The Winslow Boy and the #metoo Movement

The Winslow Boy might appear to be one of the most historically specific of Rattigan’s plays. Set just before the outbreak of the First World War, it focuses on the individual’s right to challenge government institutions and persuade them to change their policies, even if the decision has to be ultimately made in the House of Commons.

As is common, however, there is more to Rattigan than meets the eye.  David Giles’s 1977version for the BBC’s PLAY OF THE MONTH strand reminded us of a time when the television companies produced material focusing on the actors, not on extraneous aspects of the mise en scene, to produce genuinely thought-provoking work.  initially this production seemed quite straightforward: with Alan Badel playing the advocate Sir Robert Morton, it seemed as if he might dominate the action with a performance combining authority with a genuine enthusiasm for right to prevail.  but this turned out not to be true: the star of this production was.Michele Dotrice as Kate Winslow, the daughter who passes up a socially advantageous marriage to fight for her brother’s innocence.  Her face remained largely expressionless, but her determination could be seen in the way she tensed her muscles whenever a big decision had to be made, and her refusal to change a decision once it had been made.  

The magnitude of what Kate did must not be underestimated.  The entire first half of the play centres on her engagement to military man John Watherstone (David Robb), with all the rituals of John obtaining permission from Kate’s father (Eric Porter), followed by the ritualistic celebrations with a glass of Sherry. But Kate refuses this life of prosperity in favour of principle: her brother is innocent, and she must fight for it.  John tries to persuade her to give it up, so as to secure his father’s money, but he does not understand the depth of her feelings. It’s not just family loyalty, it’s about retaining the individual right to challenge bureaucracies. Kate supports the nascent feminist movement, and will continue working with it, in spite of the minimal financial rewards.

Director Giles directs out attention to Kate in the play’s two major exchanges: the first with John, when she turns him down despite his offer of a secure life: and in the final exchange with Sir Robert Morton, where she admits to understanding his ambition as well as his quirks of character while in legal practice.  In a world that routinely believed that men are the workers and women are there to serve men, Kate’s refusal to be cowed stands out.  Her father, a crippled man who nearly bankrupts the family to win the case, relies upon her - as he admits in an exchange towards the end, as the two o the reflects on what they have achieved.

The production might be forty years old, but it has much to tell us, especially at a time when women are fighting the patriarchy and expressing their refusal to be cowed by male power.  Kate would be a valuable member of the #metoo movement in her convictions as well as in her willingness to fight battles on behalf of her sex as well as her family..  This production proves how Rattigan’s dramas are about more than they appear to be, and how their themes transcend the specifiicities of their situations.