author
Sutton Vane
1888–1963
Best known for the haunting hit play Outward Bound, this British dramatist built a career around mystery, suspense, and the strange edge between life and death. His work reached both stage and screen, and his most famous play kept finding new audiences long after its 1923 premiere.
1 Audiobook
Outward bound
by Sutton Vane
About the author
Born Vane Hunt Sutton-Vane on November 9, 1888, in England, Sutton Vane was a British playwright and actor. He came from a theatrical family: his father, Frank Sutton-Vane, was also a writer and playwright, and the two were sometimes confused because both used the name Sutton Vane.
He began professionally as an actor before turning to writing for the stage. He is remembered above all for Outward Bound (1923), an unusual and highly successful play about passengers on a mysterious sea voyage who slowly realize they are dead. The play became his signature work, was adapted into film more than once, and remained well known for decades.
Sutton Vane died in Hastings, Sussex, on June 15, 1963. Although much of his name recognition rests on a single play, Outward Bound gave him a lasting place in twentieth-century theater through its eerie premise and memorable sense of the unknown.