Less Than Kind

Synopsis

Less Than Kind is the original 1944 play which was extensively rewritten for Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne with the title ‘Love in Idleness’ / US title ‘O Mistress Mine’. The plot concerns Michael Brown, an idealistic socialist 17 year old who on his return from five years’ evacuation in Canada during World War Two, is horrified to find Olivia, his widowed mother living with Sir John Fletcher, a married Tory MP and industrialist. The play centres on Olivia’s anguish as she is torn between her love for her son and for her lover.

Our Review:

Anne Morley-Priestman - 19 March 2012

To read (the programme notes while waiting for the curtain to rise), or not to read. That’s becomes a serious question when the play is Terence Rattigan’s Less Than Kind, un-staged in its original version from 1944 until the enterprising Planet Theatre disinterred it last year. As a play, it stands on its own two feet without any knowledge of the background. In Adrian Brown's production, it’s also very good.

Forget about turning the plot of Hamlet on its head for a moment. Plenty of productions have fun with this one, as well as with other classics – and they mostly stand up to the treatment. Instead, concentrate on the story. Olivia is a young widow, whose son has evacuated to Canada for the war years. With the tide of battle turning in favour of the Allies, he’s come home not as a boy but as a 17-year old, balancing precariously between youth and manhood.

But Olivia no longer lives in a cramped West London flat. Instead...

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Latest User Review

Michael Gray - 28 March 2012:

Sara Crowe was unwell, so for the midweek matinée her huge role was heroically undertaken by Caroline Head, who made an excellent job of the character. Those further down the ladder fitted their roles, and their costumes, rather less well....

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