocker-Harris in The Browning Version. Well loved by television audiences for playing the title role in the long running hit BBC series, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, his numerous screen credits also include playing Agravaine in Merlin, Harold Skimpole in Bleak House and Albert Speer in Nuremburg. His film roles include playing Wilfred Owen in War Requiem, which also starred Laurence Olivier, and the role of Dunstan Thorn in the 2007 film Stardust. On stage, Nathaniel has performed in productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company on numerous occasions, including Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies in the West End and on Broadway, and Peter Hall’s 1989 production of The Merchant of Venice with Dustin Hoffman in London and on Broadway. His West End stage credits also include This House, The Audience, Speed the Plow and An Ideal Husband, a production which toured to the Theatre Royal Bath exclusively in 2018.
Dame Siân Phillips stars as Mrs Railton-Bell in Table Number Seven. In a career spanning eight decades, her many memorable screen credits include her BAFTA-winning role in the BBC’s adaptation of I, Claudius in 1976; Becket in 1964; the musical film Goodbye, Mr Chips in 1969; Murphy’s War in 1971; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy in 1979; Clash of the Titans in 1981; David Lynch’s Dune in 1984; The Borrowers in 1992 and The Return of The Borrowers in 1993, and multiple appearances in the original run of Call My Bluff. More recently, she has played guest roles in Doctor Who, Good Omens, New Tricks, Under Milk Wood, Casualty, Lewis, and the detective series, Strike. Her prestigious stage career has seen her nominated for Olivier Awards for Pal Joey in 1980/1981, A Little Night Music in 1996, Cabaret in 2013, and the title role in Marlene in 1999, a production which toured to the Theatre Royal in 1997. She provided spoken-word backing for a track on Rufus Wainwright’s 2007 album Release the Stars, also appearing live with him at London’s Old Vic Theatre, and starred in Under Milk Wood at the National Theatre. Her many stage credits include playing Juliet in Juliet and her Romeo at Bristol Old Vic. Summer 1954 is her 11th production at the Theatre Royal Bath since 1990 when she starred in Vanilla. Siân Phillips was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to drama.
Award-winning actress and playwright Lolita Chakrabarti OBE stars as Miss Cooper in Table Number Seven and Millie Crocker-Harris in The Browning Version. Her adaptation of the Booker Prize winning novel Life of Pi won her the prestigious Olivier Award for Best Play. Her stage credits include playing Gertrude opposite Tom Hiddleston in Hamlet, Fanny & Alexander at London’s Old Vic, John Gabriel Borkman at the Donmar Warehouse and Free Outgoing at London’s Royal Court. She recently starred in The Hunt at St Ann’s Warehouse in New York. Her screen credits include Vigil and Showtrial for BBC, Beowulf and Jekyll and Hyde for ITV, Screw and Born to Kill for Channel Four, The Casual Vacancy for BBC and HBO, Delicious for Sky and Criminal for Netflix.
The cast is completed by Alexandra Dowling, Angela Jones, Jeremy Neumark Jones, Simon Coates, Richenda Carey, Kishore Walker, Pamela Miles, Fiona Tong, Rosalind Lailey and Bertie Hawes.
James Dacre is an Olivier and UK Theatre Award-winning Director and Creative Producer who recently launched Living Theatre Productions. He was Artistic Director of Royal & Derngate Theatres from 2013 to 2023 where he produced more than 120 shows, of which 60 toured both nationally and internationally, and 42 transferred to London and were recognised with Olivier, Evening Standard, UK Theatre, WhatsOnStage and The Stage awards. He is a Board Director of Spirit of 2012, a Trustee for The Theatres Trust and Talawa Theatre Company and a Franco-British Young Leader.
Summer 1954 appears at the Theatre Royal Bath from Thursday 24th October to Saturday 2nd November prior to a UK tour.
An Evening with Dame Siân Phillips appears at the Ustinov Studio on Sunday 27th October. To book tickets contact the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 or visit theatreroyal.org.uk
