The Crown Versus Winslow

Synopsis:

George, a man of 103, has been charged with a terrible crime.

Veronica Roper, a barrister, has agreed to take on his case.

The crime with which he has been charged is surprising in a man of his age, but is made all the more astonishing when, in delving into his past, she discovers that he is none other than George Archer-Shee, the original “Winslow Boy” upon whom the Rattigan play was based.

As a fourteen-year-old, George was accused of stealing a five-shilling money order from a friend, and was suspended from school.  In what became one of the most famous cases in British legal history, the case was successfully taken to the highest court in the land.

The irony of George’s present predicament does not escape Veronica, but nothing prepares her for the journey upon which she is about to embark

In a four-scene structure, based on the structure of Rattigan’s original work, the layers of truth and fiction are peeled away until the original story of The Winslow Boy is revealed to us in a whole new light.

Through a narrative that is by turns shocking, witty, sad and achingly beautiful, The Crown Versus Winslow takes us to the very depths of what it means to love, to be loved, to suffer loss, to yearn.

When the truth that surrounds the life of George Archer-Shee is laid bare, we are left to ponder the indescribable heartache of the passage of time – the loss of youth, the loss of beauty, the loss of a quickening of the heart, never again to be visited.

Character Breakdown:
GEORGE ARCHER-SHEE – Aged 103
VERONICA ROPER – Barrister

Setting:
The play takes place in 1998.

Possessed of two elbow-crutches, which he wields with deadly accuracy, GEORGE manages to scurry about the stage, like a hideous, deformed, Methuselah-like stick-insect.

Running-time: 95 minutes.

Production History: Not yet produced.

Excerpt available for download for free.