The Foxtrot
Encyclopedia
The Foxtrot is a television play by Rhys Adrian
, first broadcast on BBC One
in 1971 as part of the Play for Today
strand. It is notable as an early example of the series' departure from socially aware, issue-based drama towards comedy and non-naturalism.
Despite Maisie's concerns about the state of their marriage, Gwen and Arthur appear close to Tom – Arthur regularly meeting him at the local pub, and Tom visiting them at home. One afternoon, while Arthur is at work, Tom invites himself round, foxtrots with Gwen, and reveals that he has always loved her. Gwen questions the sincerity of this declaration because he moved away and left her with Arthur, but does not dismiss his obvious passion for her. Shortly afterwards, Gwen's father dies. At the memorial service, Arthur and Tom sit upfront with Gwen and, to Maisie's amazement, both men console her by placing a hand on her shoulder.
After the funeral, Arthur confronts Tom about his son's legitimacy, contesting his paternity by producing a photograph that shows Tom has more in common with his child than he does. Tom, on the other hand, asserts that Arthur is the natural father, and also presents a photograph to support his claim. In the last scene, Tom is invited back to Arthur and Gwen's and we discover that Tom is Gwen's real husband, and that he left her upon discovering she was having an affair with Arthur. Gwen pleads for Tom and Arthur to put their differences aside and for the former to move in with them. As the end credits roll, the three of them blissfully watch television together, their hands interlinked.
. While many of these captions simply describe the scene taking place — "At the pub", "After the funeral", and so on — there are also instances where Adrian uses the intertitles to explicitly reference the tone and undercurrent of particular sequences. During the opening scene, Arthur is asked by a canvasser about his attitude towards the permissive society
, at which point a caption appears on screen that reads "Gwen hasn't told Arthur about Tom"; that night, as Arthur and Gwen are talking in bed, a caption introduces the scene as "A tender moment"; towards the end of the play, during one of Tom's many visits to the house, a title announces this as "The Tom, Gwen and Arthur Show".
The play constantly blurs the boundary between what is seen on television and how it relates to, and even shapes, "real life". Gwen's father's death is synchronised with a shoot out
he is watching in a television Western
: as he reaches into his dressing gown to clutch his chest, the cowboys on television believe their unseen assailant is reaching for a gun and fire — Gwen's father dying instantly of heart failure. On occasion, dialogue from the television programmes the characters are watching is used to comment on the action of the play itself. When Gwen, Arthur and Tom are sat watching an American sitcom together at the end of the play, the characters in that programme fondly bid each other good night ("Good night, Tom! Good night Arthur!") much to the delight of The Foxtrots central protagonists. Canned laughter is also frequently heard in several instances throughout the play, most notably in the pre-title sequence
where Tom addresses the camera to asks the viewer, "You wouldn't believe I'm 57, would you?"
The conflict between change and nostalgia forms another important theme in the play. Harry's chagrin at the constant sound of traffic outside his bedroom window leads him to recall a simpler, slower pace of life before "the erosion of people by progress". Alongside Harry's preoccupation with "the way things were", throughout the play Tom is constantly attempting to re-engage with his lost past. 'The tender scene' features an exchange between Arthur and Gwen where the former describes a visit to Tom's place, only to discover him wearing a wig and a pair of sunglasses – this follows a scene where Tom has been rocking backwards and forwards in bed, playing air guitar
to a 1950s rock 'n' roll track. It is also noted that he "has his old snapshots re-photographed every three years to keep them bright". Harry and Tom are not the only characters who dwell on the past; Arthur's encounter with the canvasser at the start of the play leads him to consider the nature of sex in light of the permissive society with a sense of cynical outrage, while the conclusion of the piece, where Gwen encourages Tom and Arthur to overcome their differences, offers both an acceptance of a more liberal, relaxed age and an attempt to rekindle a past innocence.
, T.C. Worsley described the play as "appallingly ill-constructed" and attacked Philip Saville
's direction, which he considered "pretentious" and "gimmicky". Martin Jackson
's rather more positive review for The Daily Express stated that despite the play's "marvellously observed characters", Adrian's "gift for comedy" and Saville's "strikingly photographed" direction, he lamented "the erosion of the simple art of storytelling"; this sentiment was shared by several other critics, including Virginia Ironside in The Daily Mail, who asked whether the confidence of Adrian's writing meant that her inability to "grasp the point of the play" made her "thick as a post", or if the author had actually "written a baffling play". The Guardian
s Peter Fiddick was more enthusiastic, however, and praised its "miraculous combination of precise characterisation and dialogue and bold television technique". Similarly, in The Daily Telegraph
, Sean Day-Lewis complimented Saville's "stylish and resourceful production", Adrian's "considerable talent for compassionate comedy" and declared that the play signposted the strengths of the new Play for Today format: "the best hope for original television drama now extant".
Originally shot on colour video tape, the play only survives now as a black and white 16mm fiilm recording.
(1969; adapted for television in 1971), which features two lovers engaged in an extra-marital and over-crowded affair. Unlike the central characters in The Foxtrot, however, the protagonists of Evelyn are unable to accept the complications of such a relationship and become increasingly alienated from each other as a result.
Adrian's 1982 radio play Watching the Plays Together is an answer of sorts to both the critics who derided The Foxtrots non-naturalistic bent and the central theme of that play, exploring the relationship between the audience and television itself. Largely comprising a conversation between a middle-aged married couple troubled by the trend towards social realism
in television drama, Watching the Plays Together utilises several of the devices Adrian employed in The Foxtrot, most notably in the programme content playing out on the couple's television mirroring the characters' own preoccupations and concerns.
Rhys Adrian
Rhys Adrian Griffiths was a British playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for his radio plays, which are characterised by their emphasis upon dialogue rather than narrative.-Radio dramatist:...
, first broadcast on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
in 1971 as part of the Play for Today
Play for Today
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
strand. It is notable as an early example of the series' departure from socially aware, issue-based drama towards comedy and non-naturalism.
Synopsis
The play is a domestic drama concerning two couples nearing retirement age: Arthur and Gwen, and their friends Harry and Maisie. Gwen, however, is a little too close to Tom — a mutual friend who has recently returned after a long absence. The apparent intimacy between the two has not gone unnoticed; Maisie speculates to Harry that Gwen and Arthur's son, now living in America, seems to bear more of a likeness to Tom than his presumed father. Harry, meanwhile, is more preoccupied with his now sexless marriage and the ever encroaching sound of the new motorway outside their house.Despite Maisie's concerns about the state of their marriage, Gwen and Arthur appear close to Tom – Arthur regularly meeting him at the local pub, and Tom visiting them at home. One afternoon, while Arthur is at work, Tom invites himself round, foxtrots with Gwen, and reveals that he has always loved her. Gwen questions the sincerity of this declaration because he moved away and left her with Arthur, but does not dismiss his obvious passion for her. Shortly afterwards, Gwen's father dies. At the memorial service, Arthur and Tom sit upfront with Gwen and, to Maisie's amazement, both men console her by placing a hand on her shoulder.
After the funeral, Arthur confronts Tom about his son's legitimacy, contesting his paternity by producing a photograph that shows Tom has more in common with his child than he does. Tom, on the other hand, asserts that Arthur is the natural father, and also presents a photograph to support his claim. In the last scene, Tom is invited back to Arthur and Gwen's and we discover that Tom is Gwen's real husband, and that he left her upon discovering she was having an affair with Arthur. Gwen pleads for Tom and Arthur to put their differences aside and for the former to move in with them. As the end credits roll, the three of them blissfully watch television together, their hands interlinked.
Principal cast
- Michael BatesMichael Bates (actor)Michael Bates was a British actor born in Jhansi, United Provinces, India.-Biography:Bates served as a Major serving with the Brigade of Gurkhas in Burma before his discharge at the end of World War II...
as Arthur - Thora HirdThora HirdDame Thora Hird DBE was an English actress.-Early life and career:Hird was born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. She first appeared on stage at the age of two months in a play her father was managing...
as Gwen - Donald PleasenceDonald PleasenceSir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
as Tom - John CollinJohn Collin (actor)John Collin was a British actor frequently seen on UK television during the 1960s and 1970s mainly in supporting roles. John Collin's best known role was as Detective Sergeant Haggar in the long running BBC police series Z-Cars...
as Harry - Diana KingDiana King (actress)Diana King was an English television actress who had a career on British television from 1939 to 1986. She was sometimes credited as Diane King, and was born in Buckinghamshire....
as Maisie
Structure and themes
The action of The Foxtrot is broken up into several distinct sections, each one allocated an appropriate intertitleIntertitle
In motion pictures, an intertitle is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of the photographed action, at various points, generally to convey character dialogue, or descriptive narrative material related to, but not necessarily covered by, the material photographed.Intertitles...
. While many of these captions simply describe the scene taking place — "At the pub", "After the funeral", and so on — there are also instances where Adrian uses the intertitles to explicitly reference the tone and undercurrent of particular sequences. During the opening scene, Arthur is asked by a canvasser about his attitude towards the permissive society
Permissive society
The permissive society is a society where social norms are becoming increasingly liberal. This usually accompanies a change in what is considered deviant. While typically preserving the rule "do not harm others", a permissive society would have few other moral codes...
, at which point a caption appears on screen that reads "Gwen hasn't told Arthur about Tom"; that night, as Arthur and Gwen are talking in bed, a caption introduces the scene as "A tender moment"; towards the end of the play, during one of Tom's many visits to the house, a title announces this as "The Tom, Gwen and Arthur Show".
The play constantly blurs the boundary between what is seen on television and how it relates to, and even shapes, "real life". Gwen's father's death is synchronised with a shoot out
Shoot Out
Shoot Out is a 1971 western film directed by Henry Hathaway. It stars Gregory Peck and Patricia Quinn.This was the second-to-last of the 65 films directed by Hathaway.-Plot:Clay Lomax gets out of prison after serving nearly eight years...
he is watching in a television Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
: as he reaches into his dressing gown to clutch his chest, the cowboys on television believe their unseen assailant is reaching for a gun and fire — Gwen's father dying instantly of heart failure. On occasion, dialogue from the television programmes the characters are watching is used to comment on the action of the play itself. When Gwen, Arthur and Tom are sat watching an American sitcom together at the end of the play, the characters in that programme fondly bid each other good night ("Good night, Tom! Good night Arthur!") much to the delight of The Foxtrots central protagonists. Canned laughter is also frequently heard in several instances throughout the play, most notably in the pre-title sequence
Cold open
A cold open in a television program or movie is the technique of jumping directly into a story at the beginning or opening of the show, before the title sequence or opening credits are shown...
where Tom addresses the camera to asks the viewer, "You wouldn't believe I'm 57, would you?"
The conflict between change and nostalgia forms another important theme in the play. Harry's chagrin at the constant sound of traffic outside his bedroom window leads him to recall a simpler, slower pace of life before "the erosion of people by progress". Alongside Harry's preoccupation with "the way things were", throughout the play Tom is constantly attempting to re-engage with his lost past. 'The tender scene' features an exchange between Arthur and Gwen where the former describes a visit to Tom's place, only to discover him wearing a wig and a pair of sunglasses – this follows a scene where Tom has been rocking backwards and forwards in bed, playing air guitar
Air guitar
Playing air guitar is a form of dance and movement in which the performer pretends to play rock or heavy metal-style electric guitar, including riffs, solos, etc. Playing an air guitar usually consists of exaggerated strumming and picking motions and is often coupled with loud singing or lip-synching...
to a 1950s rock 'n' roll track. It is also noted that he "has his old snapshots re-photographed every three years to keep them bright". Harry and Tom are not the only characters who dwell on the past; Arthur's encounter with the canvasser at the start of the play leads him to consider the nature of sex in light of the permissive society with a sense of cynical outrage, while the conclusion of the piece, where Gwen encourages Tom and Arthur to overcome their differences, offers both an acceptance of a more liberal, relaxed age and an attempt to rekindle a past innocence.
Broadcast and reception
The Foxtrot was first broadcast on BBC One on April 21, 1971 to a mixed critical reception. In his review for the Financial TimesFinancial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
, T.C. Worsley described the play as "appallingly ill-constructed" and attacked Philip Saville
Philip Saville
Philip Saville is a British television direction and screenwriting from the late 1950s...
's direction, which he considered "pretentious" and "gimmicky". Martin Jackson
Martin Jackson
Martin Jackson is a British drummer who has played with several New Wave bands from Manchester, although his most successful roles were with Magazine, in 1978 with the release of the influential Real Life album, and Swing Out Sister, in 1986, with the hit song Breakout.-Biography:His earliest work...
's rather more positive review for The Daily Express stated that despite the play's "marvellously observed characters", Adrian's "gift for comedy" and Saville's "strikingly photographed" direction, he lamented "the erosion of the simple art of storytelling"; this sentiment was shared by several other critics, including Virginia Ironside in The Daily Mail, who asked whether the confidence of Adrian's writing meant that her inability to "grasp the point of the play" made her "thick as a post", or if the author had actually "written a baffling play". The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s Peter Fiddick was more enthusiastic, however, and praised its "miraculous combination of precise characterisation and dialogue and bold television technique". Similarly, in The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, Sean Day-Lewis complimented Saville's "stylish and resourceful production", Adrian's "considerable talent for compassionate comedy" and declared that the play signposted the strengths of the new Play for Today format: "the best hope for original television drama now extant".
Originally shot on colour video tape, the play only survives now as a black and white 16mm fiilm recording.
Intertextuality
The subject of enforced, or even accidental, polygamy is explored in several Rhys Adrian works — most notably EvelynEvelyn (play)
Evelyn is an award winning radio play by Rhys Adrian, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 21 October 1969. It was later adapted for television as part of BBC One's Play for Today series which was transmitted on 28 October 1971.-Synopsis:...
(1969; adapted for television in 1971), which features two lovers engaged in an extra-marital and over-crowded affair. Unlike the central characters in The Foxtrot, however, the protagonists of Evelyn are unable to accept the complications of such a relationship and become increasingly alienated from each other as a result.
Adrian's 1982 radio play Watching the Plays Together is an answer of sorts to both the critics who derided The Foxtrots non-naturalistic bent and the central theme of that play, exploring the relationship between the audience and television itself. Largely comprising a conversation between a middle-aged married couple troubled by the trend towards social realism
Social realism
Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic...
in television drama, Watching the Plays Together utilises several of the devices Adrian employed in The Foxtrot, most notably in the programme content playing out on the couple's television mirroring the characters' own preoccupations and concerns.
Sources
- Best Radio Plays of 1982 (Methuen; 1983)
- John Drakakis (Ed.), British Radio Drama (Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
; 1981)