Sutton Vane
Sutton Vane was a British playwright and novelist best known for his play "Outward Bound," which explored themes of mortality through a narrative centered on a group of characters aboard a ship bound for an undisclosed destination, ultimately revealing that they are all deceased. Born to a father with the same name, who was a writer of melodramas, Vane faced challenges in distinguishing his work from his father's, and his early plays did not receive significant acclaim. Despite initial difficulties in getting "Outward Bound" staged, Vane took the initiative to independently produce the play, even managing the set design and securing a cast willing to work for minimal pay. The play garnered critical success and transferred to the West End, enjoying a lengthy run and later opening on Broadway. Its impact led to adaptations in film, including productions in 1930 and 1944. Vane attempted to follow up on this success with another play, "Overture," but it did not resonate as strongly. Overall, while he wrote several other plays, none matched the popularity or influence of "Outward Bound," cementing its place as a pivotal work in his career.
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Subject Terms
Sutton Vane
Playwright
- Born: November 9, 1888
- Birthplace: England
- Died: June 15, 1963
- Place of death: Hastings, Sussex, England
Biography
Although Sutton Vane wrote more than a dozen plays, his reputation rests Outward Bound and the novel he produced from it. Ironically, the play for which he became known came very close to not being staged.
Vane Hunt Sutton Vane was the son of Sutton Vane, a writer of melodramas in Victorian England. Because father and son shared a name, there is a degree of confusion about whether some of the early plays attributed to the son were instead the father’s. Vane had at least four plays staged in London and four outside London before Outward Bound. None of these plays elicited much excitement. Therefore, when Vane tried to produce his new effort, Outward Bound, no one would agree to stage it.
Confident about this play, Vane rented the Everyman’s Theatre in Hampstead for two weeks and brought the production to fruition. He painted sets, made curtains, did carpentry, and persuaded the cast to work for minimum wage. The entire production, including the rental fee for the theater, cost about 120 pounds sterling, the equivalent of six hundred United States dollars at the 1923 exchange rate.
Because Hampstead was so far from Fleet Street where critics had to file their reviews, many did not attend. Nevertheless, one reluctant critic, the Daily Telegraph’s W. A. Darlington, was in attendance. His rave review and word of mouth marked Outward Bound as a major theatrical event and attracted sold-out audiences. The play moved to the West End’s Garrick Theatre, where it ran for 277 performances. Early in 1924, it opened on Broadway for substantial run with a cast including Leslie Howard, Alfred Lunt, Margalo Gillmore, and Dudley Digges.
The story of Outward Bound is an old one. Vane put a disparate group of characters on a ship bound for an undisclosed destination. It soon becomes clear that everyone on board is dead and that the ship is bound for a port where judgment will be meted out. The play suggests Sebanstian Brant’s Das Narrenshiff (The Ship of Fools), written in 1494. In 1962, Katherine Anne Porter used the theme in her Ship of Fools. John Steinbeck employed a similar theme in The Wayward Bus (1947) and Peter Osborn’s On Borrowed Time addressed some of the same questions of human mortality.
So successful was Outward Bound that Hollywood made it into a film in 1930 and again, under the title Between Two Worlds, in 1944. Vane wrote a novel based on his play, which was revived on Broadway in the 1940’s starring Laurette Taylor and Vincent Price. Vane tried to capitalize on the success of this play by pursuing a related theme in Overture, where a disparate group of people is awaiting birth, but the idea did not catch on. Although six of his plays were staged after Outward Bound, he never again achieved the success he had in this one remarkable drama.