In Praise of Love (play)

In Praise of Love, originally entitled After Lydia, is the first part of a 1973 double-bill play by the English playwright Terence Rattigan (the second half being Before Dawn, a burlesque of the opera Tosca).

Rounding out the cast are Mark, a best-selling popular novelist and a friend of Sebastian's, who has long carried a torch for Lydia, and Joey, the couple's 20-year-old son, himself an aspiring writer, who is in rebellion against his father's overbearing manner and professed Marxist views.

[1]The original London production, at the Duchess Theatre, was directed by John Dexter, and starred Donald Sinden as Sebastian and Joan Greenwood as Lydia.

[3][4] It ran for 131 performances, and was described by The Sunday Times critic as “the most piercing exposition of love under great stress that I have ever seen on the stage.”[5] The subsequent New York production, directed by Fred Coe, which dropped the much-panned 2nd-act play Before Dawn, starred Rex Harrison in the role based on himself (Sebastian) and Julie Harris as Lydia.

[4] In 1976, the play was filmed to great acclaim, with Alvin Rakoff directing for Anglia Television, and with Kenneth More and Claire Bloom in the lead roles.

Cover of playbill for original Broadway production with Rex Harrison & Julie Harris , 1974