... but what comes after ... as Noel Coward, Rattigan's great rival wrote on another occasion. Both men were superb theatrical craftsmen born a generation apart and this was Rattigan's dramatic antidote to his great comedy success French Without Tears. Produced in the summer of 1939 it failed to survive the outbreak of war and remained neglected for half a century until the BBC got hold of it. It was subsequently produced to great acclaim at the National Theatre but this excellent revival, now available as part of the five disc boxed set of Rattigan, is, so far as I know, the only permanent record of a masterpiece. Another reviewer has pointed out that Anton Rogers and Gemma Jones are in fact too old for their roles and whilst this is true it is small price to pay for the chance to watch the play whenever one feels like it and Jones is particularly moving as the epitome of Rattigan's great theme of repression which he describes so aptly as the English disease. He explored this theme time and again perhaps never more successfully than in In Praise Of Love, another neglected gem. It's always difficult for actors to capture the feel and essence of a generation long before they themselves were born but this cast does as well as can be expected. One to revisit.
Review of After the Dance
