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Rattigan, Sir Terence (Mervyn)
Rattigan, Sir Terence (Mervyn) (1911–77), the son of a diplomat, was educated at Trinity College, Oxford. His first West End success was a comedy, French Without Tears (1936, pub. 1937). Many other works followed, including The Winslow Boy (1946), a drama in which a father fights to clear his naval-cadet son of the accusation of petty theft, and The Browning Version (1948), about a repressed and unpopular schoolmaster with a faithless wife. The heroine of The Deep Blue Sea (1952) is a judge's wife suffering from passion for a test pilot; Separate Tables (1954, pub. 1955), comprises two one-act plays set in a hotel, both studies of emotional failure and inadequacy; Ross (1960) is based on the life of T. E. Lawrence; and Cause Célèbre (1977, pub. 1978) is based on an actual murder trial. In a preface to the second volume of his Collected Works (1953), Rattigan created the character of Aunt Edna, the average middlebrow matinée attender whom playwrights must take into account: critics later used this light-hearted invention as a focus for their complaints about the middle-class, middlebrow nature of his own plays. The so-called kitchen sink dramatists of the 1950s and 1960s reacted against Rattigan but his works are still much performed and admired.
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Rattigan, Sir Terence (Mervyn)." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Rattigan, Sir Terence (Mervyn)." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-RattiganSirTerenceMervyn.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Rattigan, Sir Terence (Mervyn)." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-RattiganSirTerenceMervyn.html |
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Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan 1911–77, British dramatist. One of England's most popular and commercially successful contemporary playwrights, he was the master of the tightly crafted "problem play." He was knighted in 1971. Among his plays are O Mistress Mine (1945), The Winslow Boy (1947), The Browning Version (1948), Separate Tables (1954), Ross (1960), A Bequest to the Nation (1970), and In Praise of Love (1973).
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"Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Rattigan.html "Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Rattigan.html |
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Rattigan, Sir Terence Mervyn
Rattigan, Sir Terence Mervyn (1911–77) English dramatist. He first attracted attention with the comedy French Without Tears (1936). His most popular plays include The Winslow Boy (1946), The Browning Version (1948), Separate Tables (1954), Ross (1960), and In Praise of Love (1973). He also wrote the screenplay for the musical Goodbye Mr Chips (1968).
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Cite this article
"Rattigan, Sir Terence Mervyn." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Rattigan, Sir Terence Mervyn." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-RattiganSirTerenceMervyn.html "Rattigan, Sir Terence Mervyn." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-RattiganSirTerenceMervyn.html |
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