Even today, nearly forty years after the series ended, we think we know what was meant by a "Play for Today". The typical play broadcast under this label was (or so we think) a serious realist drama about some controversial contemporary political or social issue, often written from a left-wing viewpoint. Even from its early days, however, the series was wider than this, and "The Foxtrot", which formed part of the first season, is a case in point. It is an apolitical comedy, and not particularly naturalistic. Like some other early "Plays for Today" such as "The Long-Distance Piano Player" and "Robin Redbreast", it was originally broadcast in colour but only survives today in a black-and-white version. (Some other early episodes appear to have been lost altogether).
The writer was Rhys Adrian, also responsible for "Evelyn" from the second series, and like that play it can be categorised as a sex comedy. "Evelyn" deals with an affair between a forty-something married man and a younger woman who also has several other lovers. "The Foxtrot" deals with two couples, Arthur and Gwen and their friends Harry and Maisie, and a mutual friend Tom, all in late middle age. As in "Evelyn" there is little in the way of physical action, most of the play being taken up with long conversations- between the two couples visiting each other at home, between Tom and Arthur down the local pub, between Tom and Gwen while foxtrotting, at the funeral of Gwen's father who dies while watching television.
It has been said that an important theme of the play is the conflict between change and nostalgia, and it is certainly true that this element plays a part. At one point Tom announces that "It's not my bloody world anymore, mate", and Harry is obsessed with the noise from the new motorway which has recently been built near his home. The title reflects the fact that by the seventies the foxtrot was becoming regarded as an old-fashioned dance, something only of interest to older people and not to the younger generation who were more into the twist or disco dancing. Near the beginning Arthur is asked by an opinion-poll researcher about his views on the "permissive society", an expression much in vogue in the late sixties and generally used as shorthand for either "Aren't things so much better than they used to be!" or "Aren't we all going to hell in a handcart!" Even in the seventies, however, permissiveness was not the sole preserve of the young and trendy; subsequent developments in the play make us aware that in their day the older generation could be as permissive as any modern youngster. The big reveal, which occurs in the final scene that Tom, not Arthur, is Gwen's real husband. (He left her after discovering that she was having an affair with Arthur, but they were never divorced, so Arthur and Gwen are not legally married).
When first broadcast in 1971 the play divided the critics. Many liked it, but T. C. Worsley, the television reviewer for the Financial Times, attacked it sharply. I didn't see it then- I was only a boy- but fifty years on it hasn't aged well. (It might have been better had the colour version survived). Its underlying subject of nostalgia versus change might be an interesting one, but a play which is little more than an extended sit-com complete with canned laughter is not really the best vehicle for exploring such a theme. I would agree with Worsley's criticism of the play as "appallingly ill-constructed"; that big reveal at the end is not nearly as interesting as Adrian thinks it is, and the play might have been better had the relationship between the parties been made clear earlier on. Worsley's other criticisms included the words "pretentious" and "gimmicky", and to see the justice of his one only needs to consider the ending in which Gwen, Arthur and Tom sit down to watch an American sit-com featuring characters with the same names who appear to be in the same complicated matrimonial arrangement. "Evelyn" was something of a disappointment for me, but "The Foxtrot" was an even greater one. 4/10.
The writer was Rhys Adrian, also responsible for "Evelyn" from the second series, and like that play it can be categorised as a sex comedy. "Evelyn" deals with an affair between a forty-something married man and a younger woman who also has several other lovers. "The Foxtrot" deals with two couples, Arthur and Gwen and their friends Harry and Maisie, and a mutual friend Tom, all in late middle age. As in "Evelyn" there is little in the way of physical action, most of the play being taken up with long conversations- between the two couples visiting each other at home, between Tom and Arthur down the local pub, between Tom and Gwen while foxtrotting, at the funeral of Gwen's father who dies while watching television.
It has been said that an important theme of the play is the conflict between change and nostalgia, and it is certainly true that this element plays a part. At one point Tom announces that "It's not my bloody world anymore, mate", and Harry is obsessed with the noise from the new motorway which has recently been built near his home. The title reflects the fact that by the seventies the foxtrot was becoming regarded as an old-fashioned dance, something only of interest to older people and not to the younger generation who were more into the twist or disco dancing. Near the beginning Arthur is asked by an opinion-poll researcher about his views on the "permissive society", an expression much in vogue in the late sixties and generally used as shorthand for either "Aren't things so much better than they used to be!" or "Aren't we all going to hell in a handcart!" Even in the seventies, however, permissiveness was not the sole preserve of the young and trendy; subsequent developments in the play make us aware that in their day the older generation could be as permissive as any modern youngster. The big reveal, which occurs in the final scene that Tom, not Arthur, is Gwen's real husband. (He left her after discovering that she was having an affair with Arthur, but they were never divorced, so Arthur and Gwen are not legally married).
When first broadcast in 1971 the play divided the critics. Many liked it, but T. C. Worsley, the television reviewer for the Financial Times, attacked it sharply. I didn't see it then- I was only a boy- but fifty years on it hasn't aged well. (It might have been better had the colour version survived). Its underlying subject of nostalgia versus change might be an interesting one, but a play which is little more than an extended sit-com complete with canned laughter is not really the best vehicle for exploring such a theme. I would agree with Worsley's criticism of the play as "appallingly ill-constructed"; that big reveal at the end is not nearly as interesting as Adrian thinks it is, and the play might have been better had the relationship between the parties been made clear earlier on. Worsley's other criticisms included the words "pretentious" and "gimmicky", and to see the justice of his one only needs to consider the ending in which Gwen, Arthur and Tom sit down to watch an American sit-com featuring characters with the same names who appear to be in the same complicated matrimonial arrangement. "Evelyn" was something of a disappointment for me, but "The Foxtrot" was an even greater one. 4/10.
