''Touched'' is a play by English playwright Stephen Lowe. The play opened at the Nottingham Playhouse on 9 June 1977, directed by

Richard Eyre Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre (born 28 March 1943) is an English film, theatre, television and opera director. Eyre has received numerous accolades including three Laurence Olivier Awards as well as nominations for six BAFTA Awards and two ...

. It was revived at the

Royal Court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word ''court'' may also be app ...

in January 1981, in a new production by

William Gaskill William "Bill" Gaskill (24 June 1930 – 4 February 2016) was a British theatre director who was "instrumental in creating a new sense of realism in the theatre". Described as "a champion of new writing", he was also noted for his productions ...

. Both productions starred

Marjorie Yates Marjorie Yates (born 13 April 1941) is a British actress best known for her role as Carol Fisher in the Channel 4 drama '' Shameless''. Early life Yates was born in Birmingham, West Midlands, and studied at the Bournville College of Art. ...

as Sandra. The play was joint winner of the

George Devine Award George Alexander Cassady Devine (20 November 1910 – 20 January 1966) was an English theatrical manager, director, teacher, and actor based in London from the early 1930s until his death. He also worked in TV and film. Early life and education ...

in 1977. In February 2006, it was one of the fifty plays chosen by the Royal Court to represent the fifty-year history of the

English Stage Company The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opened in 1870; the current building was completed in 1 ...

with readings in the Theatre Upstairs - ''Look Back: 50 readings, 50 writers, 50 plays''. The rehearsed reading of Touched took place on 22 February 2006, with

Anne-Marie Duff Anne-Marie Duff (born 8 October 1970) is an English actress and narrator. She is best known for her BAFTA nominated television roles in '' Shameless'' and '' The Virgin Queen'', and her performance as Grace Williams in '' Bad Sisters'', for wh ...

as Sandra.

Nick Hern Books Nick Hern Books is a London-based independent specialist publisher of Play (theatre), plays, theatre books and screenplays. The company was founded by the former Methuen Publishing, Methuen drama editor Nicholas Hern in 1988. History Nick Hern ...

published a new edition of the play to coincide with this production, with a new afterword by Lowe. The play has been revived many times by regional theatres in England, including Derby Playhouse and Salisbury Playhouse, and colleges, including RADA and Canterbury College in February 2011. In February 2017,

Nottingham Playhouse Nottingham Playhouse is a theatre in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England. It was first established as a repertory theatre in 1948 when it operated from a former cinema in Goldsmith Street. Directors during this period included Val May and F ...

celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the play with a new production starring

Vicky McClure Vicky Lee McClure (born 8 May 1983) is an English actress, model and presenter. She is known for her roles as Detective Inspector Kate Fleming in the BBC series ''Line of Duty'' (2012–2021) and Lol Jenkins in Shane Meadows's film '' This Is ...

as Sandra. Five of the cast were graduates of the

Central Junior Television Workshop The Television Workshop, formerly known as the Central Junior Television Workshop, is a British organisation that offers training for young people in performance skills for television, film, radio and theatre. Open to anybody between the ages of 7 ...

in Nottingham: Vicky McClure,

Aisling Loftus Aisling Sinead Katie Loftus (born 1 September 1990) is a British actress. She began her career as a child actress and first gained prominence through her roles in the BBC dramas '' Five Daughters'' (2010) and '' Dive'' (2010), the play ''Spur of ...

, Chloe Harris,

Luke Gell Luke Gell is a retired English actor, best known for the role of Tim Claypole in the BBC Three sitcom, ''Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps''. He is the founding director of a drama training workshop and agency for young actors in Nottingh ...

and George Boden.

Plot and themes

The play is set in 1945 during the hundred days between

VE Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations ...

in May 1945 and

VJ Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on wh ...

in August 1945, a period which also included the election of the first ever Labour government and the dropping of the atomic bomb on

Hiroshima and Nagasaki On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, during World War II. The aerial bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civili ...

. The play focuses on a group of women in a working-class suburb of

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, especially Sandra and her sisters, Joan and Betty. Sandra has lost a child: not killed by an enemy bomb, but by a car in the

blackout Blackout(s), black out, or The Blackout may refer to: Loss of lighting or communication * Power outage, a loss of electric power * Blackout (broadcasting), a regulatory or contractual ban on the broadcasting of an event * Blackout (fabric), a t ...

. Now, with peace coming, she is full of hope for a different kind of future. She says, "The world's changing. It's not going to go back to the way it was." Lowe was inspired to write the play by his mother: "I grew up on the usual pulp of heroic war films and comics... While therefore I gained a fairly graphic picture of the life of a soldier, it occurred to me while talking to my mother that I had hardly any picture of those who stayed at home - those whose battles had been fought in the landscape I had grown up in. I knew nothing, really, about the sacrifices and suffering of the women who only a few years later were to pick me up and put me down, and place pennies in my hand. Pennies I had never thought to return." As critic Lyn Gardner says, the play reflects “both the social mores of the time and the inner emotional lives of these down-to-earth women. It understands their tribal loyalties and their stern sense of working-class morality, forbidding fraternisation with the Italian POWs that might put one of their number beyond the pale.” Time Out said of the play, "Touched is truly identified with working people and a radical vision, unlike many contemporary plays for which the same claim is made."Touched webpage on www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Sources

*''Touched'' by Stephen Lowe, Methuen 1981 *''Touched'' by Stephen Lowe,

2006
www.stephenlowe.co.uk

References

{{Reflist

External links

Touched, review by Lyn Gardner of 2008 revival at Salisbury Playhouse, The Guardian, 8 April 2008

Archived page on Royal Court website. Look Back: 50 readings, 50 writers, 50 plays

Touched webpage, Nick Hern Books website

Stephen Lowe's website
1977 plays English plays Plays about World War II Plays set in the 1940s Plays set in England Working-class culture in England