Overview
Terence Rattigan's epic and probing drama about the man immortalised as
Lawrence of Arabia. Arrogant, flippant, withdrawn and with a talent for
self-concealment, the mysterious Aircraftman Ross seems an odd recruit
for the Royal Air Force. In fact the truth is even stranger than the man
himself. Behind the false name is an enigma, a man named Lawrence who
started as a civilian in the Map Office in 1914 and went on to
mastermind some of the most audacious military victories in the history
of the British Army. These victories earned him an enduring and romantic
nom de guerre: Lawrence of Arabia. Rattigan's 1960 play reveals the
unusual and deeply conflicted Englishman behind the heroic legend. This
edition, with an Introduction by Dan Rebellato, was published alongside
the revival at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2016, directed by
Adrian Noble and starring Joseph Fiennes as Ross.