Rutherford & Son (1991)

Author:
New Play:

Venue:
Location:
Staging:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:
Githa Sowerby
No

Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round
Main house (Round)
Round

10 July 1991
16 July 1991
11 September 1991
Director:
Lighting:
Design:
Dialect Coach:
Malcolm Hebden
Jackie Staines
Michael Spencer
Ronald Herdman
Stage Manager:
Deputy Stage Manager:
Assistant Stage Manager:

Character
John Rutherford
John, his son
Richard, his son
Janet, his daughter
Ann, his sister
Mary, young John's wife
Martin
Mrs Henderson
Jane Eliot-Webb
Sallith Goodman
Chris Savage

Actor
Peter Laird
James Simmons
Barry McCarthy
Elizabeth Rider
Elizabeth Kelly
Isabel Lloyd
Crispin Letts
Anna Keaveney

Why is this play significant?

Githa Sowerby's 1912 play is regarded as a significant piece of British theatre which dropped out of view following its initial success. Its first major revival was in 1980 and the Scarborough production ws probably the third most significant revival subsequently when the play was still little known and little revived. It has gone to become an acknowledged classic play of the period and was named one of the 100 plays of the 20th century by the National Theatre.

Notes

○ Rather bizarrely, when the Northern Broadsides revived Rutherford & Sons in 2013 - and which visited the Stephen Joseph Theatre - it was promoted as one of the first major revivals of the play. This was despite the fact that the production had been produced to acclaim by the Scarborough company in 1991.
All research for this page by Simon Murgatroyd.