Alternate 'Lawrence of Arabia' Story on Adelaide Stage

Independent Theatre’s next production, Ross, by Terence Rattigan, premieres on Remembrance Day, November 11, fitting timing for a man who was a reluctant WWI hero and who helped change history forever. Lesley Reed reports.

In his sold-out newsreel and personal lecture shows American journalist Lowell Thomas described T.E. Lawrence as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’. The title and the man each became legendary. So overwhelming was Lawrence’s fame that the WWI Lieutenant Colonel and hero turned down honours offered to him by King George V and fled into the R.A.F under the assumed name of Aircraftman Ross.

2016 marks the centenary of the Arab Revolt, which brought about the end of Ottoman Rule in the Middle East.  Central to this was young English archaeologist and map maker T.E Lawrence, who befriended Prince Faisal and helped organise the disparate Bedouin tribes into a unified military force, intent on obtaining Arab independence. Their betrayal at the Paris Peace Conference, with the Allied Powers carving up of the Arab World into separate European-controlled dominions, was an aftermath that tormented Lawrence.  It could be argued that the outcome is having world-wide repercussions to this day.

After the publication of Lawrence’s memoir, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, the British film industry wanted to make a film of his extraordinary story.  Although playwright Terence Rattigan was engaged to write a script for it, for which the intended star was Dirk Bogarde, negotiations broke down. The film was abandoned. Rattigan then turned his screenplay into a successful stage play which starred Alec Guinness in London, and John Mills on Broadway. That play is shortly to be produced in Adelaide by Independent Theatre.

The play begins and ends on the day Lawrence's true identity is discovered and when massive media reaction forces him out of the R.A.F.  This drives his memories, dreams and thoughts back to the desert campaign.  David Lean's well-known film was set in the visually stunning Arabian desert, however Rattigan's play inhabits the tormented mind and soul of Lawrence and explores the reasons why the man ran from his fame.

The fifteen member all-male cast of Independent Theatre’s production includes Lawrence look-alike Will Cox as Lawrence and Matt Hein as the charismatic leader of the Bedouin tribes, Auda Abu Tayi. David Roach is General Allenby and Nick Buckland plays Colonel Barrington.

The majority of the cast wear British and Turkish military uniforms, authentic down to the last detail, which have been handmade by Gumeracha resident Ken Kurtz, supplier and maker of military uniforms for the film, television and theatre industries.

Well known South Australian artist Peter Coad, who painted the canvasses used in Rolf de Heer’s film The Tracker, has painted the set to evoke the deserts of Arabia.

Ross promises to be another fine Independent Theatre production, evoking not only a momentous time in history, but also the enigmatic essence of a man who remains embedded deep in the psyche of a world that never forgets its true heroes.

WHERE: The Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre

WHEN: November 11-19, 2016

BOOKINGS: BASS 131 246 or www.bass.net.au

Images: Matthew Hein as Auda Abu Tayi (Ross) and Lawrence Sketch & Will Cox as Lawrence.