A series of books by John Galsworthy, and also known from various TV, film and radio adaptations, The Forsyte Saga follows the fortunes of the Forsyte family, illuminating the tensions between the generations - and the family’s place in a shifting social landscape - across a 40-year period. 
The latest incarnation of the Saga is a critically acclaimed stage production, which premiered at London’s Park Theatre in 2024 and is this month showing at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. The production is split into two parts and stars Joseph Millson as  solicitor and ‘man of property’ Soames Forsyte. What’s On caught up with him to find out more...

Telling the turbulent story of the Forsyte family, The Forsyte Saga, in its original form, is a series of three novels and two shorter pieces, written by John Galsworthy. The works contributed to him being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932, and were broadcast as infamous TV series in both 1967 and 2002. The story, now adapted for the stage in a two-part production, shows at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) Swan Theatre this month.

Joseph Millson takes the role of Soames Forsyte, who remains a central figure throughout - although in this adaptation, the first play is named after his wife, Irene, and the second after his daughter, Fleur.

“At the heart of this story is a man who really was obsessed with Irene - wanted this woman, wanted to make her happy and eventually got to marry her,” says Joseph. “And to begin with, there was nothing awful - she had money, comfort, everything she could want, but she just could not love this man. Eventually - in this Victorian world where they treated women like ‘breaking in’ horses sometimes - there is a marital rape, and it's extraordinary and awful. It's not just about that, but also the ripples in a family - how things last through generations.”

The plays follow the family from the end of the Victorian era until the 1920s, and Joseph is keen to explain that the production has a wider appeal than simply reaching those who are already familiar with the story.

“I think for people who love things like Bridgerton and Downton Abbey, this is the easiest sell on earth, because it is extraordinary writing, with very beautiful-looking Edwardian costumes.”

And for Joseph, exploring the characters and their fates has helped to broaden his perspective: “I’m someone who was a working-class country bumpkin growing up, and I used to have what I would call reverse snobbery. So when I was around very posh people, I got twitchy. I was very uncomfortable and didn't want to be around them. I played this role before - we did the whole thing on Radio Four - 17 hours, in a very gentle, slow adaptation; it's a beautiful radio adaptation. So I spent years with this person and these stories. It really is the thing that made me stop having this reverse snobbery, because human beings are just human beings.”

Joseph is not the only person who has been involved with the story and characters for an extended length of time.

“The writers, Shaun McKenna and Lin Coghlan, who have done the [stage] adaptation, also did the radio adaptation I did 10 years ago. That's partly how I got my foot in the door with this. They did the really hard bit - What do you keep, what do you lose? What is the heart of the story? - and then our brilliant director, Josh, and the designer, Anna, they've done an amazing thing. The Royal Shakespeare Company can make incredible sets, but we began at a tiny fringe theatre in London last year, with a very small budget. They just had beautiful red carpet and a big red curtain at the back, four chairs, nine actors, and that's it. There is no other set. We create everything - with wonderful sound and lighting.”

The result is an immersive and unusual theatrical experience.

“They call it ‘event theatre’, or ‘box-set theatre’, where you go and watch a matinee of Part One, go and have dinner and come back and watch Part Two. But they're both actually quite short - they're not long plays. I've sat through seven-hour things at the theatre before - it's nothing like that. Nobody wants it to end!”

The production has now transferred to the Swan Theatre - a venue which Joseph is surprisingly familiar with.

“I’ve done eight or nine things at the RSC, but by fluke, I've only ever performed in the Swan Theatre! I couldn't believe it when we were in there again. It's like it's my front room. I'm so comfortable there.” 

Part of the story’s impact comes from its setting, bridging a tumultuous period of British history - which might hold significance in our modern era.

“Between the two plays, the First World War happens. You've then got these people after the war who actually are very nihilistic. Nothing matters anymore. [Soames’] daughter, Fleur, is just living for the moment. She says ‘everything's comedy, it's all just comedy’. In this bonkers world we live in, we really need to cast a look back over our shoulder a bit, rather than just ploughing on and on. It's reassuring to see how much madness the world has already survived.”

In spite of the occasionally heavy subject matter, Joseph maintains that the production has its fair share of lighter moments as well.

“It’s also very funny… It's very feelgood, especially the second play. These people are utter buffoons, and actually poor Soames Forsyte is. Yes, he does something horrendous - and they don't excuse it in the production - but you understand his world, and who his parents were and the pressure his father was putting on.”

Although it seems counterintuitive, Joseph finds performing in a double bill less draining than a single play.

“As an actor doing theatre, two-show days are tiring when you do the same show twice, because it gets a bit Groundhog Day. The wonderful thing about this is that we almost always do one half of a story, go and have a sandwich, and then do the second half of a story. So you don't get that matinee fatigue. When we did it before, I found it the least tiring theatre I've ever done.”

And he maintains that this is a production which might appeal to a broad audience - whether you’re a regular theatre-goer or not:

“As someone who wasn't a theatre starstruck kid - you couldn't drag me to the theatre until I was 18 - I think this is an amazing play to take a gamble on. I'd say this is a brilliant one to drag your not-so-keen-on-theatre partner to… Some people get scared of Shakespeare and the Royal Shakespeare Company. I've been working for the RSC for 20 years, and I think often the RSC's best work isn't Shakespeare! You can't get out of the mind of the actor on stage and the audience member that ‘[this is] Shakespeare at the Royal Shakespeare Company’. When the RSC do non-Shakespeare things, they're liberated of that pressure, and it's almost always their most fantastic work.

“This is, I think, about to be a legendary Royal Shakespeare Company production.”