The Late Middle Classes (NHB Modern Plays)

A funny yet melancholic look at the frustrations, secrets and guilt of middle-class respectability in 1950s England. England in the 1950s. Celia, bored to distraction, fills her time with tennis and gin; Charles, a pathologist, is buried in his work among the living and the dead; and their gifted son, Holly, is having his first lessons in both music and in life. Simon Gray's play The Late Middle Classes was first performed at the Palace Theatre, Watford, in March 1999, and produced on tour by the Ambassadors Theatre Group/Turnstile Group Limited. It was the winner of the Barclays Stage Award for Best New Play of 1999. The play was revived at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in June 2010. 'This is Gray at the very top of his game; funny, delicate, and deeply humane' - Telegraph 'the writing is a joy' - Independent 'a quietly moving portrait of repressive 1950s England and, in particular, of the way children often become the victim of adult dreams and desires' - Guardian

Simon Gray (1936-2008) was a British playwright, novelist and screenwriter. He wrote more than thirty stage plays, amongst them Butley and Otherwise Engaged (which both received Evening Standard Awards for Best Play), Quartermaine's Terms, The Common Pursuit, The Late Middle Classes (winner of the Barclay's Best Play Award), Japes, The Old Masters and Little Nell.