The Changing Room
Encyclopedia
The Changing Room is a 1971 play by David Storey
, set in a men's changing room before, during and after a rugby game. It premiered at the Royal Court Theatre
on 9 November 1971, directed by Lindsay Anderson
. The 1973 Broadway production, directed by Michael Rudman
, won several awards including the New York Drama Critics' Circle
award for Best Play and the Tony Award
for Best Featured Actor for John Lithgow
.
rugby league
team. During the week, its members are peaceable men toiling away at mindless, working class
jobs. On Saturday, they prepare for gory combat on the playing field. The changing room is where they perform their pre-game initiation rites, strip down, loosen muscles, and get into their uniforms. After the match they return, often broken, muddy, and bloody, regretting their loss or giddy with victory in the communal shower. There is little in the way of plot, but Storey engages his audience with his ability to dissect his characters' hurts, hopes, desires, and fighting instincts.
, The Changing Room had a limited, sold-out run before transferring to the Globe
in the West End
on 14 December. It was directed by Lindsay Anderson
and the cast included Jim Norton
, David Daker
, Warren Clarke
, Brian Glover
and Alun Armstrong
.
The U.S. premiere was at New Haven's Long Wharf Theatre
on 17 November 1972. After three previews, the Broadway
production, directed by Michael Rudman
, opened on 6 March 1973 at the Morosco Theatre
, where it ran for 192 performances. The cast included George Hearn
, John Lithgow
, Richard Masur
, John Tillinger
, and Tom Atkins
.
The play was revived in 1996 by the Royal Court, in their 'Classics' season, premiering on 1 February and running for two months at the Duke of York's Theatre
.
commented, leaving the theatre: "15 acorns are hardly worth the price of admission," referring to the male nudity.
American critics were more glowing in their praise, with the production hailed by Walter Kerr of the The New York Times as "mysterious and ultimately mesmerizing." Clive Barnes, also of The New York Times, wrote: "It is a remarkable play because while it only purports to document what goes on in a locker room before, during and after a football game, the playwright's skill is such that we seem to get to know these football players and the society that produced them."
The Broadway production of The Changing Room won the New York Drama Critics' Circle
award for best play for the 1973 season. John Lithgow
won the Tony Award
for Best Featured Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award
for Outstanding Performance. Tom Atkins
won the Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Performer, and Michael Rudman
won for Outstanding Director.
During the 1996 revival, critical reception was more mixed. Some critics commented on how the play had aged; both rugby league and the global politics mentioned in the play had moved on a long way in the intervening two decades. Many women's publications criticised the macho nature of the play. In contrast, Paul Taylor of The Independent wrote, "...The Changing Room seems, in 1996, at once a timeless study of male bonding rites and a preservation in art of a fast-vanishing culture."
David Storey
David Rhames Storey is an English playwright, screenwriter, award-winning novelist and a former professional rugby league player....
, set in a men's changing room before, during and after a rugby game. It premiered at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
on 9 November 1971, directed by Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Gordon Anderson was an Indian-born, British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave...
. The 1973 Broadway production, directed by Michael Rudman
Michael Rudman
Michael Rudman is an American theatre director.In 1960, he graduated from Oberlin College cum laude in Government and in 1964 he received an MA in English Language and Literature at Oxford where he was President of the Oxford University Dramatic Society....
, won several awards including the New York Drama Critics' Circle
New York Drama Critics' Circle
The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 24 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization was founded in 1935 at the Algonquin Hotel by a group that included Brooks Atkinson, Walter Winchell, and Robert Benchley...
award for Best Play and the Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for Best Featured Actor for John Lithgow
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
.
Plot
At the play's core is a semi-pro Northern EnglandNorthern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...
rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
team. During the week, its members are peaceable men toiling away at mindless, working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
jobs. On Saturday, they prepare for gory combat on the playing field. The changing room is where they perform their pre-game initiation rites, strip down, loosen muscles, and get into their uniforms. After the match they return, often broken, muddy, and bloody, regretting their loss or giddy with victory in the communal shower. There is little in the way of plot, but Storey engages his audience with his ability to dissect his characters' hurts, hopes, desires, and fighting instincts.
Productions
Premiering on 9 November 1971 at London's Royal Court TheatreRoyal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
, The Changing Room had a limited, sold-out run before transferring to the Globe
Gielgud Theatre
The Gielgud Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, London, at the corner of Rupert Street. The house currently has 889 seats on three levels.-History:...
in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
on 14 December. It was directed by Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Gordon Anderson was an Indian-born, British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave...
and the cast included Jim Norton
Jim Norton (actor)
Jim Norton is an Irish character actor.-Performances:Jim Norton has been acting for over forty years in theatre, television, and movies, and frequently plays clergymen, most notably Bishop Brennan in the sitcom Father Ted, as well as in The Sweeney , Peak Practice , Sunset Heights , A Love Divided...
, David Daker
David Daker
David Daker is an English actor.His is best known for his role as Harry Crawford in the hit series Boon. He also played PC Owen Culshaw in Z-Cars, Jarvis in Porridge, Captain Nathan Spiker in Dick Turpin....
, Warren Clarke
Warren Clarke
-Biography:Clarke was born in Oldham, Lancashire. His first television appearance was in the long running Granada soap opera Coronation Street, initially as Kenny Pickup in 1966 and then as Gary Bailey in 1968. His first major film appearance was in Stanley Kubrick's controversial A Clockwork...
, Brian Glover
Brian Glover
Brian Glover was an English character actor, writer and wrestler. Glover was a professional wrestler, teacher, and finally a film, television and stage actor. He once said, "You play to your strengths in this game. My strength is as a bald-headed, rough-looking Yorkshireman".-Early life:Glover was...
and Alun Armstrong
Alun Armstrong (actor)
Alun Armstrong is a prolific British character actor. Armstrong grew up in County Durham in North East England. He first became interested in acting through Shakespeare productions at his grammar school. Since his career began in the early 1970s, he has played, in his words, "the full spectrum of...
.
The U.S. premiere was at New Haven's Long Wharf Theatre
Long Wharf Theatre
Long Wharf Theatre is a nonprofit institution in New Haven, Connecticut, a pioneer in the not-for-profit regional theatre movement, the originator of several prominent plays, and a venue where many internationally known actors have appeared....
on 17 November 1972. After three previews, the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production, directed by Michael Rudman
Michael Rudman
Michael Rudman is an American theatre director.In 1960, he graduated from Oberlin College cum laude in Government and in 1964 he received an MA in English Language and Literature at Oxford where he was President of the Oxford University Dramatic Society....
, opened on 6 March 1973 at the Morosco Theatre
Morosco Theatre
The Morosco Theatre was a legitimate theatre located at 217 West 45th Street in the heart of the theater district in midtown-Manhattan, New York, United States....
, where it ran for 192 performances. The cast included George Hearn
George Hearn
George Hearn is an American actor and singer, primarily in Broadway musical theatre.-Early years:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Hearn studied philosophy at Southwestern at Memphis, now Rhodes College before he embarked on a career in the theater, training for the stage with actress turned acting...
, John Lithgow
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
, Richard Masur
Richard Masur
Richard Masur is an American actor who has appeared in more than 80 movies during his career. From 1995-1999, he served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild . Masur sits on the Corporate Board of the Motion Picture & Television Fund.-Biography:Masur was born in New York City to a...
, John Tillinger
John Tillinger
John Tillinger is a theatre director and actor.Born in Tabriz, Iran, Tillinger was raised in England, where he first was exposed to the theatre...
, and Tom Atkins
Tom Atkins (actor)
Tom Atkins is an American television and film actor. He is primarily known for his work in the horror film genre, having worked with writers and directors such as John Carpenter, Stephen King, and George A. Romero...
.
The play was revived in 1996 by the Royal Court, in their 'Classics' season, premiering on 1 February and running for two months at the Duke of York's Theatre
Duke of York's Theatre
The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End Theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre, until her death in 1935. It opened on 10 September 1892 as the Trafalgar Square Theatre, with Wedding...
.
Reception
Despite extensive male nudity, there was very little controversy associated with the play in 1971. Critical reception was favourable, with the treatment of male relationships praised particularly. Most criticism focused upon the lack of character development and plot. Noel CowardNoël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
commented, leaving the theatre: "15 acorns are hardly worth the price of admission," referring to the male nudity.
American critics were more glowing in their praise, with the production hailed by Walter Kerr of the The New York Times as "mysterious and ultimately mesmerizing." Clive Barnes, also of The New York Times, wrote: "It is a remarkable play because while it only purports to document what goes on in a locker room before, during and after a football game, the playwright's skill is such that we seem to get to know these football players and the society that produced them."
The Broadway production of The Changing Room won the New York Drama Critics' Circle
New York Drama Critics' Circle
The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 24 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization was founded in 1935 at the Algonquin Hotel by a group that included Brooks Atkinson, Walter Winchell, and Robert Benchley...
award for best play for the 1973 season. John Lithgow
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
won the Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for Best Featured Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for Outstanding Performance. Tom Atkins
Tom Atkins (actor)
Tom Atkins is an American television and film actor. He is primarily known for his work in the horror film genre, having worked with writers and directors such as John Carpenter, Stephen King, and George A. Romero...
won the Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Performer, and Michael Rudman
Michael Rudman
Michael Rudman is an American theatre director.In 1960, he graduated from Oberlin College cum laude in Government and in 1964 he received an MA in English Language and Literature at Oxford where he was President of the Oxford University Dramatic Society....
won for Outstanding Director.
During the 1996 revival, critical reception was more mixed. Some critics commented on how the play had aged; both rugby league and the global politics mentioned in the play had moved on a long way in the intervening two decades. Many women's publications criticised the macho nature of the play. In contrast, Paul Taylor of The Independent wrote, "...The Changing Room seems, in 1996, at once a timeless study of male bonding rites and a preservation in art of a fast-vanishing culture."
Awards and nominations
- Tony AwardTony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for Best Play (nominee) - Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play (Lithgow, winner)
- Tony Award for Best Scenic Design (nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play (nominee)
- Drama Desk AwardDrama Desk AwardThe Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for Outstanding Performance (Lithgow, winner) - Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Performer (Atkins, winner)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director (winner)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design (winner)
- New York Drama Critics' CircleNew York Drama Critics' CircleThe New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 24 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization was founded in 1935 at the Algonquin Hotel by a group that included Brooks Atkinson, Walter Winchell, and Robert Benchley...
Award for Best Play (winner)