Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the most important book of the nineteenth century “The Origin Of The Species”, “Inherit The Wind” dramatises a famous American event, in which freedom of thought and expression was put on trial.
Darwin’s theory changed the world we live in and offered a convincing explanation for the origins of man, but not everyone was convinced. In the US, Tennessee Law prohibited the teaching of such theories in state funded schools, making it a crime to pass on this information.
It was therefore inevitable that such a law would lead to a confrontation between two different ideas, and it was such an incident in 1925 that lead to this dramatisation by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E Lee. The incident was the aptly titled ‘Monkey’ Trial in which the science teacher John Scopes was put on trial for violating the Tennessee Law (known as The Butler Act) when he taught Charles Darwin’s theory to his high school students. The resulting trial featured two legal titans in the form of famous attorney Clarence Darrow (for the defence) and a three time Democratic Presidential candidate Jennings Bryan (prosecuting). It was a huge media event, and hundreds of reporters arrived in the town of Drayton to cover the story that fascinated many.
The play was written in 1955 by the two American writers, which at the time was a critical of the period of unrest gripping 50s America. It was the period in which so called communist sympathisers were victimised by the ‘witch hunts’ implemented by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Many people lost their jobs or received an unfavourable mark against their name and the events were also mirrored by the Salem Witch Trials featured in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller.
“Inherit The Wind” will feature Hollywood star and the Old Vic’s Artistic Director Kevin Spacey, who appears under the direction of Trevor Nunn, who previously resided over “Richard II” at the venue, in which Spacey also starred. Spacey’s movie credits includes voice work for the 2009 British movie “Moon”, as well as “Superman Returns”, “K-Pax”, “American Beauty” and “The Usual Suspects”.
“Inherit The Wind” is at the Old Vic from Friday 18th September 2009 to Sunday 20th December 2009.