The Winslow Boy

For the film versions see The Winslow Boy (1948 film) and The Winslow Boy (1999 film)

The Winslow Boy is an English 1946 play by Terence Rattigan based on an actual incident in the Edwardian era, which took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne House.

The play's London debut was in 1946, and it featured Emlyn Williams, Mona Washbourne, Angela Baddeley, Kathleen Harrison, Frank Cellier, Jack Watling and Clive Morton. It was under the direction of Glen Byam Shaw.

The play's Broadway debut was in 1947, and it featured Frank Allenby as Sir Robert, Alan Webb as Arthur Winslow, Valerie White as Catherine Winslow.

The play was later made into a famous 1948 film (The Winslow Boy (1948 film)) directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Robert Donat as Sir Robert Morton KC, Cedric Hardwicke as Arthur Winslow, and Margaret Leighton as Catherine Winslow. Another film version made in 1999 (The Winslow Boy (1999 film)), this time directed by David Mamet, starring Nigel Hawthorne and Jeremy Northam as Arthur Winslow and Morton respectively, and Rebecca Pidgeon as Catherine.

Set against the strict codes of conduct and manners of the age, The Winslow Boy is based on a father's fight to clear his son's name after the boy is expelled from Osborne Naval College for stealing a postal order. To clear the boy's name was imperative for the family's honour; had they not done so, they would have been shunned by their peers and society. The boy's life would have been wrecked by the stain on his character.

The play was inspired by an actual event, which set a legal precedent; the case of George Archer-Shee, a cadet at Osborne in 1908, who was accused of stealing a postal order from a fellow cadet. His elder brother Major Martin Archer-Shee, was convinced of his innocence, and persuaded his father (also called Martin) to engage lawyers. The most respected barrister of the day, Sir Edward Carson was also persuaded of his innocence, and insisted on the case coming to court. On the fourth day of the trial, the Solicitor General accepted that Archer-Shee was innocent, and ultimately the family was paid compensation. George Archer-Shee died in the First World War and his name is inscribed on the war memorial in the village of Woodchester in Gloucestershire where his parents lived.

Differences between reality and fiction

In the play, Rattigan quotes from actual parliamentary debates and court transcripts, but makes major changes to the characters and the timing of events, moving them closer to the start of World War I. He also introduces several fictional characters: a sister, Catherine Winslow, a suffragette and, as we learn in the final lines of the play, a potential future politician; her erstwhile fiancé, John Watherstone; and Desmond Curry, a solicitor who eventually proposes to Catherine.

Martin Archer-Shee junior was a very different character from the failed university student, Dickie Winslow, of the play. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1910, and in his mid-thirties at the time of the case.

Arthur Winslow was also made less prosperous than his factual counterpart. hello Whilst the play gives only indirect reference to the court case and the parliamentary debates, the 1948 film introduces scenes from these events that are not in the play. i really like this play!!!!!!!!!!