Epitaph For George Dillon

Genre: Drama
Opened 28 Sep 2005
Written: By John Osborne and Anthony Creighton
Directed: Peter Gill
Cast: Joseph Fiennes (George Dillon), Francesca Annis (Ruth Gray) , Anne Reid (Kate Elliot) , Geoffrey Hutchings, Zoe Tapper, Dorothy Atkinson, Stephen Greif, Hugh Simon , Alex Dunbar
Synopsis: Osborne's domestic and political drama is set in a lower middle class household in post-war South London. The Elliots live a conventional, suburban life until 'Kate Elliot' brings home the charismatic 'George Dillon', a surrogate for her son killed in the war. George is an aspiring actor and playwright, recently freed from the constraints of employment as a clerk, and sustained by Kate's kindness and generosity. But when she moves him into the household alongside her thoughtless young daughter Josie, and her attractive, divorced sister Ruth, the results are more complicated than she expects.
Other Info: This is the play John Osborne wrote with his partner, Anthony Creighton, before Look Back In Anger catapulted him to fame

What the critics had to say.....
NICHOLAS DE JONGH for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "Peter Gill, unmatched as a social-realist director, powerfully stages the play as an alluring period piece. He cannot though, give it the trappings of seminal drama." BENEDICT NIGHTINGALE for THER TIMES says, "excellently played by Joseph Fiennes...what gives Dillon its interest today is that it embodies the insecurity and fear of the ambitious but unrecognised" PAUL TAYLOR for THE INDEPENDENT says, "Peter Gill's finely-judged, funny-bleak revival...Joseph Fiennes captures the sardonic charisma and the slippery bad faith of the character but is less good at conveying the acrid edge of self-disgust that underlies the bravado." MICHAEL BILLINGTON for THE GUARDIAN says, "While I'm not persuaded this is a better play than Osborne's own unaided work, it offers the deep and pleasurable satisfaction of seeing a major writer discovering his voice. Even if the pain and passion burst through the conventional form, Gill's fine production honours an unjustly neglected play." CHARLES SPENCER for THE DAILY TELEGRAPH says, "What is moving about the play is that you can almost smell the fear of a young writer confronting the possibility of his own lack of talent...For once an Osborne play seems like an ensemble piece...wonderfully detailed, naturalistic production...acidly funny production which suggests that this neglected play might just be Osborne's greatest." JOHN THAXTER for THE STAGE says, " Peter Gill's strongly cast revival, the first in the West End, goes some way to proving that the piece has been unjustly neglected."

External links to full reviews from popular press
The Independent
The Guardian
The Stage
The Times
Daily Telegraph