‘GIVE me a girl at an impressionable age, and she’s mine for life’ says Miss Brodie in Wokingham Theatre’s March production.
Adapted for stage by Jay Presson Allen, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, is both touching and terrifying.
Set in a 1930s Edinburgh school, it tells the story of a passionate, influential, and deeply frustrated woman – and the power she exerts over her class of adoring students.
“It’s a play I know well, and which has special meaning for me,” said director Nigel Lawson Dick.
“We presented it at Wokingham Theatre, almost exactly to the date, 36 years ago.
“I designed the lighting, and my late wife Sue designed the set.”
Sue Lawson Dick was a respected theatrical set designer with many creations to her name. She died in June last year.
“I managed to find one precious photograph of her original set for Miss Jean Brodie, which we have been able to recreate almost exactly as it was then,” said Mr Lawson Dick.
“I hope she would have approved.
“There are lots of curious links for me with the play, but in the end this production is very much about Sue.
“A bench we’re using on stage belonged to her – it’s from our home, and Sue would sit on it quite often.”
Mr Lawson Dick lived in Edinburgh for most of his childhood years, and went to school at the Edinburgh Academy from 1953 until 1957.
“I don’t think things had changed much since the 1930s, so my experience of school life wasn’t that different.
“And my school was actually used as the location for the film that was made, starring Maggie Smith.”
The inspiration for the play and the film was Murial Sparks’ novel, written in 1961.
Its eponymous Miss Brodie is a deeply flawed character, driven by sexual frustration.
“In the play, her class of 1930s 12 year olds know so much less about everything than youngsters these days,” added Mr Lawsing Dick.
“But what they do have is feverish imaginations.”
While Miss Brodie’s class of young girls on the brink of womanhood idolise her blindly, the school’s headmistress fears and mistrusts her.
Properly brought up girls should be out breathing deeply on the hockey field, she says.
Miss Brodie, on the other hand, sees herself as free spirited woman with a calling to give her girls the benefit of her ‘prime’.
To see The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie audiences should make their way to Wokingham Theatre.
Performances are from Thursday, March 14 through to Saturday, March 23, with the exception of Sunday.
Doors open at 7.45, with tickets costing £16.
For tickets and information, visit: www.wokinghamtheatre.org.uk or call the box office, on: 0118 978 5363.
