ONE OF US

by Chapman, Robin

What really happened during that summer weekend in 1951 when Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean suddenly disappeared only to surface later in Moscow? One of Us sets out to unravel the story behind Burgess’s dramatic defection to Russia, at the same time presenting a completely new perspective on a fascinating and extraordinary series of events. The play focuses upon Goronwy Rees, whose calm and settled life is overturned by a visit from his old university friend, the flamboyant extrovert, Guy Burgess. It is Rees’s crisis of conscience, in the face of E.M. Forster’s declaration that he would rather betray his country than his friends, that forms the pivot around which a tense and compelling drama develops. Ultimately, who is left feeling the real traitor? Anthony Andrews and Ian Ogilvy starred in the highly successful production at the Greenwich Theatre.