Jonathan Miller’s Northern Rutherford gets London premiere at St James

Jonathan Miller‘s critically acclaimed revival Githa Sowerby’s 1912 play Rutherford and Son will receive its London premiere this summer at the new St James’ Theatre, where it will have a limited season from 5 to 29 June (preview 4 June).

The production, for Northern Broadsides, opened at the company’s Halifax home, the Viaduct Theatre in February, and is currently on tour. Set in early 1890s industrial Yorkshire, it stars Broadsides artistic director Barrie Rutter as the iron-fisted John Rutherford, who battles the scheming rebellion of his younger son and his daughter’s scandalous love affair, while fighting to prevent the legacy of the family glassworks from shattering.

Since finding fame early in his career with Beyond the Fringe, Jonathan Miller has become one of the world’s leading directors, though he has tended to concentrate more on opera and international credits in recent years. He returned to play directing after a five-year absence to helm Rutherford and Son, and became Northern Broadsides’ first “guest director” in the process. He and Rutter previously collaborated on a 1987 production of The Taming of the Shrew for the Royal Shakespeare Company. His other most recent theatre credits have also been for regional playhouses: The Cherry Orchard (Sheffield Crucible) and Hamlet (Tobacco Factory, Bristol).

Commenting on the London season for Rutherford and Son, Miller said: “It’s such great news that Rutherford and Son will transfer to the St James Theatre. As soon as I read the play, I was attracted to its straightforward dramatic simplicity and the fact that it seemed unexpectedly relevant. It is an incredibly important piece of theatre.”

The cast also features Nicholas Shaw, Andrew Grose, Sara Poyzer, Kate Anthony, Catherine Kinsella and Richard Standing. The production is designed by Isabella Bywater.