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After the Dance
Terence Rattigan’s After the Dance is a brilliant attack on the hedonistic lifestyle of the ‘bright young things’ of the 1920s and 30s.
David is a high-living, hard-drinking, successful writer involved with two women: his wife Joan and an earnest-minded younger woman, Helen. When Joan commits suicide, David considers following her, but instead returns to a life of parties and drinking.
After the Dance was first produced at the St James’s Theatre, London, in June 1939. It signalled a more serious direction in Rattigan's writing after the relative frivolity of the hugely successful French Without Tears. It opened to euphoric reviews, but only a month later the European crisis was darkening the national mood and audiences began to dwindle. The play was pulled in August after only sixty performances.
This edition includes an authoritative introduction, biographical sketch and chronology.
'One of the supreme dramatists of the 20th century' Guardian
'A harrowing critique of a period of heedless frivolity and a dazzling reminder of the strengths of Rattigan’s writing' Evening Standard
'A great and wonderful revelation... combines superb social comedy with shafts of powerful emotion' Telegraph
David is a high-living, hard-drinking, successful writer involved with two women: his wife Joan and an earnest-minded younger woman, Helen. When Joan commits suicide, David considers following her, but instead returns to a life of parties and drinking.
After the Dance was first produced at the St James’s Theatre, London, in June 1939. It signalled a more serious direction in Rattigan's writing after the relative frivolity of the hugely successful French Without Tears. It opened to euphoric reviews, but only a month later the European crisis was darkening the national mood and audiences began to dwindle. The play was pulled in August after only sixty performances.
This edition includes an authoritative introduction, biographical sketch and chronology.
'One of the supreme dramatists of the 20th century' Guardian
'A harrowing critique of a period of heedless frivolity and a dazzling reminder of the strengths of Rattigan’s writing' Evening Standard
'A great and wonderful revelation... combines superb social comedy with shafts of powerful emotion' Telegraph
140 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1939
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About the author
Terence Rattigan
69 books49 followersSir Terence Mervyn Rattigan, CBE was a British dramatist. He was one of England's most popular mid twentieth century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background. He is known for such works as The Winslow Boy (1946), The Browning Version (1948), The Deep Blue Sea (1952) and Separate Tables (1954), among many others.
A troubled homosexual, who saw himself as an outsider, his plays "confronted issues of sexual frustration, failed relationships and adultery", and a world of repression and reticence.
A troubled homosexual, who saw himself as an outsider, his plays "confronted issues of sexual frustration, failed relationships and adultery", and a world of repression and reticence.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 12, 2025
Rattigan displays the fragility and shallowness of old sots avoiding personal and political realities. He nicely combines psychological empathy with political criticism.
January 4, 2023
من به عنوان یک نمایشنامه مدرن، رئال و امروزی دوستش داشتم
همونطور که شنیده بودم این مجموعه دیوارچهارم نشر قطره امیدوارکننده است
همونطور که شنیده بودم این مجموعه دیوارچهارم نشر قطره امیدوارکننده است
May 11, 2022
ENGLISH: A mature writer, married for 15 years, is seduced by a twenty-year-old girl, who was engaged to his secretary. His wife, who is supposed not to love him, seeing that this time things are serious, commits suicide during a party. Her death changes things for everyone affected.
Why do famous, intelligent men who are no longer young, so often fall for girls 25 to 50 years younger and leave their lifelong wives? Real life offers many examples, and although sometimes these men understand that they have made a grave mistake, they rarely confess it.
ESPAÑOL: Un escritor maduro y casado desde hace 15 años es engatusado por una chica veinteañera, prometida de su secretario, que se empeña en conquistarle. Su esposa, que se supone que no le quiere, al ver que esta vez la cosa va en serio, se suicida durante una fiesta. Su muerte cambia las cosas para todos los afectados.
¿Por qué hombres famosos, inteligentes y que ya han dejado atrás la juventud, se dejan engatusar tan a menudo por chicas 25 a 50 años más jóvenes que ellos y abandonan a sus esposas de siempre? La vida real ofrece numerosos ejemplos de esto, y aunque a veces esos hombres comprenden que han cometido un error gravísimo, no siempre lo reconocen.
Why do famous, intelligent men who are no longer young, so often fall for girls 25 to 50 years younger and leave their lifelong wives? Real life offers many examples, and although sometimes these men understand that they have made a grave mistake, they rarely confess it.
ESPAÑOL: Un escritor maduro y casado desde hace 15 años es engatusado por una chica veinteañera, prometida de su secretario, que se empeña en conquistarle. Su esposa, que se supone que no le quiere, al ver que esta vez la cosa va en serio, se suicida durante una fiesta. Su muerte cambia las cosas para todos los afectados.
¿Por qué hombres famosos, inteligentes y que ya han dejado atrás la juventud, se dejan engatusar tan a menudo por chicas 25 a 50 años más jóvenes que ellos y abandonan a sus esposas de siempre? La vida real ofrece numerosos ejemplos de esto, y aunque a veces esos hombres comprenden que han cometido un error gravísimo, no siempre lo reconocen.
January 10, 2023
4.5 stars rounded up.
Perhaps reading all of the notes in the foreword of this edition did not leave me in the best frame of mind for reading the actual play, as it took me more of the first act than I would have liked to get my teeth into this. Once I got into it though, I was hooked.
I found After the Dance to be a fascinating study of human psychology, particularly in dealing with the theme of feeling trapped in life. The exploration of the ways to break out of this cycle, if it is even possible, and particularly when it has begun as a result of post-war trauma, is very poignant and thought-provoking.
Written in reflection of World War I, with WWII looming mere months later, it could quite easily have referred to either. As a modern audience we know what the first audiences would not have - that history is about to repeat itself. In ways this adds further weight to the end of the play, where the audience is left seeing that after an earlier tragedy - very little has actually changed.
Perhaps reading all of the notes in the foreword of this edition did not leave me in the best frame of mind for reading the actual play, as it took me more of the first act than I would have liked to get my teeth into this. Once I got into it though, I was hooked.
I found After the Dance to be a fascinating study of human psychology, particularly in dealing with the theme of feeling trapped in life. The exploration of the ways to break out of this cycle, if it is even possible, and particularly when it has begun as a result of post-war trauma, is very poignant and thought-provoking.
Written in reflection of World War I, with WWII looming mere months later, it could quite easily have referred to either. As a modern audience we know what the first audiences would not have - that history is about to repeat itself. In ways this adds further weight to the end of the play, where the audience is left seeing that after an earlier tragedy - very little has actually changed.
March 12, 2023
Solid play with a couple of surprises. I'm not really sure it has anything deep to say, but I did feel sorry for these characters.
November 5, 2023
This has got to be one of the best plays I’ve read in a while. Excellent!
February 11, 2025
I'm going to be hugely biased, given that I read this play because I was *in* it, and as such have a particular attachment to it. Still, I do feel the script is very well written and humanized. I didn't know anything about Terence Rattigan prior to this, but I have really come to respect his writing. I haven't read any of his other works, but I have seen Deep Blue Sea performed and I really appreciate how clear his voice is in his writing. I am sadly fascinated with the story of Joan and David and Helen's intervening within that. It's beautiful, tragic, and also slightly ridiculous (which is one of the points being made, in a way, I think).
March 16, 2012
This is my absolute favourite play by Terence Rattigan. It has the element of everyone putting on a face so other people will not see what they are truly like, which is something all of us face every day.
The characterization is brilliant in this play. While subtle, every little thing makes a huge difference. My favourite character is Joan because she is so personable about how showing your true self is frightening because who knows if they will actually love you and want you after that.
This is one of the greatest plays ever written.
The characterization is brilliant in this play. While subtle, every little thing makes a huge difference. My favourite character is Joan because she is so personable about how showing your true self is frightening because who knows if they will actually love you and want you after that.
This is one of the greatest plays ever written.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews