The Common Pursuit

THE COMMON PURSUIT

The Common Pursuit follows the lives of six characters who first meet in Stuart Thorne's rooms as undergraduates at Cambridge, when he invites them to the first meeting of his new literary magazine called The Common Pursuit. The title is an allusion to F. R. Leavis's 1952 collection of essays Scrutiny: The Common Pursuit. It then follows their lives and careers over the next twenty years.

Programme for the Lyric, Hammersmith Production of 'The Common Pursuit'

The Common Pursuit: Scenes from the Literary Life was first performed on 3rd July 1984 at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, with the following cast:

STUART – Nicholas Le Prevost

MARIGOLD – Nina Thomas

MARTIN – Ian Ogilvy

NICK – Robert East

PETER – Simon Williams

HUMPHRY – Clive Francis

Director: Harold Pinter

Designer: Eileen Diss

Costumes: Liz Walker

Lighting: Dave Horn

Selected other productions of The Common Pursuit

Harold Pinter and Simon Gray rehearsing The Common Pursuit: Photo by Donald Cooper/Rex Features

Harold Pinter and Simon Gray rehearsing the original production of The Common Pursuit. Photo by Donald Cooper/Rex Features

From An Unnatural Pursuit, 25 November 1983:

'I finished the play at six this morning, having worked through half the night. I’d also worked through three packages of cigarettes and half a bottle of malt whisky. But the main thing is that it’s finished. Ole.

I numbered the pages, packed and shaped them into a completed-looking pile, toasted myself with a further gulp of whisky and a few more cigarettes, gloated. This, for me, is the only moment of pure happiness I ever experience in the playwriting business…. '

Simon Gray kept a diary during the rehearsals and performance of the original production of The Common Pursuit at the Lyric Hammersmith, directed by Harold Pinter. An Unnatural Pursuit is published by Faber & Faber.

Simon also recorded the trials and tribulations of two productions of The Common Pursuit in Los Angeles and New York in his 1988 diary How's That For Tellin' em, Fat Lady?, also published by Faber & Faber.

Clive Francis's cartoon of Simon Gray

for the original production programme

PUBLISHING INFORMATION

The Common Pursuit is now available as a Faber Contemporary Classic in Simon Gray: Plays 4. To order a copy on special offer at 25% discount please contact Faber using code GRAYPLAYS. Or check out the plays section of our bookshop.

The Common Pursuit is also available in the following editions:

The Definitive Simon Gray IV (1993 ISBN 0-571-16659-8)

Plays 1 (Methuen 1986 ISBN 0-413-40420-X)

The Common Pursuit (Eyre Methuen 1984)

The Common Pursuit (Samuel French UK ISBN 978-0-573-01696-7)

LICENSING INFORMATION

For UK and Worldwide professional performance rights please contact Judy Daish Associates at rozzy@judydaish.com. For English-speaking amateur rights (excluding the USA and Canada), apply to Samuel French Ltd at www.samuelfrench-london.co.uk. For amateur rights in the USA and Canada, apply to Dramatists Play Service, Inc at www.dramatists.com.