The Forsyte Saga Parts 1 & 2

London, 1886. Wealthy solicitor Soames Forsyte is a man of property, and his beautiful wife Irene is his most prized possession. When he commissions an architect to build a house for her, the cracks in their marriage begin to show until a shocking incident tears the Forsyte family apart. Years later, Soames’ daughter, Fleur, is haunted by the family secret as history begins to repeat itself…

John Galsworthy’s classic story The Forsyte Saga is newly dramatized in two parts by Shaun McKenna and Lin Coghlan, bringing the unheard female voices to the fore for the first time. Spanning forty years from the last gasp of the Victorian age to the beginning of the roaring 1920s, this is an epic tale of sex, money and power.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

John Galsworthy (1867-1933)

Born in Kingston-on-Thames and educated at Harrow, Galsworthy studied law at Oxford where he joined the Drama Society. While his father was alive he published under a pseudonym, considering The Island Pharisees (1904) to be his first major work. In 1906, he married Ada Galsworthy who encouraged his writing. He had success with The Man of Property (1906) which began the series known as The Forsyte Saga. After the First World War he resumed work on the series with In Chancery (1920) and To Let (1921) followed by The White Monkey (1924), The Silver Spoon (1926), and Swan Song (1928), with its two interludes A Silent Wooing and Passersby (1927) collected in A Modern Comedy (1929). On Forsyte Change (1930) was a collection of short stories. Galsworthy’s other novels include The Country House (1907), The Patrician (1911) and The Freelands (1915).

He was also well-known as a playwright, writing twenty-eight plays. He explored social issues such as class discrimination in the courts in The Silver Box (1906) produced at the Royal Court Theatre, and Strife (1909) about an unofficial strike. His play, Justice (1910), led to prison reform. Galsworthy’s horror at the carnage of the First World War was expressed in The Mob (1914), and the conflict between new and old money is dramatised in The Skin Game (1920). Galsworthy won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932 and died the following year.

A 1967 BBC TV adaptation of The Forsyte Saga was immensely popular both in the UK and abroad. It was again serialised by ITV in 2002. Shaun McKenna and Lin Coghlan adapted the novels for BBC Radio 4 in 2016 under the title The Forsytes before adapting them for the stage.

Shaun McKenna – Adapter

Theatre includes The Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale for which he won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best Musical and was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Musical (Watermill Theatre, Newbury, Theatre Royal Drury Lane and International Tour), Exhibitionists (King’s Head Theatre), The Return of Peter Pan (Theater Regensburg), Maddie (New York Theater Festival and Lyric Theatre), Ladies in Lavender for which he won a BroadwayWorld UK Award for Best Regional Play (Royal and Derngate Theatres, Northampton and National Tour), Lautrec (Shaftesbury Theatre), Last Dance (York Theatre, New York City), Heidi and Heidi and Johanna for which he was nominated for a Prix Walo Award (Walenstadt), Ben Hur Live (O2 Arena) and La Cava (Victoria Palace Theatre and Piccadilly Theatre).

Film/TV includes The Crooked Man; Like Father Like Son.

Radio includes Eleanor Rising, Home Front which won a BBC Audio Drama Award for Outstanding Contribution to Radio Drama, The Forsytes and The Complete Smiley.

Lin Coghlan – Adapter

Theatre includes Flock, Mercy and Waking (Soho Theatre), Kingfisher Blue (Bush Theatre), Apache Tears for which she won the Peggy Ramsay Award (Clean Break), The Miracle (National Theatre), Bretevski Street (Theatre Centre) and The Night Garden (National Theatre Studio and Northcott Theatre, Exeter).

Film/TV includes First Communion Day for which she won the Dennis Potter Play of the Year Award, Electric Frank for which she won a Leopard of Tomorrow Award at Toronto Film Festival, Some Dogs Bite for which she won the Audience Award at Nantes Film Festival and Patrick’s Planet.

Radio includes Tales of the City, Les Miserables, The Country Girls, Clayhanger, The Fortunes of War, Mansfield Park, The Cazelets, Ethan Frome, The Forsytes, The Misunderstanding and North and South.