Lewis Gilbert film versions of Willy Russell's plays "Educating Rita" (1983) and "Shirley Valentine" (1989). Gilbert also directed the film "Stepping Out" (1991). Gilbert was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1997 Birthday Honours for services to the film industry. In 2001, Gilbert was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute, the highest accolade in the British film industry. In June 2010 he appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme "Desert Island Discs". In it he said that his 1970 film "The Adventurers" was a disaster, and that he should never have made it. On
The Brothers (Shirley play) offers his patrimony to his older brother—who refuses it. The supposedly dead Don Ramyres suddenly re-appears, to announce that he's merely been testing his sons; and he blesses the marriages of both young men. As is usually the case with Caroline era plays, "The Brothers" shows links and commonalities with various earlier works; Forsythe cites Webster's "The Devil's Law Case," Jonson's "The Staple of News", the Beaumont/Fletcher play "The Maid's Tragedy," and "The London Prodigal", among others. The Brothers (Shirley play) The Brothers is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by James Shirley. First published in 1653, "The