Who Is Sylvia? is a 1950 comedy play by the British writer Terence Rattigan about a man obsessed with the image of a woman he met as a seventeen year old and his search for her throughout the rest of his life. The play offered a thinly veiled portrayal of Rattigan's own philandering father. Like Perchance to Dream, Ivor Novello's long-running musical terminating only two years previously, Rattigan chose a line from William Shakespeare for his title. The line is the first wistful question of a song passage in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Original production The play opened at the Criterion Theatre, London, on 24 October 1950, with the following cast:
Mark - Robert Flemyng Williams - Esmond Knight Daphne - Diane Hart Sidney - Alan Woolston Ethel - Diana Allen Oscar - Roland Culver Bubbles - Diana Hope Nora, - Diane Hart Denis - David Aylmer Wilberforce - Roger Maxwell Doris - Diane Hart Chloe - Joan Benham Caroline - Athene Seyler
Reception Although it ran for over a year, it was not considered as successful as several of the playwright's previous works. This was especially so critically, with the Evening Standard's Beverley Baxter writing, "This Will Not Do, Mr Rattigan."Pattie p.119
Film adaptation The play was adapted into a 1955 film The Man Who Loved Redheads.
References
Bibliography David Pattie. Modern British Playwriting: The 1950s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations. 2013.