Another Country
Trafalgar Studios (Studio 1)
Reviewed on Friday 4th April 2014
Julian Mitchell’s 1981 play about life at an English public school between the wars helped launch the careers of Rupert Everett, Kenneth Branagh, Daniel Day-Lewis and Colin Firth and now this West End transfer of last year’s acclaimed Chichester Festival production, directed by Jeremy Herrin, could well be the stepping-stone for a few more glittering careers.
Rob Callender is exceptionally good as Bennett, a flamboyant and flagrant homosexual (the character is loosely based on the notorious spy Guy Burgess) whose lifestyle brings him into conflict with other pupils within the repressed and closeted regime of an establishment designed to turn out stiff-upper-lipped Englishman destined for a life serving King and country.
Also banging heads with his contemporaries is Judd, a performance of real emotional intensity from Will Attenborough, who has discovered Marxism and fights a losing battle trying to convince those around him of the corrupt nature of the system they are being groomed to be a part of.
Things are thrown off balance when a boy commits suicide after being caught in a sexual act with another pupil, and it’s here that Mitchell really focuses on the hypocrisy beneath the façade of an establishment that stifles individuality — both of political thought and sexuality — as the hierarchy close ranks to keep details of the event from the outside world at all cost.
This is a brilliantly written play that even thirty years on many will see as more relevant than ever. The dialogue is often dense, but it’s testament to the gripping performances that you don’t miss a word and Herrin’s sure-footed, atmospheric direction completes a memorable revival of a modern classic.
Reviewed by Tony Peters
Another Country runs at Trafalgar Studios until Saturday 21st June 2014.
Click here to book tickets.
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