Quartermaine’s Terms

Giffnock Theatre Players proudly present Simon Gray’s elegiac tragi-comedy Quartermaine’s Terms, regarded as one of greatest plays of the 20th century.

Cambridge 1961, the Cull-Loomis School for English, where seven hard-working tutors live lives of quiet desperation – but then again, that is the English way. In the corner of the staff common room sits the lovable and ever so slightly preposterous St John Quartermaine. Of course he may be hopeless as a teacher but the old chap’s been there so long he’s now part of the furniture. But when a new principal is appointed, Quartermaine’s future is thrown into question.

‘The playwright is in full possession of the Chekhovian territory where the tragedies and absurdities of life become one and the same.’ (New York Times)

‘A masterly portrayal of an innocent.’ (Harold Pinter)

First presented in 1981 with Edward Fox as Quartermaine. The play was most recently revived for London’s West End in 2013 by Richard Eyre, and starring Rowan Atkinson.