In a little over a week, I’ll be performing with Putney Theatre Company (my brilliant local amateur theatre group) in a production of Terence Rattigan’s After the Dance. The plot centres on David and Joan, a well heeled couple living in a Mayfair flat, who despite not being as young as they once were, choose to behave as the did when they were in their early twenties.

Helen: Why do you all talk of nothing but the old days and the old parties and the things you all used to do and say? Why?

As the play progresses and the lives of Joan and David become entangled with those of their guests, so the show veers towards its devastating, tragic conclusion. After the Dance is a brilliant piece – featuring booze, betrayal and broken hearts – and here’s why you should come and see it…

Upon first reading the play, I was immediately intrigued by its multifaceted characters. Whether its theatre, literature, video games or film, three-dimensional characters never fail to make for appealing story ingredients. Our director, Zoë, has commented upon the way in which our sympathies between characters are divided and how in one viewing an audience member might be inclined to sympathise with one character, while in a second viewing his/her sympathies may lie with someone else entirely. Personally, I love the way Rattigan refuses to condemn any one individual. While certain figures may be flawed, they are also, unmistakably, human. This has led to interesting discussions among the cast where we’ve debated whether certain characters are truly reprehensible: is Helen, for example, unforgivably ruthless or just clear-minded? As always, it’ll be up to the audience to decide.

Another great feature of the play is its timelessness. At the height of Rattigan’s career in the 1950s, he was viewed by his contemporaries as a relic of the past; however, I think this is unfair. In many respects, Rattigan’s writing is very forward-thinking and one way I find this to be the case is in his portrait of women.  It’s still true that female characters are woefully underwritten in many stories, but After the Dance has some wonderfully complex female roles. Joan, for instance, (arguably the most interesting character in the play), houses a myriad of different qualities: loyalty, insincerity, wit, vulnerability, perception, and instability.

John: Her life was a fake, a performance given for your benefit. 

Besides the strong female characters, however, it’s the show’s themes that make it so timeless. Ideas such as unrequited love, peoples’ preoccupation with nostalgia, and human beings’ endless capacity to hurt one another make the show as relevant today as it was when it was first performed.

So, if any of this tempts you, be sure to visit the Putney Arts Theatre one night between Tuesday 27th September and Saturday 1st October to see the show. With its brilliant characters and timeless themes, you’ll be in for a treat!

Oh yes, er… and the cast and crew are quite good, too. I guess.