The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (NHB Modern Plays) E-Book

Robert Tressell

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Passionate, highly entertaining and gloriously funny - Robert Tressell's classic pre-First World War account of the working lives of a group of housepainters and decorators is vividly adapted by Howard Brenton. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists recounts the little daily successes and the disasters of a group of working-class men, living under the constant fear of being laid off by employers forever looking for new corners to cut. Both workers and bosses are caught in a system spiralling out of control, but why is it the workers always come out worse? Howard Brenton's stage adaptation lays bare the many social injustices perpetrated on these men whilst capturing their individual characters with touching truth to life. 'Speaks with passion and eloquence' - Guardian 'Sparkles with so much wit and integrity it is impossible not to warm to the ethos that lies at its very core.' - Stage 'Wisely, Howard Brenton has shown confidence in Tressell's original story and has concentrated on creating a piece of theatre without compromising the impact of the original text...Brenton has produced the definitive stage version.' - Amateur Stage

Leseprobe

Robert Tressell

THERAGGED TROUSEREDPHILANTHROPISTS

A new adaptation by

Howard Brenton

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Title Page

Original Production

The Story of a Book

Characters

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

This adaptation of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists was first performed at The Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, on 17 June 2010, with the following cast:

JACK SLYME / MR DIDLUM   Dean AshtonWILL EASTON / MR GRINDERWill BeerJULIE FLOTTER / NORA OWENLouise BushOLD JOE PHILPOTLarry DannFRED HARLOW / MAYOR SWEATERTim FrancesFRANK OWEN / COMPANYFinbar LynchMR DENNIS HUNTERDes McAleerBERT WHITEThomas MorrisonKIRSTY / RUTH EASTON / MOLLYLaura ReesBUNDY / MR GEORGE RUSHTONPaul ReganALAN FLOTTER / BARRINGTON /Gyuri SarossyDR WEAKLING / NEWMANBOB CROSSNicholas TennantDirectorChristopher MorahanDesignerSimon HiglettLighting DesignerJames WhitesideSound DesignerTom LishmanComposerIlona Sekacz

The production then transferred to the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, on 15 July 2010.

The Story of a Book

Over the last century, it has come to be affectionately known as ‘the workers’ bible’.

But Robert Tressell would never know the success of his only novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, and the enormous imprint it left on society. A weighty tome of Edwardian working class struggle, the core messages of the book never lost resonance down the years, fuelling the Labour movement, changing lives, and inspiring its readers to this day.

Its fervent aficionados include everyone from trade union leaders and political heavyweights to cultural figureheads. George Orwell described it as a “wonderful book”, and its more contemporary converts include Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle and Royle Family actor Ricky Tomlinson.

The original novel was a semi-autobiographical tale of a group of painters and decorators. When persuasive newcomer Frank Owen joins their number, he attempts to share his socialist world view. But the others, indoctrinated by the class divide, struggle to comprehend a life beyond knowing their place.

Tressell called them “ragged trousered philanthropists”, toiling their way into early graves for the profits of their bosses in the hardest of hard times – complicit in their own exploitation. The rise of the capitalist system, with its harsh working conditions, left many struggling to survive. The book’s ideas helped to inspire the original plans for the welfare state. Its popularity among soldiers fighting in World War II also led to the belief that its influence was a major factor in Labour’s 1945 landslide election victory.

Tressell called many places home in his lifetime – places that now proudly claim him as their own. The pen name of Robert Noonan, he was born in Dublin in 1870, and moved to England, then later Cape Town, South Africa, some time around 1888.

After the breakdown of his marriage and with custody of his daughter Kathleen, he returned to Sussex after the turn of the century. Tressell fell ill and died in Liverpool, en route to a new life in Canada, in 1911. He was just 40.

He was buried in an unmarked, mass paupers’ grave in Liverpool that remained unidentified until the 1970s – a stark and solitary end to a man who had done so much to highlight, and eventually bring about real change to, the living and working conditions of millions.

He had tried and failed before his death to find a publisher for his handwritten, 1,700 page manuscript of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, giving himself the pen name Tressell for fear of reprisals.

However in 1914, Kathleen, serving tea to her employer, Jesse Pope, overheard a literary conversation with a guest. Kathleen spoke up “I have a book upstairs in my trunk”. It was her father’s manuscript. A heavily edited version was published later that year, though it was not until 1955 that it was published in full.

The novel has sold more than 1 million copies around the globe and has been translated into several languages, enjoying regular, noticeable surges in popularity, particularly in times of war and recession.

It has been adapted for the stage many times, first in 1978 by playwright Stephen Lowe and now most recently for this coproduction by Howard Brenton for the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse and Chichester Festival Theatres.

It remains consistently popular with audiences, whether performed in humble community centres or the most established theatres in the country.

Vicky AndersonJune 2010

Characters

KIRSTY

ALAN

JULIE

FRANK OWEN

WILL EASTON

OLD JOE PHILPOT

JACK SLYME

FRED HARLOW

BUNDY

BERT WHITE

BARRINGTON

BOB CRASS

MR HUNTER

RUTH EASTON

NORA OWEN

MR RUSHTON

MR SWEATER

MR GRINDER

MR DIDLUM

COUNCILLOR WEAKLING

MR NEWMAN

IST SANDWICH-BOARD MAN

2ND SANDWICH-BOARD MAN

MOLLY

Plus various extras

Rushton, Sweater, Grinder, Didlum and Weakling are played by actors in masks.

ACT ONE

The doors, walls, firegrates, windows, floors of a large, rundown two-storey Victorian house in the South Coast town of Mugsborough.

Scene One‘Upwardly Mobile’

KIRSTY, an estate agent. ALAN and JULIE, prospective buyers. JULIE is artistic. ALAN is a businessman, sharp masked by cheerfulness.