Cause Célèbre or A Woman of Principle is a 1975 radio play by the English author Terence Rattigan

Terence Rattigan

Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...

. It was inspired by the trial of Alma Rattenbury and her teenage lover in 1935 for the murder of her third husband Francis Rattenbury

Francis Rattenbury

Francis Mawson Rattenbury was an architect born in England, although most of his career was spent in British Columbia, Canada where he designed many notable buildings. Divorced amid scandal, he was murdered in England at the age of 68 by his second wife's lover.- Architectural career :Rattenbury...

 and first broadcast on the BBC on 27 October 1975. Rattigan was then commissioned to rewrite it into a stage play ready to be produced in Autumn 1976, but his terminal cancer and casting problems meant he was only able to start work in January 1977, alongside Robin Midgely. This stage version premiered on 4 July 1977 at Her Majesty's Theatre

Her Majesty's Theatre

Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, in Haymarket, City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre...

 in London.

A 1987 television version of the stage play starred Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren

Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...

 as Alma. The stage play itself was revived at the Old Vic

Old Vic

The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...

 from March to June 2011 to mark Rattigan's centenary, with Alma played by Anne-Marie Duff

Anne-Marie Duff

Anne-Marie Duff is an English actress best known for playing Fiona Gallagher in Shameless, and Elizabeth I in The Virgin Queen.-Early life:...

 and Edith Davenport by Niamh Cusack

Niamh Cusack

Niamh Cusack is an Irish actress. The daughter of late Irish actor Cyril Cusack, she is the sister of Sinéad Cusack and Sorcha Cusack, and half sister of Catherine Cusack. Cusack played Dr Kate Rowan in the television drama series Heartbeat...

. A new production of the radio play was aired again by BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

 on 25 June 2011 directed by Thea Sharrock

Thea Sharrock

Thea Sharrock is an award-winning English theatre director. In 2001, when at age 24 she became artistic director of London's Southwark Playhouse, she was the youngest artistic director in British theatre....

 with original music by Adrian Johnston and featuring the Old Vic cast:

• Joan Webster ..... Lucy Black
• Francis Rattenbury .... Timothy Carlton
• John Davenport .... Simon Chandler
• Croom-Johnson ..... Richard Clifford
• Christopher .... Oliver Coopersmith
• Edith Davenport .... Niamh Cusack
• Alma Rattenbury ..... Anne-Marie Duff
• Montagu ..... Rory Fleck-Byrne
• Tony Davenport .... Freddie Fox
• Irene Riggs .... Jenny Galloway
• Judge ...... Patrick Godfrey
• O'Connor .... Nicholas Jones
• George Wood .......Tommy McDonnell
• Stella Morrison ....... Lucy Robinson
• Clerk of the court .....Tristan Shepherd
• Casswell ....... Richard Teverson
• Wardress ....... Sarah Waddell
• Sergeant Bagwell ....... Michael Webber
• Coroner ....... Tristram Wymark