Actor Adrian Lukis on bringing The Winslow Boy to Bromley

The Winslow Boy

The Churchill

Bromley

Despite being written in 1946 and set in 1910, Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy is as topical a play as any currently playing in the UK.

Starring screen and stage veteran Timothy West, it depicts an Edwardian family struggling against the Establishment to prove the innocence of 14-year-old Ronnie Winslow, a cadet expelled from naval college after being accused of stealing a five-shilling postal order.

Determined to clear his son's name, Arthur Winslow employs leading solicitor Sir Robert Morton to take on the might of the Admiralty and the government.

Actor Adrian Lukis (pictured), who plays Sir Robert, says audience reactions to the material have been astonishing.

"When we first put it on, the MP's expenses were all over the headlines and we had to keep stopping the play because people were whooping and hollering and applauding very loudly.

"It wasn't to do with the acting, but to do with the writing. We haven't had to change a word and yet people were going 'yeah, too right, that's it, bloody MPs'.

"It was not what you would expect of a Rattigan play on a wet afternoon in Kingston. It has touched a nerve."

Based on a true story, The Winslow Boy explores the themes of politics, justice and morality with the looming menace of the first world war in the background. Adrian says what could be mistaken for a stuffy piece of period drama gets as many laughs as a comedy

"It's not a comedy, but by God he knew how to write, Rattigan. It's terribly funny just in the juxtaposition of the different characters.

"The roars of laughter coming over the Tannoy when you're sitting in your dressing room is like listening to a comedy. The laughter comes thick and fast – and huge laughs."

While Timothy West's "dry old stick" of a father figure gets the bulk of the laughs, Sir Robert is a severe barrister who eventually thaws just a little thanks to the charms of Catherine, the Winslow family's feisty, suffragette daughter.

"He's described by Catherine as a 'cold, supercilious, sneering fish'," says Adrian. "I've tried to follow that to some extent. He's intellectually extremely arrogant and when he interviews the boy to see if he's innocent or guilty he absolutely puts him through the wringer.

"It's quite hard to get right, but it's great to keep working on."

A 50-year-old from Birmingham, Adrian has worked in the theatre since the early 1980s, learning his art at the Drama Studio in London and enjoying stints with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.

While his many television appearances include the popular series Peak Practice, Midsomer Murders and Judge John Deed, he is perhaps best known for his portrayal of George Wickham in the classic 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride And Prejudice.

Adrian says his current project is one of the most satisfying of his career.

"We've all been in plays that have been turkeys," he says. "It's often an uphill struggle, but this is a very happy company and I think that makes a difference.

"The Winslow Boy is just a great play, so you've got that to start with. If someone's given you a fantastic blueprint and then said 'now go and deliver it' and if you've got actors with the skills to do credit to the writing – as I think we do in this company – then you've got a good evening."

By Oliver Frankham

Monday July 13 to Saturday July 18

Tickets £27 to £33

Phone 08448 717620 or book online at www.ambassadortickets.com/bromley