Rutherford and Son

Synopsis

John Rutherford has built up the business like his father before him and he naturally expects to pass it on to his eldest son. However, his son has other plans. He has something to sell, an invention that will release him from his father's tyranny and a future following in those laborious footsteps. With aspirations to achieve independence, make their own futures and find love, Rutherford's children have choices to make that may jeopardise the business and the family. This Edwardian classic and powerful drama is on a par with the work of Ibsen, Gorky and Granville Barker. It enjoyed huge success in London and New York, and was hailed as 'a remarkable play'.

Our Review:

21 February 2013

Written a century ago, Rutherford & Son is a play with universal themes: family rivalry, money and power. Northern Broadsides' artistic director Barrie Rutter has again collaborated with writer Blake Morrison (they last worked together on We are Three Sisters) and polymath Jonathan Miller directs.

Rutter takes on the central role of Rutherford, the owner of a glassworks, who swaggers and bullies his way through the play, at one point ordering his daughter Janet to remove his shoes. ‘Spoilt, that’s what you are my lass, spoilt.’ Soon she is spitting venom, telling him that she wishes he was dead. It’s just one of three rebellions by his children as the domineering Rutherford continues to put his work and reputation first. ‘Life is work, work and more work,’ he says.

One son leaves, another turns to religion but his banishment of his daughter is the most dramatic. When he discovers she is the talk of the county f...

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Latest User Review

KarenJo Worthington - 22 February 2013:

Riveting, powerful and emotionally charged fly on the wall insight into Edwardian values and power struggles. What a play write Githa Sowerby was......

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