Cast
Leonard Ardsley - Phil Braithwaite
Charlotte Ardsley - Sharon Trotter
Charles Prentice - Ian Powell
Sydney Ardsley - Dominic Webb
Eva Ardsley - Claire Brine
Ethel Bartlett - Anastasia Oh
Lois Ardsley - Ashleigh Cole
Howard Bartlett - Matthew Pert
Collie Stratton - Ashley Horne
Wilfred Cedar - William Barklam
Gwen Cedar - Lynnette Alston
Gertrude - Jeannette Tucker
Production Team
Director - Gill Taylor
Assistant Director - Oliver Clement
Producer - Jackie Withnall
Stage Manager - Emily Carmichael
Assistant Stage Manager - Lynne Mackie
Lighting - Kimber Wright
Sound - Stephen Wess
Costumes - Victoria Bettelheim
Hair / Makeup - Lucy Moss, Beth Coldridge
Front of House Managers - Julie Rickwood, Jackie Withnall
As part of the ongoing commemoration of the centenary of the First World War, we present this powerful work from 1932, which explores the way in which, over ten years later, the Great War continues to blight the lives of those who lived through it.
The Ardsleys live an apparently comfortable existence in a quiet English town. Head of the household Leonard sees no reason to question the old certainties, but his children and their circle are still paying the price of war. Son Sydney served heroically but lost his sight and is now an embittered invalid with little to do but torment his emotionally fragile sister Eva, whose fiancé was killed in the conflict. Another sister, Ethel, is trapped in an ill-advised war-time marriage to a struggling tenant farmer. Youngest sister Lois leads an aimless existence as one of the "surplus" women caused by the huge loss of life amongst the men of her generation. And family friend Collie has been discharged from the Navy but is proving hopelessly incompetent in civilian life. Only brash nouveau riche summer visitors Wilfred and Gwen Cedar seem immune. Over the course of a few days in late summer tragic events unfold that shatter the fragile calm
W Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) is best known for his short stories and novels, but he was also a prolific playwright. In "For Services Rendered" he takes the conventions of the drawing room comedy and twists them to produce a savage critique of a country that has failed to deliver its promise of a land fit for heroes. When first performed in 1932 its "anti-war" message proved unpopular, but revivals since the 1990s have demonstrated the play's prescience and relevance.
