Wikipedia

Quartermaine's Terms

Quartermaine's Terms is a play by Simon Gray which won The Cheltenham Prize in 1982.[1]

Quartermaine's Terms
Poster original West End production
Written bySimon Gray
Date premiered30 July 1981
Place premieredQueen's Theatre, London
Original languageEnglish
GenreDrama
Official site

Plot

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The play takes place over a period of two years in the 1960s in the staffroom at a Cambridge school for teaching English to foreigners. It deals with the interrelationship between seven teachers at the school, in particular that between St John Quartermaine and the others.

The dominant theme is loneliness, and during the course of the play all of the characters experience the trauma of being or feeling alone. Mark’s wife leaves him; Derek, from Hull, finds Cambridge initially unwelcoming; Eddie is ultimately bereaved by the loss of a partner; Anita’s husband is a philanderer; Henry is trapped in a dysfunctional nuclear family and Melanie is similarly trapped caring for a mother whom she despises. Quartermaine is a painfully lonely bachelor, seemingly with no friends other than his colleagues at the school.

Although the play is at times highly comic, it has a very serious theme; and the struggles of each character with their own types of loneliness are moving and sad. Above all, Quartermaine himself is an increasingly pathetic figure lost in his own confused thoughts – and ultimately deserted. His future as the play closes is poignantly bleak.

Original production

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It was first staged on 30 July 1981 at the Queen’s Theatre, London.[2]

Role Actor
St. John Quartermaine Edward Fox
Anita Manchip Jenny Quayle
Mark Sackling Peter Birch
Eddie Loomis Robin Bailey
Derek Meadle Glyn Grain 
Henry Windscape James Grout
Melanie Garth Prunella Scales
Critical reception

The Stage wrote, "Simon Gray has written the best play of his notable career, a delicate, moving and yet consistently funny piece, eloquently directed by Harold Pinter, which depicts the English penchant for quiet suffering with immense skill."[3]

Off-Broadway

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The play was staged on 24 February 1983 at Playhouse 91 Theater, New York in a production by Long Wharf Theatre.[4]

Role Actor
St. John Quartermaine Remak Ramsay
Anita Manchip Caroline Lagerfelt
Mark Sackling Kelsey Grammer
Eddie Loomis Roy Poole
Derek Meadle Anthony Heald 
Henry Windscape John Cunningham
Melanie Garth Dana Ivey
  • Producers: John A. McQuiggan & Ethel Watt 
  • Director: Kenneth Frankel
  • Settings: David Jenkins
  • Costumes: Bill Walker
  • Lighting: Pat Collins
Critical reception

The New York Times called it "a play that is at once full of doom and gloom and bristling with wry, even uproarious comedy. The mixture is so artfully balanced that we really don't know where the laughter ends and the tears begin: the playwright is in full possession of that Chekhovian territory where the tragedies and absurdities of life become one and the same."[5]  

TV adaptation

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Quartermaine's Terms
Written bySimon Gray (play)
Simon Gray (adaptation)
Directed byBill Hays
StarringJohn Gielgud
Edward Fox
Eleanor Bron
Clive Francis
Tessa Peake-Jones
Peter Jeffrey
Paul Jesson
Theme music composerJeremy Nicholas
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
CinematographyJohn McGlashan
Original release
Release29 March 1987 (1987-03-29)

A film was broadcast on BBC Two in 1987, as part of the Screen Two series.[6][7]

Role Actor
Melanie Garth Eleanor Bron
St. John (pronounced Sinjin) Quartermaine Edward Fox
Mark Sackling Clive Francis
Eddie Loomis John Gielgud
Henry Windscape Peter Jeffrey
Derek Meadle Paul Jesson
Anita Manchip Tessa Peake-Jones
Oko-Ri Eiji Kusuhara

Radio adaptations

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Role Actor
St. John Quartermaine Michael Williams
Henry Windscape Peter Jeffery 
Eddie Loomis Robin Bailey
Melanie Garth Marcia Warren 
Mark Sackling Nigel Anthony 
Anita Manchip Helena Breck 
Derek Meadle Jon Strickland   

 

  • Director: Gordon House
  • The play was presented on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday 17 June 2006.[9]
Role Actor
Quartermaine Michael Palin
Anita Francesca Faridany
Mark James Fleet
Eddie Clive Francis
Derek Andrew Lincoln 
Henry David Yelland
Melanie Harriet Walter

West End revival

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The play opened at Wyndham's Theatre on 23 January 2013, after brief runs at Theatre Royal, Brighton, and the Theatre Royal, Bath.[3]

Role Actor
St. John Quartermaine Rowan Atkinson
Anita Manchip Louise Ford
Mark Sackling Matthew Cottle
Eddie Loomis Malcolm Sinclair
Derek Meadle Will Keen 
Henry Windscape Conleth Hill
Melanie Garth Felicity Montagu
Critical reception

The Guardian noted "a rueful social comedy that stands up well to revival and gives star billing to Rowan Atkinson, who reminds us in his first straight play in 25 years that he is a highly capable actor";[10] while The Daily Telegraph wrote "there’s a delight in watching a playwright so in control of his craft that he holds you riveted in a world where only the silence seems to scream."[11]  

References

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  1. ^ "Rowan Atkinson returns to West End". 8 June 2012 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  2. ^ Gray, Simon (21 February 2013). Quartermaine's Terms. Faber & Faber. ISBN 9780571303021 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ a b "Quartermaine's Terms".
  4. ^ "Quartermaine's Terms". iobdb.com.
  5. ^ Rich, Frank (25 February 1983). "Theater: Simon Gray's 'Quartermaine's Terms'". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
  6. ^ "Quartermaine's Terms (1987)". BFI. Archived from the original on 25 October 2019.
  7. ^ "Screen Two: Quartermaine's Terms". 29 March 1987. p. 41 – via BBC Genome.
  8. ^ "BBC Radio Drama, Radio 3, 1991, DIVERSITY website". www.suttonelms.org.uk.
  9. ^ "The Saturday Play. Quartermaine Terms". 17 June 2006. p. 121 – via BBC Genome.
  10. ^ Billington, Michael (30 January 2013). "Quartermaine's Terms – review". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
  11. ^ Auld, Tim (6 February 2013). "Quartermaine's Terms, at Wyndham's Theatre, review" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
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