THE WINSLOW BOY The Old Vic

Terence Rattigan (1911-1977), cruelly reviled and unjustly neglected during the last twenty years of his life, is now, thank goodness, firmly back in the fold and rightly much admired for his stagecraft and his characteristic British understatement. Here he manages, most adroitly and entertainingly, to wave a patriotic flag whilst at the same time attacking the Establishment and “the despotism of bureaucracy.” He based his story on the famous Archer-¬Shee case of 1910 1912 in which a 13-year-old naval cadet was accused of stealing a five shilling postal order and expelled. The boy’s father wants a fair trial and is willing to sacrifice his wealth, his health and his family to get it. The most dramatic scene is the one when the boy is cross-examined by the best advocate in the land, who having reduced the cadet to tears, declares: “The boy is plainly innocent. I accept the brief.” But will right be done when the Admiralty argues that “in certain cases right may have to be sacrificed for the public good”? Lindsay Posner’s solid production has sterling performances by Henry Goodman (paterfamilias), Deborah Findlay (wife), Naomi Frederick (suffragette daughter) and Peter Sullivan (barrister).