Otherwise Engaged: Difference between revisions

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'''''Otherwise Engaged''''' is a bleakly comic play by English playwright [[Simon Gray]]. The play previewed at the [[Oxford Playhouse]] and the [[Richmond Theatre (London)|Richmond Theatre]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://simongray.org.uk/plays/otherwise-engaged/|title=Otherwise Engaged}}</ref> and then opened at the [[Sondheim Theatre|Queen's Theatre]] in London on 10 July 1975, with [[Alan Bates]] as the star and [[Harold Pinter]] as director, produced by [[Michael Codron]].<ref name=nytimes>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/18/archives/london-likely-to-be-otherwise-engaged.html|title=London Likely to Be ‘Otherwise'Otherwise Engaged’Engaged'|firstauthor=Clive Barnes Special to The New York|last=Times|date=August 18, 1975|vianewspaper=NYTimes.comThe New York Times}}</ref> [[Ian Charleson]] co-starred as Dave, a Glasgow lout. [[Michael Gambon]] took over from Bates in 1976, "playing it for a year, eight times a week." The play also had a successful run on [[Broadway (theatre)|Broadway]], opening in February 1977 with [[Tom Courtenay]] as Simon and [[Carolyn Lagerfelt]] as Beth.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/otherwise-engaged-3891#People|title=Otherwise Engaged – Broadway Play – Original &#124; IBDB}}</ref> It won the [[New York Drama Critics' Circle]] Award for Best Play.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/otherwise-engaged-3891#Awards|title=Otherwise Engaged – Broadway Play – Original &#124; IBDB}}</ref>

*Beth -– [[Mary Miller (actress)|Mary Miller]]

*Dave -– [[Ian Charleson]]

*Davina -– [[Jacqueline Pearce]]

*Jeff -– [[Julian Glover]]

*Simon -– [[Alan Bates]]

*Stephen -– [[Nigel Hawthorne]]

*Wood -– [[Benjamin Whitrow]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/play/d1e/otherwise-engaged/production/t36|title=Production of Otherwise Engaged &#124; Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com}}</ref>

;===Critical reception===

Of the London production, [[Clive Barnes]] wrote in ''[[The New York Times]]'', "The play brings together once more the three people who had earlier given us “"[[Butley (play)|Butley]],”" the playwright Simon Gray, Harold Pinter as director and its star, Alan Bates. They have proved that lightning can strike twice in the same place, and indeed this is probably a more substantial play than “Butley"Butley,”" and Mr. Bates, at his most magisterially comic, is even better, deeper and funnier than in his [[Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play|Tony‐awardTony Award]] winning performance in the earlier play. In fact, not to waste words, Mr. Bates is terrific."<ref name=nytimes/>

The play was revived at the Criterion Theatre in 2005 in a production starring [[Richard E. Grant]] and [[Anthony Head]], directed by [[Simon Curtis (filmmaker)|Simon Curtis]], produced by Mark Rubinstein, [[Sonia Friedman]], [[Jeremy Meadow]] and Lee Menzies.<ref name="guardian">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/nov/01/theatre|title=Otherwise Engaged, Criterion, London|first=Michael|last=Billington|date=November 1, 2005|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref>