Widely believed to be Terence Rattigan's best work, The Browning Version was first performed on September 8 1948, at the historic Phoenix Theater in London. The play is set in a private school for boys; one of the main characters, Classical Civilization teacher Crocker-Harris, is thought to have been based on Rattigan's own teacher of the same subject, J. W. Coke Norris, during his time at elite private school Harrow College. The play centers around Crocker-Harris, and the fact that although he is admired for his academic brilliance, he is also feared for his strictness and stern demeanor. A gift from a student upon his retirement causes him to reflect on his life and career, and to wonder about the way in which he should spend his future.
A year after it opened to universal acclaim in London, the play moved to Broadway where it did not receive nearly such a rapturous welcome, limping through a mere sixty two performances to lackluster attendance before closing all together.
The play was seventy minutes in length and ran with an adjunct play named Harlequinade, with each play separated from each other. When the play was first adapted for the big screen, Rattigan wrote the screenplay and was rewarded for his efforts with an award at the Cannes Film Festival. A second film adaptation followed in 1994 with a high-profile cast that included Julian Sands and Greta Scaachi. Rattigan did not live to see the second cinematic incarnation of the play as he passed away eighteen years earlier, widely regarded as one of England's leading playwrights. His plays often centered around sexual dysfunction and troubled relationships, largely because he was not comfortable in his own sexuality and considered himself an outsider.
Rattigan was awarded a CBE in 1971 for his contributions to theater and the arts.
