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The Promise (Unwin)

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  4w, 9m

Paul Unwin

To promise nearly fifty million people truly universal health care – ‘cradle to the grave’ – is crackers. Paul Unwin’s intriguing drama is a fascinating, deeply pertinent portrayal of the people who moulded modern Britain and what it cost them.

The Promise (Unwin)

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4w, 9m
  • Duration
    Duration
    More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Docudrama/Historic
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult, Senior

Details

Summary
1945. In a country exhausted and crippled by debt after six years of war, time is up for Winston Churchill’s Tories. With a rallying cry for change, Labour wins an astonishing, landslide election victory. Clement Attlee is an unlikely prime minister and his cabinet of competing heavyweights – from the loyal Ernest Bevin to scheming Herbert Morrison – argue furiously about how to realise their manifesto: to make a welfare state, build millions of homes, reorganise dilapidated schools, and most dramatically, create a National Health Service that is free at the point of need. Driven by the passionate and courageous radical Ellen Wilkinson, and the visionary firebrand Nye Bevan, a very British revolution is in the air. But in the face of bitter opposition, is this an audacious pledge of hope or a promise too far? Paul Unwin’s new drama The Promise is a fascinating, deeply pertinent portrayal of the people who moulded modern Britain and what it cost them. This volume also contains the monologue At the Point of Need.
History
The Promise was originally produced by Chichester Festival Theatre, and was first performed at the Minerva Theatre on 19 July 2024.
Performing Groups

Based on real people
ELLEN WILKINSON – In her mid-fifties, she is a powerful, passionate woman. The only woman in the 1945 Labour Cabinet.
CLEMENT ATTLEE – In his early sixties. Stiff, diffident but a cool political operator.
VIOLET ATTLEE – Attlee’s wife. Upper-middle-class and dynamic.
HERBERT MORRISON – In his late fifties. A politician to his marrow.
ERNIE BEVIN – Mid-sixties. A powerful old school Labour and Union politician. Loyal.
NYE BEVAN – Mid-fifties. A charismatic and inspiring insurgent.
JENNIE LEE – Early fifties. More than Bevan’s wife – one of the great Labour MPs. Scottish, vivacious.
HUGH DALTON – Late fifties. Four square, tough, arrogant.
RICHARD STAFFORD-CRIPPS – Late fifties, possibly feels older. Has an edgy fragility, but a formidable intellect.
LORD MORAN WINSTON (CHARLIE WILSON) – A senior doctor.
WINSTON CHURCHILL

Invented
JOAN VINCENT – A young black Labour Party worker
THOMAS MERRIMAN – A young architecture student
YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHER
LABOUR PARTY WORKERS
A SENIOR NURSE
A DOCTOR
WAITERS
A BOY SINGER

  • Time Period 1940s / WWII
  • Features Period Costumes
  • Duration More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Cautions
    • Alcohol
    • Strong Language
    • Smoking

Media

“Fascinating.” – The Telegraph

“This is relevant, intelligent theatre – informative and gripping.” – Sussex Express

“Sharply focused.” – The Stage

“It’s an intriguing watch and a good study of character within the socio-political landscape of post-war Britain suited to anybody with a fondness for the history of that time.” – Theatre and Tonic

Licensing & Materials



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Scripts

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Authors

Paul Unwin

Paul Unwin

Paul Unwin

Theatre credits include: Theory For The Attention Of Mr Einstein (Old Red Lion and Frankfurt); Doolally Days (Leicester Haymarket, Tour, Hampstead New End); This Much Is True – The Killing Of Jean Charles De Menezes, with Sarah Beck (Theatre503); At The Point ...

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