Troupe in association with Neil McPherson
for the Finborough Theatre presents

THE WHITE
CARNATION

by R. C. Sherriff

FINBOROUGH | THEATRE

First performed at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, on Monday, 5 January 1953

First performance at the Finborough Theatre: Tuesday, 26 November 2013

THE WHITE CARNATION

by R. C. Sherriff

Cast in order of speaking

In and around John Greenwood’s house in a small town near London.

Act I, Scene 1 - Just before midnight, Christmas Eve, 1951

Act I, Scene 2 - Midnight on Christmas Eve

Act I, Scene 3 - Half an hour later

Act I, Scene 4 - Afternoon on Christmas Day

Act II, Scene 1 - The middle of January

Act II, Scene 2 - The middle of June

Act II, Scene 3 - Just before midnight, Christmas Eve, 1952

The performance lasts approximately two hours

There will be one interval of fifteen minutes.

Our patrons are respectfully reminded that, in this intimate theatre, any noise such as rustling programmes, talking or the ringing of mobile phones may distract the actors and your fellow audience-members.

We regret there is no admittance or re-admittance to the auditorium whilst the performance is in progress.

Robert Benfield | Mr. Gurney

Trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.

Theatre includes Chicken Soup with Barley (Nottingham Playhouse and Tricycle Theatre), The Families of Lockerbie, Blithe Spirit and The Importance of Being Earnest (Nottingham Playhouse), The Story of Vasco, Overboard, Summer Again, Macbeth, The Mob, Saint’s Day, Engaged and Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond), Pythagoras (Birmingham Rep), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Hamlet, The Norman Conquests, Treats, The Atheist’s Tragedy and What the Butler Saw (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry), Death in Leicester, Bond’s Lear and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Everyman Theatre, Liverpool), The Clandestine Marriage, Love in a Maze and Hobson’s Choice (Watermill Theatre, Newbury), Death of a Salesman (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford and Hong Kong Arts Festival), Having a Lovely Time, All Together Now and The Game Hunter (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough), Pravda, The Comedy of Errors, Racing Demon, Rattle of a Simple Man, The Three Sisters, On Approval, The Pickwick Papers, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Neville’s Island, Twelfth Night and The Elephant Man (Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich), The Bacchae and Blood Wedding (Royal and Derngate Theatre, Northampton), The Seagull (UK Tour) and The Relapse and Charley’s Aunt (Cambridge Theatre Company).

Film includes The Line, Pipe Up, Leves Miserables: The Phone-Hacking Inquiry Musical, The Final Shot and Tower Bridge Project. Television includes The Widower, Sherlock, Law and Order, Def 11, Doctors, Emmerdale and Funny Man.

Radio includes The Screwtape Letters, The Railway Children, The Chronicles of Narnia, Ben Hur, Oliver Twist, The Secret Garden, Les Misérables, Bonhoeffer, A Christmas Carol and Under Drake’s Flag.

Daisy Boulton | Lydia Truscott

Trained at RADA.

Theatre includes Measure for Measure (Almeida Theatre) and Kingdom of Earth (Rosemary Branch Theatre).

Ashley Cook | Tony Dale

Productions at the Finborough Theatre include F***ing Men (2008).

Trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.

Theatre includes King Lear (The Old Vic and English Touring Theatre), The Mousetrap (St. Martin’s Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry), Romeo and Juliet (Derby Playhouse), A Doll’s House and The Importance of Being Earnest (Theatre Royal, Lincoln), She Stoops to Conquer and The Daughter-in-Law (Perth Theatre), The Art of Concealment and How to Cook a Country (Riverside Studios), The Importance of Being Earnest (UK and Ireland Tour for London Classic Theatre), The Bootmaker’s Daughter (Brighton Festival), Love and Understanding (BAC), Stonewall (Pleasance Edinburgh and The Drill Hall), Cahoot’s Macbeth (King’s Head Theatre) and Much Ado About Nothing (Antic Disposition). Film includes A Mind of Her Own, Love in a Dangerous Time and Don Justino de Neve.

Television includes The Bill, The Basil Brush Show and Patrick Hamilton: Words, Whisky and Women.

Radio for BBC Radio 4 includes Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Bad Memories, Development, Inside the Whale, Inside Stories, Q & A, Life Class, Sharp Focus and My Turn to Make the Tea.

Lynette Edwards | Lady Mary

Productions at the Finborough Theatre include Laburnum Grove (2013).

Theatre includes Timon of Athens and Time and The Conways (National Theatre), Morse: House of Ghosts (UK Tour), Cards on the Table (Vaudeville Theatre), The Mousetrap (St Martin’s Theatre), Phallacy (King’s Head Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest (Theatre Royal, Lincoln), Man of the Moment, Henceforward, The Ballroom and The Parasol (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough), Blithe Spirit and Things We Do For Love (Northcott Theatre, Exeter), Richard III, Absurd Person Singular and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Derby Playhouse), Lady Windermere’s Fan, How Green Was My Valley, Dombey and Son, To Serve Them All My Days and My Mother Said I Never Should (Royal and Derngate Theatre, Northampton), Wife Begins at Forty, The Comedy of Errors, The Hollow and Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay! (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), The Anastasia File (Watermill Theatre, Newbury), Outside Edge (The Mill at Sonning), One for the Road and Noises Off (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry) and Pat and Margaret (Salisbury Playhouse).

Film includes My Summer of Love.

Television includes Doctors, Judge John Deed, Family Affairs, Losing Track, 1996, The Paradise Club and Boon.

Radio includes Animal Crackers and several seasons with the BBC World Service English repertory company.

Aden Gillett | John Greenwood

Productions at the Finborough Theatre include Accolade (2011).

Trained at RADA.

Theatre includes Our Country’s Good (UK Tour for Original Theatre Company), Alarms and Excursions (UK Tour), Next Time I’ll Sing to You (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond), The Little Hut (UK Tour), The Price (Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh), Amongst Friends (Hampstead Theatre), Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre), Blithe Spirit (Savoy Theatre), Betrayal (Duchess Theatre), Design for Living (Theatre Royal, Bath), Benefactors (Albery Theatre), The Doctor’s Dilemma and Noises Off (National Theatre), Suzanna Andler (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Seagull and An Inspector Calls (Royale Theatre, Broadway), Three Sisters (Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch), The Ghost Train (Lyric Hammersmith), Too Clever by Half and The Tempest (The Old Vic), Twelfth Night and El Cid (Donmar Warehouse), Wild Honey, Marat Sade, The Importance of Being Earnest, All’s Well That Ends Well (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Great Expectations, Hay Fever, The Admirable Crichton (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester) as well as seasons for Cheek by Jowl.

Film includes Tula – The Revolt, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Collusion, Shadow of the Vampire, The Winslow Boy, The Borrowers and Under the Lighthouse Dancing.
Television includes Holby City, Casualty, The Queen’s Sister, Margaret, The Impressionists, Pollyanna, Innocents, Tenth Kingdom, Silent Witness, Wonderful You, Touching Evil II, The Guinea Pig, Ivanhoe, The Vet, The House of Eliott, Silk, Ivanhoe, Midsomer Murders, Berlin Break and The Harry Enfield Show.

Harriett Hare | Cynthia Gray

Trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Theatre includes The Pirates of Penzance (Theatre Royal, York), Look Back in Anger (Reading Repertory Theatre Company) and The York Mystery Plays (Square Peg Theatre Company).

Film includes Jesus Decoded.

Josie Kidd | Lady Wallace | Mrs. Carter

Productions at the Finborough Theatre include Gates of Gold (2004) and its subsequent transfer to the Trafalgar Studios (2006). Trained at RADA.

Theatre includes Dirty Dancing (Aldwych Theatre), Glorious (Duchess Theatre and UK Tour), Present Laughter (Aldwych Theatre and Wyndham’s Theatre), Stepping Out (Novello Theatre and UK Tour), Ring Round the Moon (King’s Head Theatre), See How They Run and Relative Values (Vienna’s English Theatre), Woman In Mind (Watford Palace Theatre and Wilmington, USA), Run For Your Wife and Funny Money (Oriana Theatre Company) and Birds on the Wing (Piccadilly Theatre).

Film includes Shoot on Sight, Ghost Hunter and No Longer Alone.

Television includes Midsomer Murders, The Invisibles, Catwalk Dogs, Life Begins, Down to Earth, Fletcher – Lives on the Box, Doctors, Hot Money, Murder in Mind, Silent Witness, Peak Practice, Wycliffe, Last of the Summer Wine, Juliet Jekyll and Harriet Hyde, Uncle Jack, London’s Burning, The Pallisers, War and Peace and Nana.

Radio includes numerous radio dramas for the BBC Radio Drama Company.

Pop Promos include Dream with Dizzee Rascal.

Bruce Panday | Police Sergeant Phillips

Trained at East 15 Acting School.

Theatre includes The Pied Piper (Chichester Festival Theatre), Twelfth Night (Dundee Repertory Theatre), Lennon (Astoria Theatre), Moonlight Serenade (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith) and Sweet Charity (UK Tour). Film includes Birds of Prey, Dear Alison and Man with a Fork.

Television includes London’s Burning, The Bill, Crime Monthly and The Early Days.

Joss Porter | Police Constable Thompson

Trained at RADA.

This is his professional stage debut.

Television includes The Ark.

Benjamin Whitrow | Mr. Pendlebury

Trained at RADA.

Started his career at Liverpool Playhouse, Birmingham Rep and Bristol Old Vic. He subsequently joined the National Theatre under Laurence Olivier in 1967 and worked there for seven years.

Theatre includes Otherwise Engaged (Queen’s Theatre), Dirty Linen (Arts Theatre), Ten Times Table (Gielgud Theatre), Noises Off (Savoy Theatre), Passion Play and Made in Bangkok (Aldwych Theatre), Amphitryon (Wyndham’s Theatre), Uncle Vanya (Vaudeville Theatre), Home and Beauty (Prince of Wales Theatre), The Rivals, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Winter’s Tale and Henry IV (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, The Sisterhood, Henry VIII, The Lady’s Not for Burning, Mr. Panmuir and A Man for all Seasons (Chichester Festival Theatre) and Racing Demon, Wild Oats, A Little Hotel on the Side and The Invention of Love (National Theatre).

Film includes Quadrophenia, A Shocking Accident, Brimstone and Treacle, Personal Services, On the Black Hill, Restoration, Chicken Run and A Man for All Seasons.

Television includes Troilus and Cressida, By George, Midsomer Murders, We Think the World of You, A Little Bit of Singing and Dancing, Tom Jones, Poirot, Hay Fever, King Lear, The Queen’s Sister, On Approval, Coming Through, Inspector Morse, The Factory and Pride and Prejudice (BAFTA nomination).

Derek Wright | Dr. MacGregor

Theatre includes Lloyd George Knew My Father (Theatre Royal, Bath), Edward II (Arts Theatre), Rolls Hyphen Royce (Shaftesbury Theatre), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (The Old Vic, Prince of Wales Theatre, Toronto season and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane), Eugene Onegin (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), Don Quixote (Roundhouse), Blood and Iron (Tristan Bates Theatre), The Men’s Room and Fat Souls (Warehouse Theatre, Croydon), The Road to Nowhere (Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon), Journey’s End, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, Dinner with the Family, The Lady from the Sea, Mr. Cinders and The Hollow (Sheringham Theatre), Rock-a-Hula Rest Home (Brighton Festival), The Circle (English Theatre, Hamburg), Charley’s Aunt, Caught in the Net, There Goes the Bride and The Case of the Frightened Lady (UK Tours), Pygmalion (Eye Theatre, Suffolk), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Landor Theatre), The Company of Strangers (Courtyard Theatre), The Government Inspector (UK Tour for Compass Theatre) and Quartet, No Man’s Land and The Kingfisher (Rumpus Theatre Company).

Film includes Goodbye and Hello.

Television includes Edna, The Inebriate Woman, Antony and Cleopatra, The Fight Against Slavery, Spy Trap, General Hospital and The Dreamstone.

Philip York | Sir George Wallace | Sir Horace Duncan

Productions at the Finborough Theatre include So Great a Crime (2013).

Trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Theatre includes Telstar (New Ambassadors Theatre), The Mousetrap (St Martin’s Theatre), Beyond Reasonable Doubt (Queen’s Theatre), Danton’s Death, Lorenzaccio and The Prince of Homburg (National Theatre), Lies Have Been Told (Pleasance Edinburgh and Trafalgar Studios), Twelfth Night, Macbeth and Afore Night Come (Royal Shakespeare Company), An Empty Desk (Royal Court Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Love’s Labour’s Lost and Where’s Charley? (Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park), Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra and War Music (The Old Vic), Henry VIII (Chichester Festival Theatre), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Pygmalion and The Merchant of Venice (Watford Palace Theatre), The Birthday Party (Theatr Clywd Cymru), A Winter’s Tale (Sherman Theatre, Cardiff), Relatively Speaking, Face Values, Miss Yesterday, A Chorus of Disapproval and The Game Hunter (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough), A Little Bit on the Side – Beryl Reid Review, It’s Never too Late, It Runs in the Family and Out of Order (UK Tours), Barefoot in the Park, Inside Job and Make Me a Match (The Mill at Sonning), A Taste of Oz (King’s Head Theatre) and Arms and the Man, The Case of Rebellious Susan, Mary Goes First, The Making of Moo, Family Circles, Inheritors, Overboard, Love’s a Luxury and The Charity that Began at Home (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond).

Film includes Chasing Robert Barker, Love in a Dangerous Time, Telstar, Photo Finish, Cetuerored, Shooting Fish, Hennessy, Richard’s Things and The Merchant of Venice.
Television includes Silk, Heartbeat, Rosemary and Thyme, A Touch of Frost, Philip Larkin Revealed, Beck, The Bill, Paradise Postponed, The Professionals and EastEnders.

R. C. Sherriff | Playwright

R. C. Sherriff was born in 1896. He fought in the First World War and on his return worked for an insurance company, writing plays, novels and screenplays in his spare time. He made his name with Journey’s End, an immediate success when it premiered in January 1929 at the Savoy Theatre. By the end of the year, there were more than thirty separate productions running throughout the world. Focusing on the horror and tragedy of human conflict, it remains one of the most moving plays of the twentieth century. His best-selling novel The Fortnight in September (1931) led to interest from Hollywood and an invitation to write his first screenplay The Invisible Man (1933). His British film screenplay successes included The Four Feathers (1939), the Oscar-nominated Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939), Mrs. Miniver (1942) and The Dam Busters (1955). Though Journey’s End continued to define his career in the theatre, the post-Second World War period was an ‘Indian summer’ for Sherriff, typified by The White Carnation (1953), Miss Mabel (1948), Home at Seven (1950) and The Long Sunset (1955). He died in 1975.

The White Carnation was originally produced by H. M. Tennent and previewed at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, opening on 5 January 1953, prior to opening at the Globe Theatre (now the Gielgud) in the West End. It was written for and starred Sir Ralph Richardson as Greenwood, who played opposite his wife Meriel Forbes as Lydia. The great character actor Harcourt Williams played Mr. Pendlebury, in one of his final stage appearances, and the role of Dr. MacGregor was played by Lockwood West, father to Timothy West. This production marks the first professional revival of The White Carnation for sixty years.

Knight Mantell | Director

Trained at Manchester University. Directing includes The Art of Concealment (Jermyn Street Theatre and Riverside Studios), Sweet Pounds of Flesh (Arts Theatre), Murder in the Cathedral, The Circle, The Importance of Being Earnest, Blithe Spirit, Side by Side by Sondheim and Pygmalion (Salisbury Playhouse), Sleeping it Off (Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham), The Dresser and The Rivals (UK Tours for The British Actors Theatre Company), Educating Rita, Duet for One, Sleuth, Eden End, Say Who You Are and Bedroom Farce (Southwold Theatre) and Hay Fever, Time and Time Again, The Secretary Bird, The Browning Version and Misalliance (Thorndike Theatre, Leatherhead). He was Co-Founder of Channel Theatre Company and Director at Lyceum Productions, for which he directed Everyman, Thérèse Raquin, Don Juan in Hell and The Norman Conquests.

Alex Marker | Designer

Alex is Resident Designer at the Finborough Theatre. Selected productions at the Finborough Theatre include Soldiers (2004), Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams (2005), Trelawny of the ‘Wells’ (2005), Albert’s Boy (2005), Lark Rise to Candleford (2005), Red Night (2005), Eden’s Empire (2006), Little Madam (2007), Plague Over England (2008) and its subsequent transfer to the Duchess Theatre (2009), Hangover Square (2008), Sons of York (2008), Death of Long Pig (2009), Molière or The League of Hypocrites (2009), Dream of the Dog (2010) and its subsequent transfer to the Trafalgar Studios (2010), Me and Juliet (2010), Quality Street (2010), Outward Bound (2012), So Great a Crime (2013), London Wall (2013) and its subsequent transfer to the St. James Theatre (2013), Saer Doliau (2013) and I Didn’t Always Live Here (2013).

Directing at the Finborough Theatre includes Portraits (2011) and Summer Day’s Dream (2013).

Trained at Wimbledon School of Art. Theatre includes The Moment of Truth (Southwark Playhouse), Tape (Trafalgar Studios), Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (The Theatre, Chipping Norton), Rift (Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton), Jus’ Like That – An Evening with Tommy Cooper (UK Tour), The Schools’ Theatre Festival (Young Vic), Origin: Unknown (Theatre Royal, Stratford East), The Real McCoy – Reconnected (Hackney Empire and Broadway Theatre, Catford), The Viewing Room (Arts Theatre), Sweet Charity (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane), Oklahoma! (New Wimbledon Theatre), Ex (Soho Theatre), The Searcher (Greenwich Theatre), My Real War 1914-? (Trafalgar Studios and UK Tour) and Cooking with Elvis (Lyceum Theatre, Crewe). His work has been extensively featured in exhibitions, most recently as part of the Transformation and Revelation: UK Design for Performance in Cardiff. He is Director of the Questors Youth Theatre.

Peter Harrison | Lighting Designer

Productions at the Finborough Theatre include Japes (2002), The Very Nearly Love Life of My Friend Paul (2002) and Too True to Be Good (2009).

Trained at RADA. Theatre includes Much Ado About Nothing (Ludlow Festival), All the Single Ladies (Churchill Theatre, Bromley, and UK Tour), Britain’s Got Bhangra (Rifco Arts at Watford Palace Theatre), The Doubtful Guest (Hoipolloi at Theatre Royal, Plymouth, and Watford Palace Theatre), Wuthering Heights (Tamasha Theatre Company at Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith), Aladdin and Sleeping Beauty (First Family Entertainment at Richmond Theatre), Orestes (Shared Experience) and The Ballad of the Burning Star and Translunar Paradise (Theatre Ad Infinitum). Opera includes Paul Bunyan (Welsh National Youth Opera), Orpheus in the Underworld (Royal College of Music) and Carmen (Hampstead Garden Opera). As an Associate Lighting Designer, work includes The Commitments (Palace Theatre), I Can’t SingCollaboratorsWritten on SkinIn a Minor KeyThe Wolves in the Walls