Time and the Conways Tickets

Time And The Conways will be making its home at the Lyttelton National Theatre in May 2009 under the direction of Rupert Goold. J B Priestley’s ‘time play’ will star Francesca Annis and Adrian Scarborough and will look at Britain following the events of The Great War in a time when the World War II was just around the corner.

It is 1919 and the Conway family is together to celebrate the 21st birthday of Kay. The Great War is over and the family feels safe and happy, with high hopes for the future ahead – good careers, successful marriages and a peaceful world to live in. But this being one of J B Priestley’s so called ‘time plays’, the playwright then twists time and takes us into their futures. As a result we are given a glimpse of the family’s downfall. Time And The Conways is often regarded as the best of Priestley’s ‘time plays’ – the series of plays he wrote which experimented with such concepts by drawing reference to J W Dunne’s Theory of Time.

Priestley had major success in the early half of the twentieth century with both novels and plays. His career started with 1929’s novel The Good Companions, which turned him into a national figure and landed him the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. In 1930, he released his next novel Angel Pavement, which cemented his success further. However, some critics did not take to his work and Priestley moved into a new area of writing and started writing plays for West End theatres. It was as a result of this that he brought plays such as An Inspector Calls (1946), Dangerous Corner (1932) and of course Time And The Conways to London stages. Dangerous Corner is another of his ‘time plays’ that have been a famous part of his work, as well as demonstrating theories of socialism.

Time And The Conways will star Francesca Annis as Mrs Conway, whose previous credits include Under The Blue Sky (2008) at the Duke Of York’s Theatre as well as Henry IV (2004) at the Donmar Warehouse, Blood (2003) at the Royal Court Theatre and Mrs Klein at the National Theatre. She is a Laurence Olivier nominated actress who has also appeared in television in the likes of Wives And Daughters and Cranford. Joining her will be Adrian Scarborough, who has appeared in Once In A Lifetime at the Olivier National Theatre as well as The Mandate, The False Servant and Racing Demon, all of which were also at the National Theatre.

Time And The Conways is at the Lyttelton National Theatre from Tuesday 5th May 2009 (previews from Tuesday 28th April 2009), currently booking until Thursday 28th May 2009.