In a second season of British playwrights on film we look at how some of the best and most original British plays of the last 50 years have translated to the big screen. From a superb twist on the whodunit to the cheeky chaps in foreign lands.  From remarkable historical allegory to that most British of inventions – the angry young man. And from the dark and damp atmosphere of Ireland to shocking sexual shenanigans of the swinging 60s. All terribly British and all extraordinary and entertaining films in their own right.





4th October 2009 Anthony Shaffer’s Sleuth (1972)

The original and better version, not the recent remake.  Anthony Shaffer, not to be confused with his twin brother Peter, with whom he worked together for many years, wrote one of the most enduring black comedies of the last 50 years.  Anthony also wrote the screenplay for this Oscar-nominated, story of identity, infidelity, humiliation, murder and general fun and games. A tricky film to make given the best twist might be revealed in close-up, yet splendidly art directed and iconically performed. Starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine.

11th October 2009 Peter Shaffer’s The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969)

The ethereal Inca king Atahualpa forces his stoical Spanish conqueror Pizarro to question his beliefs. Peter Shaffer, the slightly more prolific brother, again examines the depths of faith. Can a man be a god and actually rise from the dead? And how can men who follow a religion founded on love be so spectacularly cruel? The film, a little static, but strongly evocative of the greed and fever that drove the conquistadors, is brought to life by two genuinely exceptional performances. Starring Robert Shaw and Christopher Plummer

18th October 2009 Peter Nichols’ Privates on Parade (1982)

A bizarre comedy that is particularly close to home. In 1947, during the emergency in Malaya, Nichols served in the Combined Services Entertainments Unit. Obviously calling on his own experiences he presents the crumby routines, the silly songs, the mostly gay performers, the black marketeers and the whole general daftness of the boys in khaki in a way it’s hard to believe that the communists lost. The style, tone and manner of this film version echoes one of the UK’s longest running TV comedies – ‘It ain’t half hot mum’. Starring Denis Quilley and John Cleese.

8th November 2009 Brian Friel’s Philadelphia Here I Come (1975)

A sad, deeply touching view of a young man who is leaving Ireland and off to America because he can’t find any work.  He has two personas; the one everyone can see and the hidden invisible one that really speaks his mind. Friel’s most famous work and, like all of his plays, fiercely and insightfully Irish. The film is brilliantly soaked in typically grey skies and, with a little known cast who, in stark reality, wonderfully sum up the singular character of life in provincial Ireland. Starring Donal McCann and Siobhan McKenna.

22nd November 2009 Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1970)

Murder, manipulation and downright nastiness as a suave and good-looking young man called Sloane inveigles his way into the lives of two old siblings and their Dada. Soon everyone realizes Sloane is not what he appears to be. Joe Orton – tragic in his own right, shows what a great playwright he may have become had he not died so young. A quirky play translated into in a quirky film that nicely captures the mini skirts, music and foolishness of the sad myth called ‘the swinging 60s’. Starring Peter McEnery and Beryl Reid.

29th November 2009 John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger (1958)

Here’s where the ‘angry young man’ was born. Four friends living bleak mundane lives in 50’s England cope with class, abortion, infidelity, unclear moral values, love, and the lack of it. Fueled by the rejection of comfortable, escapist theatre, both the play and Osborne himself became symbols for the disaffected and depressed war babies of post-war England. The screenplay excellently expands and considerably alters the play’s simple though shocking, one room setting with some new locations and new characters. Starring Richard Burton and Clair Bloom.



Note: Some of the films contain mature content. Recommended for mature audience