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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Arifa Akbar

Man and Boy review – Rattigan’s murky reunion staged in silver-screen style

Ben Daniels as Gregor Antonescu and Laurie Kynaston as Basil Anthony in Man and Boy.
New spin on an old yarn … Ben Daniels as Gregor Antonescu and Laurie Kynaston as Basil Anthony in Man and Boy. Photograph: Manuel Harlan

The National Theatre is certainly mixing it up. A debut writer was showcased on its biggest stage last autumn (Nima Taleghani with Bacchae). Now a canonical playwright is in a space associated with the new and edgy – although Terence Rattigan fans may not recognise his lesser-performed 1963 play.

It charts the fall of a megalomaniacal Romanian financier, Gregor Antonescu (Ben Daniels), and his reunion with his estranged son, Basil Anthony (Laurie Kynaston). The latter has changed his name and is trying to make it as a songwriter when Gregor re-enters his life, beleaguered with corruption charges and on the verge of exposure.

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