Rushen Players

Escape (page under construction)

by John Galsworthy
Rushen Amateur Dramatic Society
March 23rd - 25th 1955
Rushen Primary School

Written by John Galsworthy in 1926, Escape is based on that familiar twenties theme – the gentleman come down in the world. In fact, you can’t go much further down than Captain Matt Denant. Gallantly protecting a needy prostitute from an over-assiduous plain-clothes policeman, this ex-officer hit the detective, who fell back, hit his head on railings and died. So Matt is sent to Dartmoor on a manslaughter rap, and one foggy evening escapes from a working party.
The play is a series of episodes, in each of which the escaped convict meets people who will either help or hinder his escape. They divide (as people in twenties stories often do) on class lines.
Sitting on a bench at night in Hyde Park, Captain Matt Denant starts an innocuous conversation with a girl. When a policeman tries to arrest the girl for prostitution, Denant rushes to her defence knocking down the policeman, who bangs his head on an iron fence and dies. Denant is arrested and sentenced to five years at Dartmoor for manslaughter.
Denant decides to escape. Beyond the prison walls he avoids two warders who try to catch him. Next he turns up in a woman’s room in an inn. The woman recognizes the quality of the man and helps him get out of the law’s reach. Next he encounters an old man, once a judge himself, who helps him too. A short time later, Denant meets a group of obtuse picnickers and helps himself to their Ford, aided by a young wife whose unimaginative husband does not approve. Then Denant escapes from laborers and a farmer, also obtuse. Next he is aided by two sisters who end by fighting about the rightness of giving him aid. Finally, Denant takes refuge in a church and is befriended by a parson. It is here the fleeing young man is caught, for he cannot permit the parson to lie in order to save him.
"What would you do if you met and escaped convict"

Produced by	O S Wrangham
Cast
Matt Denant	Don I Williamson
Woman of the Town	Vi Lawson
Plain Clothes Man	Ivor Quaggin
Passers-by	Olive Gibb & Ann Crebbin
Policeman	W D Kaneen
Fellow Convict	Hector Matthews
First Warder	Gerry Mangham
Second Warder	Ivor Quaggin
Young Lady	June Edge
Inn Maidservant	Sally Newbould
Old Gentleman	Henry Cubbon
The Captain	Gerry Mangham
The Shopkeeper	Hector Matthews
His Wife	Kathleen Squire
Man in Plus Fours	Ivor Quaggin
His Wife	Eileen Buchan
Dartmoor Constable	Gerry Mangham
First Laborer	O S Wrangham
Second Labourer	Ron Harper
Farmer Browning	Henry Cubbon
Little Girl	Anne Crebbin
Two Hikers	John Karran & Alan Clucas
Miss Grace	May Matthews
Miss Dora	Frances Moore
The Parson	Ivor Quaggin
The Bellringer	Hector Matthews
Crew
Stage Manager	R G Thomson
Asst. Stage Manager & Hon. Secretary	H W Brown
Stage Lighting	F Cooper
Scenic Design	W D Kaneen
Properties	Mrs. H Cubbon
Prompter	Mrs. R G Thomson
Music under the direction of	R Q Lawson