KG Sowerby's debut play should have launched the writer to success but soon after the play's opening it was revealed that the playwright was a woman, Githa Sowerby. Newspapers curiously interviewed this odd phenomenon of a female playwright and reported how such a demure lady could write such a hard-hitting work - in truth she was 35 and had a lifetime of experience to help her write her semi-autobiographical play.
Githa's family owned a glass works on the Tyne in Gateshead and she drew directly from that world for the background to her family drama. She continued to write children's literature and a further six plays but none had the success of RUTHERFORD AND SON, most appearing in small theatre club presentations. By the time of her death in 1970, her plays had fallen into obscurity. In 1980 RUTHERFORD AND SON was revived, and it saw a later production at the National Theatre in 1994 with Bob Peck as the tyrannical John Rutherford; in 1998 the play was judged one of the 100 Plays Of The Twentieth Century in a National Theatre poll.
Any thoughts that this might be tokenism are forgotten when you see RUTHERFORD AND SON: it's a gripping play that has hardly aged at all and indeed must have been a seismic shock in 1912 with it's powerful feminist arguments for the 'angel in the house' who could not think for herself.
John Rutherford owns a glass-making factory in Gateshead and rules both factory and home with a will of iron, secretly hated by both employees and family. His oldest son John Jnr had been sent to Harrow to be educated, but earned his father's displeasure by staying in London and marrying Mary, a working-class girl. With his health failing, John has returned home with Mary and their baby son Tony, both of them ignored by Rutherford.
His daughter Janet has retreated into a sullen, bitter existence after a lifetime of emotional coldness from her father and the youngest, mild-mannered Richard has earned his father's disdain for becoming a local curate. With his children failing him, Rutherford has favoured his young assistant Martin, who grew up with his sons. He approves of Martin's move to a nearby lonely cottage but we later discover he only moved there so he and Janet can continue a clandestine relationship.
Trouble finally erupts when John reveals that, while in London, he discovered a formula for making glass cheaper - Rutherford expects him to give it to him as he is his father but John demands he is paid a good price. John shocks his father telling him he has shared his formula with Martin who thinks it's a great idea. Richard brings a woman to the house whose son has been sacked by Rutherford for stealing; when he refuses to take him back, she retaliates by telling him what the workers really think of him, she tells Richard he is thought of as an idiot and tells Rutherford his daughter Janet is the main subject for gossip for 'carrying on' with Martin. Unseen by anyone, a humiliated Richard leaves the house forever.
Rutherford confronts Janet but she denounces him for cutting off any possible joy that might have been hers. Rutherford demands she leave his house the next day but Janet is triumphant in knowing that she will be united with Martin. But the next morning a dazed Martin tells her that Rutherford persuaded him to reveal the secret formula - and then promptly sacked him for colluding with his son and for making his family a laughing stock by 'ruining' her. Janet realizes that her dreams are in tatters now he has capitulated to her father, and leaves the house to face life alone.
John rages when Martin tells him what he did and is determined to succeed to spite his father. He breaks into Rutherford's cash box and steals the money, despite Mary's pleading that if he is going to succeed it should be not using his father's methods but he refuses. When John says he will go abroad to achieve success Mary realizes that she and her son will never feature in these plans and suggests he let her know when he is settled, an idea to which he all too quickly agrees. Rutherford returns to his house, triumphant but alone - but is he? An unexpected offer comes from the most unexpected place... who will blink first to secure the continuation of RUTHERFORD AND SON?
Sowerby's play remains remarkably relevant with it's take on patriarchy at home and in the workplace and women's rights but above all is a rattling good yarn and a well-written play which has languished in the shadows for too long. Polly Findlay keeps the pressure-cooker atmosphere on all the way through it, even in the quieter moments you just know a ticking bomb is waiting to go off. Her production starts with sheets of rain pouring from the heavens and ends the same way, compounding the claustrophobic feel of the play.
She is blessed with an ensemble who all give committed, unsentimental performances: Roger Allam is on sensational form as Rutherford, glowering and immovable in his disdain for the world, and in particular, his family. Interestingly, he does not dominate the other actors; it is genuinely an ensemble performance leaving his own stamp on his role. He is ably matched by Justine Mitchell as Janet, who found colours within the role so while she initially drains one's sympathy in the character, once her plight is revealed she shows the tragedy of a life allowed to atrophy. Her scene with Allam where father and daughter declare their hatred for each other was spellbinding.
The other male roles are all played with just the right central note of weakness: Joe Armstrong as Martin really gives the role an initial sturdiness that completely deserts him when he loses his job, he is genuinely adrift in his shocked sadness, unable to acknowledge Janet's desperate need for help. Sam Troughton exudes a clammy, fidgety quality as the oldest son who feels he can challenge his father with his secret formula, only to be outdone again and in defeat, shows he is as devious as Rutherford. In the smallest role, Harry Hepple is touching as the Curate who finds himself a disappointment to family and community.
Anjana Vasan, so good in SUMMER AND SMOKE at the Almeida, here shines in the difficult role of Mary, a young girl thrown into an alien environment who finally succeeds by simply sitting and watching the power games around her, although it is intimated that in doing so, she loses something too. As Rutherford's sister Ann who runs the household despite his many whinges, Barbara Marten is dessicated and as brittle as chalk after years of simply existing.
Lizzie Clachan's set aids the feeling of heavy claustrophobia with seemingly no natural light allowed into the fussy, genteelly cluttered living room and the lamp-lit lighting of Charles Balfour also keeps the Rutherford family trapped in glowing gloom. I will have to ask Owen if Simon Money's vocal coaching was up to speed to a naturally north-east ear! If I had to find fault I would suggest that the 6-women choir that opens each act doesn't quite provide the haunting aural experience that was intended.
RUTHERFORD AND SON is playing until 3rd August and I recommend it very much; hopefully this revival will show that Githa Sowerby's play is not just a curiosity but one of the best plays of the early 20th Century.
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