Githa Sowerby - Rutherford and Son

Rutherford and Son

First staged in 1912 and described as the most powerful play produced in England in this decade, Githa Sowerbys powerful Edwardian classic on family and labour enjoyed huge success in London and New York before disappearing from view.

Set in the North Yorkshire home of the oppressive patriarch John Rutherford, Rutherford and Sons portrayal of the fathers obsession with his glass manufacturing business and his tyranny over the wrecked lives of his family is on a par with the dramas of Ibsen, Gorky and Granville Barker.

This edition of Rutherford and Son is published to coincide with the National Theatre production in May 2019.

Githa Sowerby

Little is known about Githa Sowerby other than that she spent her childhood in Tyne and Wear and her family were involved in the glass-making business. It seems she moved to London in her early twenties and probably wrote Rutherford and Son (1912) in her new southern location. Other plays followed: Before Breakfast (1912); A Man and Some Women (1914); Sheila (1917); The Stepmother (1924); The Policemans Whistle (1934). From then on she wrote numerous books for children with her elder sister Millicent. Githa Sowerby died in 1970.

METHUEN DRAMA

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First published in Great Britain in 1912 by Sidgwick and Jackson

Published with additions from the 1912

prompt book by Methuen Drama 1994

This edition published 2019

Copyright Estate of Githa Sowerby, 1912, 1994, 2019

Introduction copyright Linda Fitzsimmons, 1991, 1994, 2019

Cover design: Ben Anslow

Photography (Roger Allam) David Stewart

Art direction and design National Theatre Graphic Design Studio

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Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes.

No rights in incidental music or songs contained in the work are hereby granted and performance rights for any performance/presentation whatsoever must be obtained from the respective copyright owners.

All rights whatsoever in this play are strictly reserved and application for performance etc. should be made before rehearsals by professionals and by amateurs to Samuel French at 2432 Stephenson Way, London, NW1 2HD, UK, Email: . No performance may be given unless a licence has been obtained.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: PB: 978-1-350-13277-1

ePDF: 978-1-350-13278-8

eBook: 978-1-350-13279-5

Series: Modern Plays

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Rutherford and Son

Rutherford and Son was first performed at the Court Theatre, London, on 31 January 1912, with the following cast:

Produced by John Leigh

This new edition of Rutherford and Son was published to coincide with the National Theatres 2019 revival at the Lyttelton Theatre on 16 May 2019, with the following cast and creative team:

Scene: living room in John Rutherfords house.

Two days elapse between Acts One and Two. One night between Acts Two and Three.

John Rutherfords house stands on the edge of the moor, far enough from the village to serve its dignity and near enough to admit of the master going to and from the Works in a few minutes a process known to the household as going across. The living room, in which the family life has centred for generations, is a big square room furnished in solid mahogany and papered in red, as if to mitigate the bleakness of a climate that includes five months of winter in every year. There is a big table in the middle of the room covered with a brown cloth at which the family take their meals. An air of orderliness pervades the room, which perhaps accounts for its being extremely uncomfortable. From above the heavy polished sideboard the lateJohn Rutherfordlooks down from his frame and sees the settle and armchair on either side of the fire, the marble clock on the mantelpiece, the desk with its brass inkstand and neatly arranged bundles of papers precisely as he saw them in life