About the Play:

The Dresser has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues, Male Monologues, and Female/Male Scenes.

The Dresser is a full-length drama by Ronald Harwood. A wickedly funny and deeply moving story of friendship and loyalty, The Dresser tells the tale of one fateful night in a regional theatre during the Second World War, as a theatrical dresser struggles to prepare his celebrated actor and barnstorming employer to go on stage for another performance as Shakespeare's King Lear. This bracing, heartbreaking drama is an elegy to a by-gone era.

The Dresser focuses on Sir, a great Shakespearean actor now entering the last days of his career, and his dresser. Based off of the author's own experiences as a dresser to Sir Donald Wolfit, the play is set backstage at a theatre in the English provinces during World War II. Sir, the lead actor and manager of a regional touring theatre company, is struggling to keep a grip on his sanity and complete his 227th performance of King Lear. Despite most of the country's actors being in uniform in war-torn Britain and bombs destroying theatres, the show must go on. Ensuring that it does is Norman, Sir's devoted dresser, who for sixteen years has been there to fix his wig, massage his ego, remind him of his opening lines and provide the sound effects in the storm scene. Unsure of his lines as well as who and where he is supposed to be, Sir is adamantly determined to perform. With Herculean effort on the part of Norman, Sir finally makes it on stage and through the performance no thanks to an air raid courtesy of the Luftwaffe. Back in his dressing room after the performance, the worn out old trouper dies, leaving alone his company and the loyal dresser after one final bow.

The Dresser premiered in 1980 at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester and then opened in 1981 at the Brooks Atkinson Theater on Broadway in New York and was nominated for the 1982 Tony Award for the Best Play. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and has been performed in regional, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 3 female, 10 male

What people say:

"A stirring evening [that]...burns with a love of the theatre that conquers all...Perfectly observed, devilishly entertaining backstage lore." — The New York Times

"Enthralling, funny and touching. Lovingly delineated dramatic portraits...Almost any actor would jump at them." — New York Post

About the Playwright:

Sir Ronald Harwood (1934-2020) was a British author, playwright and Oscar-winning screenwriter. Born and educated in Cape Town, South Africa; he came to England as a 17-year-old to train for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London. A prolific playwright, he was a part of the British theatre for more than 50 years. He also wrote the screenplay for the film of his West End and Broadway hit, The Dresser, which received five Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Screenplay. He won an Oscar in 2003 for his adaptation of The Pianist.