A moving slice of British history is covered by two one-act plays paired for the first time at Bath’s Theatre Royal this week.

Nathaniel Parker, Siân Phillips and Lolita Chakrabarti lead the cast in a new stage production of Terence Rattigan’s Table Number Seven and The Browning Version.

They have been carefully crafted and paired together under the title Summer 1954 and feature an ensemble cast of 15 actors directed by Olivier award-winner James Dacre.

Rattigan’s most personal one-act masterpieces provide a unique tribute to the playwright from Thursday, October 24 to Saturday, November 2 prior to a UK tour.

One of Britain’s most popular 20th century playwrights, Rattigan captures one quietly momentous evening 70 years ago in each play. Together, they enhance his reputation as one of the great chroniclers of the paradoxes of the human heart.

Summer 1954: Siân Phillips as Mrs Railton-Bell in Table Number Seven .Summer 1954: Siân Phillips as Mrs Railton-Bell in Table Number Seven . (Image: Manuel Harlan)

In Summer 1954, Britain is changing and nothing will ever be the same again.

In Table Number Seven, the atmosphere at The Beauregard Private Hotel, Bournemouth, is marked by a blend of repressed emotions and post-war gentility.

Each of the staff and guests has their own reason for seeking the solace of quiet anonymity but trying to hide from the social and cultural change sweeping over the country is proving impossible.

Set in the midst of the 1950s, Table Number Seven revolves around the way that gay men were forced to hide their homosexuality in a period when it was still considered to be a criminal offence.

Nathaniel Parker plays the repressed Major Pollock, who lives a life of deception, masquerading as a Major when he really attained a much junior Army rank.

He is able to carry it off until he is convicted by a local court for importuning men on the seafront, and desperately tries to prevent his fellow hotel guests from finding out.

Parker plays the part with a quiet tragedy, while Sian Phillips is magnificent as the domineering Mrs Railton-Bell, who discovers his secret and ‘outs’ him to hotel manager, Miss Cooper, played with sensitivity and dignity by Lolita Chakrabarti.

The arguments for and against acceptance are played out by the supporting cast, including Alexandra Dowling as the shy and highly-strung Sybil Railton-Bell, Richenda Carey as Miss Meacham, Simon Coates as Mr Fowler, Pamela Miles as Lady Matheson, Jeremy Neumark-Jones as Charles Stratton and Angela Jones as his wife Jean Stratton.

Summer 1954: Nathaniel Parker as Andrew Crocker-Harris and Lolita Chakrabarti as Millie Crocker-Harris in The Browning Version.Summer 1954: Nathaniel Parker as Andrew Crocker-Harris and Lolita Chakrabarti as Millie Crocker-Harris in The Browning Version. (Image: Manuel Harlan)

Meanwhile, in the heart of the Midlands, Rattigan’s 1948 play The Browning Version focuses on the end of the school term in a public school and brings to a climax the intrigues, deceptions and lies in the lives of its teachers.

The ensuing implosion of classicist Andrew Crocker Harris’s career, played by Nathaniel Parker, triggers the collapse of his marriage to his frustrated and unfaithful wife Millie, played by Lolita Chakrabarti.

Together, the two plays cover loneliness, concealment, emotional repression and unrequited love, themes that still ring out today.

Of the two plays, neither of which I had seen before, I much preferred Table Number Seven, but both were set on a revolving stage, turned into a dining or sitting room. They cleverly gave the impression of there being nowhere for the characters to hide and are well worth the ticket.

The ensemble cast is completed by Hugh Osborne, Claire Carpenter, Kishore Walker, Fiona Tong, Rosalind Lailey and Bertie Hawes.

The creative team also includes set and costume designer Mike Britton, lighting designer Charles Balfour, composer Valgeir Sigurǒsson, sound designer Bella Kear, associate director Sarah Stacey and movement director Arielle Smith.

To book tickets contact the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 or visit theatreroyal.org.uk.