7th February, 2014 / 11.00am - 4.00pm
Director Guy Retallack
Designer James Turner
Performed by MA Acting Contemporary students.
Cause Célèbre is Terence Rattigan’s last play, based on the real life story of Alma Rattenbury, who was tried, along with her teenage lover, for the murder of her elderly husband. Through the eyes of a juror, the upright Edith Davenport, and her wayward son, we see the deeply contrasting attitudes to sexual morality that brought this case so much attention. Britain was by turns, horrified, shocked, but ever hungry for more insights behind the closed doors of Alma Rattenbury.
Rattigan’s play, with its range of beautifully drawn characters, and rapid, intense changes of scene, make for a thrilling indictment of 1930s class obsessed Britain.
For more information visit the Central School of Speech & Drama website.