The Winslow Boy

Written in 1946 but set just a few years before the First World War Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy is one of the finest examples to be found of the 'well made play'. Deeply humane and wise, it is perhaps most famous for its stirring call to 'let right be done.'

The Winslow Boy is based on the real-life court case of a young naval cadet unjustly accused of stealing a five shilling postal order. This event, as controversial in 1910 as anything in the tabloids today, resulted in one of Rattigan's finest and most engrossing dramas as an eminent-and initially unsympathetic-QC takes on the case, and the boy has to withstand the full might of the Royal Naval Establishment seeking to discredit him.

As well as proving hugely popular and successful on the stage, The Winslow Boy has twice been filmed; most recently by David Mamet and starring the late, great, Sir Nigel Hawthorne as the boy's father.

This elegant volume is one of a series of Rattigan's plays individually published by Nick Hern Books. Each has an authoritative and invaluable introduction, biographical sketch and full chronology.