'Once upon a time every young man who could afford it would, at least once in his life, take off on the Grand Tour of Europe and sample the glories - persons as well as things - that lie beyond the protective Channel. Nowadays fewer "milords" can afford the trip and yet more people seem to attempt it. Like Henry in tonight's play by Alan Seymour they cannot travel in high style so they hitch-hike instead, taking the pot luck of drivers and vehicles, dust and haphazard destinations. Henry (played by David Hemmings) goes because Federika, exercising the ancient charm of the femme fatale, challenges him to broaden his mind, enlarge his horizons - grow up, in short - by enduring the rigours of a Continental summer.
'He has to make his way to Athens where he will find awaiting him an even greater challenge from his enigmatic Federika. We go with him, under the bridges of Paris, around the foundations of Rome, on the beaches of Corfu, up and down the ruins of Greece. But alas, most of his time seems to be spent, not working steadily through his guide-book but meeting, loving, and breaking the hearts of a long and cosmopolitan series of beautiful and willing girls - blonde Karin from Norway, Australian Moya, American Rosaleen in shorts and dark glasses. Federika (Delphi Lawrence) is a resourceful woman and the message Henry finds awaiting him in Athens is not at all what he expects; neither is his reception when he finally gets back to London.'
Source: Radio Times, 15 April 1965.
