THE LOST SUMMER

The West End of the thirties, forties and fifties was remarkable for the roster of supremely accomplished actors more or less permanently in residence. Names such as John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, Edith Evans, Gladys Cooper, Ralph Richardson, Paul Scofield and Michael - and, later, Vanessa - Redgrave headed the cast-lists of play after play.
And the plays they appeared in were equally remarkable. Though less well-known today than the actors who starred in them, many are in the process of rediscovery - a process which this book seeks to encourage. Typical is the case of Rodney Ackland, whose plays, after years of neglect, have been successfully revived, televised and re-published in recent years, culminating in a major production at the Royal National Theatre in 1995. Amongst his contemporaries, Terence Rattigan, John Whiting and Robert Bolt have suffered less obviously from neglect though their work can still be too easily dismissed as 'dated', while two other writers from the 'lost summer' still await the sustained reclamation they deserve: Wynyard Browne and N.C. Hunter.
Taking the career of one man, Frith Banbury, an actor/producer/director who was active throughout the period, The Lost Summer revisits many of the best productions of those years, recreating the significant action both on and off the stage. Banbury acted with or directed all the luminaries already mentioned as well as many more. He has been an invaluable source of firsthand knowledge and informed opinion in the writing of this account.