A 1950s Ealing comedy starring Alec Guinness as a brilliant chemist whose invention pits him against bosses and unions is to be adapted for the West End stage.
Eight years after success with a stage version of The Ladykillers, Sean Foley is adapting and directing a version of The Man in the White Suit, starring Stephen Mangan and Kara Tointon.
The 1951 film tells the story of Sidney Stratton, who invents a fabric that never gets dirty or wears out. His breakthrough could change the world, but it alarms mill owners, who see their fortunes threatened, and trade union leaders who fear for the jobs of their members.
Foley called it a “smart and subtle” story about people who are normally up against each other joining forces to stop a gentle hero.
Ealing comedieswere great material for stage plays, he said. “I love them. They are not naturalistic film comedies, they are actually quite odd in a way. They’re comic fables.”
The Man in the White Suit has a particular, perennial relevance in that it is about people with vested interests not wanting change because it threatens them. “People would rather have high-paid jobs and make money than save the planet.”
The highly sophisticated farce appealed, he said. “There are whole sections in the film where Sidney is just literally blowing stuff up. He keeps blowing up labs. There’s quite a lot of slapstick and great scenes to stage.”
One of the biggest challenges will be staging one of the film’s most famous scenes when the Guinness character, wearing his luminous white suit, is chased at night by a baying mob.
Like the film, the play will be set in the 1950s, giving it another contemporary resonance in that “they talk a lot about austerity”. It also allows for plenty of skiffle in the score.
Foley was recently appointed as the artistic director of Birmingham Rep, a job he starts this summer. He has a long CV as actor, writer and director and is best known for comedy, including co-writing and starring in The Play That I Wrote alongside Hamish McColl; and directing in the West End’s Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, The Ladykillers, The Miser and the under-rated X Factor musical I Can’t Sing! In 2016 he directed the film Mindhorn, which starred The Mighty Boosh’s Julian Barrett as a has-been actor who found fame as a TV detective with a bionic eye.
The Man in the White Suit will play for three weeks at Theatre Royal Bath before it transfers to the Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End, opening on 8 October.
