Plenty (play)

Plenty is a play by David Hare, first performed in 1978, about British post-war disillusion. Susan Traherne, a former secret agent, is a woman conflicted by the contrast between her past, exciting triumphs—she had worked behind enemy lines as a Special Operations Executive courier in Nazi-occupied France during World War II—and the mundane nature of her present life, as the increasingly depressed wife of a diplomat whose career she has destroyed. Viewing society as morally bankrupt, Susan has become self-absorbed, bored, and destructive — the slow deterioration in her mental health mirrors the crises in the ruling class of post-war Britain.

Susan Traherne's story is told in a non-linear chronology, alternating between her wartime and post-wartime lives, illustrating how youthful dreams rarely are realised and how a person's personal life can affect the outside world.

History

Hare's inspiration for Plenty came from the fact that 75 per cent of the women engaged in wartime SOE operations divorced in the immediate post-war years; the title is derived from the idea that the post-war era would be a time of "plenty", which proved untrue for most of England. Directed by the playwright, Plenty was first performed at the Lyttelton Theatre on 7 April 1978, featuring Kate Nelligan as "Susan", the protagonist; it was nominated for the Olivier Award as Play of the Year and Nelligan as Best Actress in a New Play, losing to Whose Life is it Anyway? and Joan Plowright in Filumena.

Play

Play may refer to:

In literature and publications

In films

In television

Play (Joanna MacGregor album)

Play is a 2002 album by Joanna MacGregor. The album was released on the SoundCircus label and was a nominee for the Mercury Music Prize.

References

Play (Robyn song)

"Play" is a song by Swedish recording artist Robyn from her second studio album My Truth (1999). Robyn wrote the track in collaboration with Ulf Lindström and Johan Ekhé, who also helmed production. BMG Sweden released it as the album's second single on 21 July 1999 with the non-album song "Good Thang" as its B-side. Musically, "Play" contains some world music influences and a "playful" vibe.

"Play" received positive critical response and became Robyn's seventh consecutive top 40 entry on the Sverigetopplistan singles chart, where it peaked at number 31. The singer performed the song live while promoting the parent album, but the single itself received limited promotion. As with the album, "Play" was not serviced outside of Sweden.

Background and composition

"Play" was written by Robyn, Ulf Lindström and Johan Ekhé. Lindström and Ekhé recorded Robyn's vocals and produced the track at Lifeline Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. Almnils Erson, Pär-Ola Claesson, Gunilla Markström and Olle Markström played the strings and Niklas Gabrielsson provided handclaps, while Lindström and Ekhé played all other instruments. The duo also managed arrangement and mixing; both these tasks were done at Lifeline Studios. Britta Bergström and Angela Holland sang backing vocals alongside Robyn. Björn Engelmann and Henrik Jonsson were enlisted to master the track at Cutting Room Studios in Stockholm.

Plenty (film)

Plenty is a 1985 British drama film directed by Fred Schepisi and starring Meryl Streep. It was adapted from David Hare's play of the same name.

Plot

Spanning nearly 20 years from the early 1940s to the 1960s, the plot focuses on Susan Traherne, an Englishwoman who is irreparably changed by her experiences as a fighter for the French Resistance during World War II when she has a one-night stand with a British intelligence agent. After the war ends, Susan returns to England and becomes determined to make a life for herself by achieving what she wishes in the post-war world which, after her time away, she finds trivial and inadequate, while acting with complete disregard for everybody around her.

Cast

Awards

Ullman and Gielgud were nominated for BAFTA Awards, and Gielgud was named Best Supporting Actor by both the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics.