EDINBURGH 2017: BWW Q&A- Lord Dismiss Us

Tell us a bit about Lord Dismiss Us

As Headmaster of Weatherhill School for Boys, where the pupils of today become the politicians of tomorrow, I welcome you to this venerable institution. However, it causes me no end of discomfort to broach a subject about which I find it hard to be explicit. I am aware that in a boarding school such as this, relationships of an 'unmentionable nature' may form. Carleton of the Sixth, and Allen of the Fourth, you are both well aware of that to which I refer! I am not a prude, but it is the duty of every boy to resist this kind of association.

Our Parliament is, at this very moment, debating a bill which aims to decriminalise the very acts to which I am referring. If it becomes law - and one sincerely hopes it will not - rest assured the poison will not spread to this great school. I am well aware of the Wolfenden Report. Let me say here and now that Mr Wolfenden never spoke to me, nor to my wife (who is a devout Christian) nor did he speak to our school chaplain. At least, I assume he did not speak to our school chaplain. The Reverend Cyril Starr keeps himself very much to himself in his study where his paintings of Spanish youths are no doubt an inspiration to his sermons.

I concur very much with those Members of Parliament who intend to vote against the bill to legalise such 'unnatural acts', and who rightly say that if such 'unions' become legal, people will start doing it on buses! Mr Ashley of the English Dept asked me which number bus I thought it might become legal on - I have noted his concern. My wife - always one to make me laugh - says that if it becomes legal where might we be in fifty years time? Men walking up the aisle hand in hand, being allowed to marry! Of course, such a scenario is impossible. Which is why today we must act to stamp out this tide of filth and say firmly to the young men of this school - work hard, play hard, and make England great!

Philip Crabtree, Headmaster, Weatherhill School for Boys, April 1967

Why bring it to Edinburgh?

Why indeed! I was sitting in my deck chair on the beach at Eastbourne, pondering my first sermon of the term while watching a number of jolly youths messing about in a rowing boat, leaping into the sea and splashing one another with the salty brine. Their cheerful carefree antics inspired me to write about the love of nature and of our environment and about the need to sometimes be frivolous and have fun, while at the same time being conscious of our more serious commitment to a Higher Order.

The burning fire awaits all sinners but that does not mean we should be afraid of trespassing just a little into that forbidden world, dipping our toe into the sea of life, and finding therein laughter and contentment in the knowledge that one day we shall be called upon to put aside our folly and obey Him.

I turned to my artist friend and said "This is drama, this is comedy, this is history, and everybody loves a school story, besides I can get to swish about in my vestments on the Fringe ....

The Reverend Cyril Starr, school chaplain, Weatherhill School for Boys

(The chaplain's message was unfortunately cut short by the Headmaster because of lack of space).

Why is it important to tell the story?

I'll tell you why. I'm eighteen, I'm gay, I'm leaving school, and I'm in love. And it's 1967 and I'm a criminal, and I will be until I'm twenty-one. Nicky Allen and I don't feel like criminals - he's in the fourth form and was expelled from Eton for the very things we're getting up to at Weatherhill. Well, not really getting up to. You see I'm still a virgin (well, sort of). My best friend Peter Naylor and I, we kind of did it during the school holidays, but it wasn't really doing it if you know what I mean. His father is an MP who is voting against legalising us. Peter agrees with him, in spite of having done it with me! But with Nicky Allen it will be different, we're going to leave school and go to Cambridge and stay with each other always, until the day we die, and the world is just going to have to accept us! Then one day, maybe in fifty years time, we'll look back on our schooldays and remind ourselves - and others - where we came from. It'll be 2017! What will the world be like then? All I know for a certainty is that Nicky and I will still be together. I just hope we can shout it to the rooftops.

Terry Carleton, 18, School Prefect, Weatherhill School for Boys.

Do you think it's particularly relevant just now?

Michael Campbell wrote Lord Dismiss Us in 1967, the year homosexuality was partially decriminalised in England and Wales. He based it on his own experiences at St Columba's College in Dublin. Bravely for the time, it was a 'coming out' story - and a wickedly funny one at that too - in which the hero, eighteen year old Terry, leaves school determined to live as a gay man without fear. 2017 is the fiftieth anniversary of this important milestone in LGBT history, and also of the publication of the novel (of which this is the first stage adaptation). At a time when homophobic attacks are on the increase, gay men are being thrown off buildings in Chechnya, and the religious right seem to be getting their own way in America, it's timely to remind ourselves how far we've come - and how far we haven't.

Glenn Chandler, Writer and Director

What's next for it after the Fringe?

There is interest, but nothing yet has been finalised.

Timings and ticket information for Lord Dismiss Us are available on the edfringe website.

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