Next at the Mint... A PICTURE OF AUTUMN by N.C. Hunter May 23rd- July 14th FPC Hotline: (212) 315-0231 Fax: (212) 977-5211 Address: 311 W. 43rd St. Suite 307 New York, NY 10036 Box Office: Mon.- Sat Noon-6pm Sun.- Noon-3pm Performances: Tues., Wed., Thurs. 7pm Friday & Saturday 8pm Saturday & Sunday 2pm *Wed Matinee: 6/5, 7/3 *No Performances: 6/4, 6/11, 7/2
Full Price: $55 FPC Price: $38.50 (Use Code: FPC) CheapTix: $27.50 (when available) www.mintheater.org
NEXT AT THE MINT
A Picture of Autumn by N.C Hunter
directed by Gus Kaikkonen
May 23rd - July 14th When Robert Denham returns to his family home he finds his aging parents, uncle and eccentric old nurse living in disarray. The garden is overgrown, the curtains are worn and the floors are riddled with dry rot. When an opportunity to sell the burdensome property arrives, Robert leaps at the chance to help his family relocate— if only they can make up their minds to leave! A PICTURE OF AUTUMN made its debut on February 11, 1951 in a one-night “try-out” performance presented by the Repertory Players at the Duke of York’s Theatre. An independent producing society, the Repertory Players offered new plays on Sunday “dark” nights at West End Theatres. By the time they presented AUTUMN, the Repertory Players were celebrating their thirtieth anniversary and had staged over 190 plays, 62 of which were picked up and produced elsewhere—32 of these on the West End. They were “the oldest and most successful of the surviving Sunday play-producing societies” (The Times.) A PICTURE OF AUTUMN was no less successful in the impression it made on London’s theater critics. N.C. Hunter’s sensitive and humorous depiction of old-age was likened by The Times to “a contemporary version of The Cherry Orchard…Mr. Hunter treats us to some shrewd observations
on character and to some delicately exciting scenes perfectly timed and exactly calculated to inspire sensitive actors.” The Stage echoed the acclaim: “Mr. Hunter’s treatment is ingenious, his characterization clear and firm, and a mood of far-away things kept alive in memory well conveyed.” Unfortunately, no West End production of the play followed. Instead, Hunter’s Waters of the Moon was produced two months later, having been serendipitously picked off the top of a rejected scripts pile in the office of a theatrical producer by the great British actress, Dame Edith Evans. The play received a magnificent production with a star-studded cast and ran for over two years on the West End, making its author a household name for a brief time. Meanwhile, A PICTURE OF AUTUMN was nearly forgotten. Though it remains less famous than Hunter’s Waters of the Moon, A Day by the Sea and A Touch of the Sun—all of which dominated the West End Stage throughout the fifties—it is surely the play that introduced him as “a writer who brought a new tone and unfamiliar nuances into the English theatre” (The Times, 1971). Mint Theater Company is proud to finally give N.C. Hunter’s delightful comedy its full due. A PICTURE OF AUTUMN will receive its American premiere with performances running from May 23rd through July 14th.
Jill Tanner, pictured above in Mary Broome will play Lady Margaret. George Morfogen and Jonathan Hogan, pictured left in Mint’s 2007 production of The Madras House will be reunited in A Picture of Autumn.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT N.C. Hunter N.C. Hunter (1908-1971) was one of the leading English dramatists of the 1950s and early 1960s. As theatrical revolution—spearheaded by John Osborne and his school of “angry young men”—exploded around him, Hunter kept his head down and provided moving portraits of a people questioning their own purpose in chaotic post-war England.
gentility struggling for survival, the play opened at the Theatre Royal in London with a cast that included Dame Sybil Thorndike and Dame Edith Evans. The production ran for 835 performances and established Hunter as one of Britain’s most popular dramatists. Hunter’s firmly crafted and bittersweet comedies continued to garner successful West End runs, attracting many of the leading actors of the day. A Day by the Sea opened in 1953 and ran for 386 performances starring Dame Sybil Thorndike, Irene Worth, Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson. In New York, A Day by the Sea opened in 1955 with Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn headlining the cast; Hunter’s only Broadway production. In 1958, A Touch of the Sun opened in London with a cast that boasted Sir Michael Redgrave, Diana Wynyard and a young Vanessa Redgrave.
Norman Charles Hunter was born on September 18, 1908 in Derbyshire. Originally intending to follow in the footsteps of his father, a decorated Lieutenant Colonel, Hunter was educated at the Royal Military College. In 1930 he was commissioned in the Dragoon Guards but relinquished his position three years later, deciding to devote his life to literary pursuits. He found a day job on the staff of the BBC and began writing. In the years prior to the outbreak of World War II, Hunter produced six plays and four novels. His early plays, all farcical comedies, showed the promise of a true writer with a Hunter wrote four more plays in the decade preceding his death on April strong sense of craftsmanship. 19, 1971. By this time, England’s Hunter returned to playwriting in cultural revolution was in full swing. 1947 after having served with the Hunter’s restrained naturalism fell Royal Artillery during the war. Over out of fashion as playwrights like the next four years, Hunter contin- Joe Orton introduced flamboyance ued to develop his craft, discovering and controversy into the British thea voice that would be considered atre. In a critical sketch published in distinctly his own. In 1951, Hunter a 1979 volume entitled Great Writintroduced A Picture of Autumn ers of the English Language, scholar as the first in a series of plays that William M. Tydeman writes: would establish his reputation as an A valid critical assessment must weigh “English Chekhov”. Set in a decayHunter’s unquestioning preference for ing Wiltshire manor, Hunter’s elegy conventional models against his carefor an aging middle class drew im- ful characterisations and finely orchesmediate comparisons to Chekhov’s trated dialogue, his immaculate conpresentation of the last days of the trol of exposition and dénouement, his Russian aristocracy. This was quickly overall craftsmanship. Hunter’s work followed that same year by Hunter’s may yet receive that fuller appraisal major success, Waters of the Moon. its quality still merits. Another nuanced portrayal of faded
An excerpt from A PICTURE OF AUTUMN by N.C. Hunter FELICITY Have you been to Africa, Uncle Harry?
HARRY Africa, India, China, North America, South America—been everywhere. FELICITY What were you doing?
HARRY Doing? I don't know. Just travelling about. Forty years ago, that was—just after—after my wife died. FELICITY I see.
HARRY She died here—in this house. In February….So then I went away for a year or two. And then I came back… FELICITY I see. You'll be sad to leave this house, then.
HARRY Leave this house? Bless you, I shan't leave this house. (A laugh.) Not until I leave the world, that is. What would I want to leave for? FELICITY Oh, I don't know. Only I thought I heard father say—something….Of course it's a wonderful old house.
HARRY It is. It's a proper house. It's got character. Every stick and stone has a story for me. I'm sleeping in the same room now I slept in when I was a school-boy home from Eton, and sometimes I wake in the morning and see the same furniture, the same pictures, and lie in bed thinking: "What, still here? Still alive? Am I eighty or a hundred and eighty?..." (A soft laugh.) Seems I’ve lived here since the beginning of the world.
ENRICHMINT EVENTS ONLINE! Did you know that you can watch videos of some of our post show EnrichMint Events online, including a post-show discussion with Dr. Christopher Morash from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth? “Archives” coming soon, where you will be able to watch clips from past Mint Productions.
Please check our website soon for EnrichMint Events for A Picture of Autumn by N.C. Hunter.
Select EnrichMint, then Video on our website menu.
(www.minttheater.org) or visit www.minttheater.org/ enrichmint.php?tab=tab-1
FIRST PRIORITY CLUB
Next at the Mint... A PICTURE OF AUTUMN by N.C. Hunter May 23rd- July 14th
Dear Friends,
FPC Hotline: (212) 315-0231
Our next production will begin performances at the end of May; you’ll find all of the dates and details inside this issue of your First-Priority Club Newsletter. I think I’ll be bringing you more work by this author (N.C. Hunter) in the years to come.
Fax: (212) 977-5211
This play, A Picture of Autumn, is a comic gem; it’s full of wit and warmth and wisdom too and it has never been seen in New York (or anywhere else in the U.S.) as far as I can tell. It’s only had one performance in London. I’m really looking forward to sharing it with you.
Box Office: Until 3/31 Mon.- Sat Noon-6pm Sun.- Noon-3pm
If for some reason you haven’t yet seen Katie Roche, there’s still a little time— we run until March 31st. Many of you have asked me if this is the last of the “Deevy Project”. I don’t think so… but I do think we’ll take a little time off. There are still a couple of plays missing, and if I find one of them, I know I’ll want to offer that. But for now, please don’t miss Katie Roche! Thank you. I look forward to seeing you back at the Mint this spring.
Full Price: $55 FPC Price: $38.50 (Use Code: FPC) CheapTix: $27.50 (when available) www.mintheater.org
www.minttheater.org (212) 315-0231 311 West 43rd Street, Suite # 307 New York, NY 10036
Jonathan
Performances: Tues., Wed., Thurs. 7pm Friday & Saturday 8pm Saturday & Sunday 2pm
first priority club news
Best,
Address: 311 W. 43rd St. Suite 307 New York, NY 10036