Escape (play)

Former World War I British Army Captain Matt Denant protects a poor prostitute from an over-persistent plainclothes police detective. In a scuffle Denant hits the officer who as a result falls, striking his head, and dies. Denant gets sentenced to Dartmoor Prison for manslaughter and escapes from a work detail. The plot is a series of episodes where Denant meets people who will either abet or obstruct his escape thus becoming a study in class structure and ethos according to Galsworthy's interpretation of 1920s British society. ==Cast of UK premiere in order of appearance==

Source: • Nicholas Hannen as Captain Matt Denant • Ursula Jeans as girl of the town • Charles Koop as plainclothes man and the Dartmoor constable • Harold Lester as the policeman • Cyril Hardingham as the other policeman and the labourer • Leon M. Lion as the fellow convict, old gentleman • Gerard Clifton as the warder, the captain • Stafford Hilliard as the other warder, the man in plus fours and the bellringer • Molly Kerr as the shingled lady • Phyllis Konstam as the maid and the wife of man in plus fours • Paul Gill as the shopkeeper and the farmer • Ethel Manning as wife of the shopkeeper • Ann Codrington as sister of the shopkeeper and Miss Grace • Betty Astell as the little girl • Margaret Halstan as Miss Dora • Austin Trevor as the parson (also in NYC cast) ==Cast of US premiere in order of appearance==

and Leslie Howard in the Broadway production of Escape (1927) • Leslie Howard as Captain Matt Denant • Henrietta Goodwin as girl of the town • Edgar B. Kent as plainclothes man, the other warder and the Dartmoor constable • A. B. I. Imeson, the policeman and the warder • F. Cecil Butler as the other policeman and the other laborer • St. Clair Bayfield as the captain and the laborer • Laurence Hanray as the fellow convict, the old gentleman and the farmer • Frieda Inescort as the shingled lady • Geraldine Kay as little girl • Lois Heatherley as Miss Grace • Renee Macredy as Miss Dora • Cyrena Smith as the maid • Alan Trotter as the man in Plus fours and the bellringer • Viva Tattersall as wife of man in Plus fours • J. P. Wilson as shopkeeper • Lily Kerr as wife of shopkeeper • Ruth Vivian as sister of shopkeeper • Austin Trevor as the parson (also in UK cast) ==Adaptations==

Escape was adapted for the 1930 film Escape, and remade in 1948. A radio adaptation of play was broadcast in two parts August 15 and August 22, 1937, on the Columbia Workshop. Orson Welles starred as Captain Matt Denant. ==References==