UPSTAGE SPOTLIGHT TIME AND THE CONWAYS
By J.B. Priestley Directed by Rebecca Taichman
In 1919 Britain, Mrs. Conway is full of optimism during her daughter’s lavish twenty-first birthday celebration. The Great War is over, wealth is in the air, and the family’s dreams bubble over like champagne. Nineteen years later, though, the Conways’ lives have transformed unimaginably.
A NOTE FROM ARTISTIC DIRECTOR TODD HAIMES
The act of “rediscovering” lesser-known but deserving classics by masters such as Priestley and bringing them back to Broadway stages is, I believe, a core component of Roundabout’s mission. With trademark nuance and depth, Priestley delves into the Conways’ most personal aspirations, shortcomings, and fears, and as their story unravels, he examines those life-altering moments that put dreams at odds with destiny. What begins as a theatrical exploration into a theory of perception and the subconscious becomes a piercing look at the consequences of greed and the worship of status.
WHEN An autumn night in 1919
WHERE Mrs. Conway’s house, a detached villa in a prosperous suburb of a manufacturing town, Newlingham.
WHO
Mrs. Conway: A charming woman in her mid-forties. Hazel: Mrs. Conway’s daughter, in her early twenties. Kay: Mrs. Conway’s daughter, intelligent and sensitive, turning twenty-one. Ernest: A business associate of Gerald’s, socially awkward, about thirty. Alan: Mrs. Conway’s son, shy and quiet, in his early twenties. Robin: Mrs. Conway’s son, a high-spirited Air Force officer, twenty-three. Carol: Mrs. Conway’s daughter, sweet-natured, seventeen or eighteen. Madge: Mrs. Conway’s daughter, serious and responsible, a year or two older than Hazel. Gerald: A solicitor with a pleasant and consciously-cultivated air, early thirties. Joan: A friend of Hazel’s who is around the same age and rather foolish.
2 ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY
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