One of the biggest international hits of the 1930s, ‘The Wind and the Rain’ by Merton Hodge starred Celia Johnson when it opened in the West End in 1933, running for over 1,000 performances at three different theatres – the St. Martin’s, the Queen’s and the Savoy.
It also played for six months on Broadway, toured internationally, was translated into nine languages, was televised multiple times, and remained a staple of British repertory theatre for decades.
Inspired by playwright Merton Hodge’s own experiences of training at Edinburgh Medical School, and arguably by his own love life as a bisexual man in the 1930s – he lived with actor Geoffrey Wardwell in Ebury Street, close to Noël Coward and mingled in bohemian and theatrical circles, partying with Coward, Ivor Novello and Tallulah Bankhead – ‘The Wind and the Rain’ is a gentle but universal coming-of-age of student life and growing up
Now it will get its first professional London production in over 80 years at the Finborough Theatre.
Edinburgh, 1933. Charles Tritton, an 18-year-old medical student about to begin his studies, arrives at Mrs McFie’s boarding house. Before him lie five years of swotting for exams and sweating over dissections, alongside his fellow residents – eternal student Gilbert Raymond who would rather be drinking and chasing girls than passing his exams; the studious sportsman and frightful bore, John Williams; and the sage older postgraduate student, Frenchman Dr Paul Duhamel.
Charles begins his course counting down the days until he can return to the life he’s left behind in London, and Jill, the girl whom he has promised to marry. Until sculptor, Anne Hargreaves walks into his study… Charles is suddenly torn between the life that has been mapped out for him and the unexpected possibility of another path…
Cast: Lynton Appleton, Harvey Cole, David Furlong, Mark Lawrence, Jenny Lee, Joe Pitts, Naomi Preston-Low, Helen Reuben.
Finborough Theatre, 118 Finborough Road, LONDON, SW10 9ED from Tuesday 11 July – Saturday 5 August. Times: Tue – Sat Evening 19.30; Sat & Sun Matinees 15.00. Admission:
Box office: £18 – £23
https://finboroughtheatre.co.uk/production/the-wind-and-the-rain/
