THEATER TALK Kicks Off New Season Friday Night on Thirteen

THEATER TALK, the series that TV WORTH WATCHING called "the perfect vicarious orchestra-seat view of what's news and why," kicks off its new season Friday night at 1 AM, on Thirteen.

Their 16th year on PBS begins with a lively, provocative and sometimes contentious debate about the relevance and importance of SIR TERENCE RATTIGAN (1911-1977), one of the most influential and successful British playwrights of the Twentieth Century. The Rattigan Centenary has been celebrated all year in the UK with revivals of his work in London, and it is now being observed in New York City with a new production of his 1963 drama, MAN AND BOY, starring Tony-winner FRANK LANGELLA, which opens October 9 at The Roundabout's American Airlines Theater.

Guests on this episode are legendary critic JOHN SIMON of "John Simon Uncensored;" renowned British actor EDWARD HIBBERT; and writer JOHN HEILPERN, columnist for "Vanity Fair" and author of the biography "John Osborne: The Many Lives of The Angry Young Man."

This episode also includes a clip of Frank Langella in the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of MAN AND BOY.

The panel discusses the life and work of Ratttigan, who was, in the words of The BBC's "The Rattigan Enigma," "The master of the well-crafted play of upper class manners and forbidden sexuality." Sir Terence's plays dominated the British stage for over two decades. As Hibbert explains, it was once "mandatory" for all British theater companies, actors and directors to do a Rattigan play where the plush curtain went up, revealing a privileged world of French windows, good sofas and cigarette holders.

Then, however, came the rise of working class playwrights like Beckett, Brecht, and, most particularly, John Osborne. Osborne's excoriating play of disaffected youth, "Look Back in Anger," opened in 1956 and with its success, Rattigan's work quickly fell out of fashion with the critics. "He wasn't just rejected," remembers Tom Stoppard. "He was despised."

Now, with the attention brought to it by his centenary, has Rattigan's work gained new relevance and vitality in the Twenty-first Century? Can his plays, as Simon claims, "be appreciated even more today than they were first appreciated," or are they obscure dramas designed to "falsely gain" in Heilpern's words, "the sympathy of low-brow audiences, instead of challenging them"? Tune in and watch the panel battle this out.

This season, THEATER TALK will again be hosted by Michael Riedel of the "New York Post" and series Executive Producer, Susan Haskins.

It airs Fridays on Thirteen at 1 AM (Saturday mornings) and repeats on CUNY TV (channel 75): Saturdays at 8:30 PM; Sundays at 12:30 PM; and Mondays at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM and 7:30 PM. The show is also syndicated to over 60 markets nationally and is available online anytime at www.cuny.tv and www.theatertalk.org.

Photo Credit: Allan Warren

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