The Winslow Boy.

THE STORY: What begins as a small incident ultimately grows into a cause celebre nearly shaking the foundations of the government. The incident is simply that of a youngster in an English government school who is expelled for an alleged theft. As a matter of fact, the youngster was en-tirely innocent, but practically all the evidence was against him. The boy's family, Inparticular his father, proceed to contest the decision of the school and chal-lenge its right, as a government-run institution, to damage the reputation of a boy without sufficient legal safeguards. The issue which began as a private matter involves the right of official agencies to impose their authority on the individuals of any democracy and, as the play moves relentlessly forward, we see in effect, citizens of a democracy challenging the forces of bureaucracy, and thus keeping alive the issue of the basic rights of the individual.Terence Rattigan is the author of 'The Winslow Boy.', published 1950 under ISBN 9780822212645 and ISBN 0822212641.