The Skin Game

Synopsis

John Galsworthy's first play, The Silver Box, was premiered in 1906 in a production by Granville Barker at the Royal Court. But his first big commercially successful play was The Skin Game in 1920. Galsworthy was profoundly disturbed by what he witnessed as an ambulance driver during the First World War and in The Skin Game, which is not on the surface about war at all, he deals with the consequences that arise when those who hold differing, entrenched positions come into conflict. The Hillcrests have owned their land for centuries. The Hornblowers are newly rich business men. The gloves come off when those who want to protect and preserve take up arms against those who want to develop and build.

Our Review:

26 March 2007

John Galsworthy’s flawed but fascinating 1920 play continues the Orange Tree’s excellent season celebrating Shaw and his contemporaries. It has been illuminating to see how the dramatists of the early twentieth century shared similar preoccupations with themes such as capitalism, class and the position of women in society. And Sam Walters’ beautifully modulated production of The Skin Game breathes dramatic life into Galsworthy’s judicious examination of social and ethical problems.

The play centres around the conflict between old and new money, as represented respectively by the Hillcrists, gentry who have owned their land for generations but whose finances are now in decline, and the nouveau riche family of Hornblower, an ever-expanding pottery manufacturer. Squire Hillcrist has sold Hornblower land on condition that the agricultural tenants there would be able to carry on living in their cottages, so when Hornblower decides to evict them in favour of his...

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Latest User Review

Backdrifter - 23 March 2007:

The Orange Tree continues its tradition of reviving little-performed writers and plays with this excellent, gripping take on John Galsworthy's characteristic examination of injustice. In this case, the injustice at first appears to be suffered by the Hillcrist family and their staff whose homes are threatened by the property developments of their industrialist neighbours, the Hornblowers. But the Hillcrists' attacking response and the disquiet it produces ultimately leaves one person, who has married into one of the families, as the true victim. Pacey direction by Orange Tree supremo Sam Walters, and terrific performances, make this compelling viewing....

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