Bettie's Books

bookshelves: published-1980, summer-2010, edwardian, britain-england, sport, epistolatory-diary-blog, period-piece, play-dramatisation

** spoiler alert ** dramatised by DJ Britton, narrated by Olivia Colman

Autumn 1913. A shooting party on an Oxfordshire country estate. A whole society under the microscope, a society soon to be destroyed in the trenches of the Western Front.

The eve of the shoot.

Cast

Narrator ..... Olivia Colman
Cicely Nettleby ..... Ellie Kendrick
Sir Randolph Nettleby ..... Sam Dale
Olivia Lilburn ..... Jaimi Barbakoff
Lionel Stephens ..... Michael Shelford
Minnie Nettleby ..... Christine Kavanagh
Osbert Nettleby ..... Joshua Swinney
Lord Gilbert Hartlip ..... Sean Baker
Aline Hartlip ..... Sally Orrock

Directed by Jessica Dromgoole


It was an error of judgement that resulted in a death. It took place in the autumn before the outbreak of what used to be known as the Great War.

Autumn 1913 and Sir Randolph Nettleby has invited guests to the biggest shoot of the season on his Oxfordshire country estate. We follow the action from one evening to the next, a dinner, a morning's shoot, a lunch, the fatal afternoon, and the fallout. An army of servants and gamekeepers has rehearsed the intricate age-old ritual of the hunt. Everything about it would seem a perfect affirmation of the certainties of Edwardian country life. Yet, their social and moral code is under siege from within and without. Competition beyond the bounds of sportsmanship, revulsion at the slaughter of animals, anger at the inequities of class - these and other forces are about to rise up and challenge the social order, an order that can last only a while longer. Funny, compassionate, sobering and dispassionate, the last throes of feudal England.

It is the autumn of 1913. Sir Randolph Nettleby has assembled a brilliant array of guests at his Oxfordshire estate for the biggest hunt of the season. An army of gamekeepers, beaters, and servants has rehearsed the intricate age-old ritual, the gentlemen are falling into the prescribed mode of fellowship and sporting rivalry, the ladies intrigued by the latest gossip and fashion. Everything about this splendid weekend would seem a perfect consummation of the pleasures afforded the privileged in Edwardian England. And yet it is not: the moral and social code of this group is not so secure as it appears. Competition beyond the bounds of sportsmanship, revulsion at the slaughter of the animals, anger at the inequities of class --these forces are about to rise up and engulf the assured social peace, a peace that can last only a brief while longer. In imagining Sir Randolph's shooting party, wrote The Spectator, "Miss Colegate has found a perfect metaphor for the passing of a way of life.