7 February - The Hollow

First of all, once again my thanks for your lovely Christmas gift, which I know that Tim and I will enjoy!  And for understanding why we can't have a meeting in January.

After a bit of thought I thought we would start 2018 off with an Agatha Christie: there's just one left in my book of selected plays, and I shall enjoy looking for another compilation for us to work through!

The Hollow is a typical 'country house mystery' and an adaptation of a book of the same name, but, unlike in the book, it is not Hercule Poirot who is the detective. This might be explained by Christie's intense dislike for her Belgian sleuth, and she is recorded as having said that she particularly disliked his appearance in this novel: in her autobiography she claimed that she "ruined [her own novel] by the introduction of Poirot".

Despite this, The Hollow has been successfully staged in the theatre, on film and, of course, on TV.    

The Hollow

The eccentric Lucy Angkatell has invited the Christows, along with other members of her extended family, to her estate for the weekend. John Christow is carrying on an affair with Henrietta Angkatell, a talented sculptor. The beautiful Veronica Cray, an old flame of Christow's, suddenly appears in the house on Saturday night to borrow a box of matches ...

Characters

• Sir Henry Angkatell, the owner of The Hollow. He married his distant cousin, Lucy Angkatell.
• Lucy, Lady Angkatell, Henry's wife, whose sociable, charismatic veneer hides a dark side to her personality, occasionally glimpsed by her family.
• Edward Angkatell, a distant cousin of Henry and inheritor  of the family's beloved house, Ainswick. He has charm but is overshadowed by Christow's dominant personality. He lives in the past and has been devoted to Henrietta for many years. He despises himself, thinking he is good for nothing.
• Midge Harvey, Lucy's young cousin. Only partly related to the Angkatell family, she refuses financial aid from them and works in a dressmaker's shop.
• Henrietta Angkatell, a sculptor, and cousin of Sir Henry, Lucy, Midge, Edward and David. She always knows the right words to say to make someone feel comfortable, albeit sometimes at the expense of the truth. Her art is the core of her being, which, at times, conflicts with her second important characteristic. She loves John Christow more than life itself.
• Dr John Christow, a Harley Street doctor. He is passionate about his work and dedicates himself to finding a cure for "Ridgeway's disease" – the aetiology of which bears a marked resemblance to multiple sclerosis. He is very self-confident, attractive, and has great charisma.
• Gerda Christow, John's wife. She is rather plain and stupid. She worries about everything. She idealises John, and blames herself for her problems, even when he is wrong. 
• Veronica Cray, an actress. She is very beautiful and abnormally egotistical. She wanted Christow to abandon everything to follow her to Hollywood, but he rejected her; she found this unbearable. However, Christow is still attracted to her and, it is implied, had a one-night stand with her, which triggered Gerda's jealousy.
• Gudgeon, the butler.
• Doris, a maid
• Inspector Colquhoun
• D.S. Penny

There is a reference to a newspaper called The News of the World:  It is no longer published, but was a huge-selling Sunday paper specialising in gossip and scandal.  

The set for The Hollow is rather detailed, but I think that this picture is the closest to the long explanation!

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Finally, as I am writing this in December, I wish you all ...

6 December - Confusions

Thank you all for  your appreciation of the cake and Rocky Road served last month, and as requested here is the embarrassingly easy recipe (from Nigella - so first put on your black negligee, or if you're following my version of the recipe, your tracksuit and a pinny):

200g Milk Chocolate
25g Dark Chocolate (Nigella says you can change the ratio, but it worked didn't it!)
75g Brazil nuts - roughly chopped (I have since made with brazils & slivered almonds which were nice too)
75g Mini Marshmallows (or large ones chopped up!)

Line one or two baking sheets with baking parchment.  They can be placed close together as they don't spread.

Melt the chocolates, either in a bowl over a gently steaming pan of water, or gently in the microwave - too much of a blast and it will ruin.

Mix all the ingredients.

Drop heaped teaspoons of the mixture on to the baking parchment and leave in a cool place (not the fridge) to set.

Sensually lick the spoon ............ 😁

Next month's play will be Confusions by Alan Ayckbourn.  It's 5 self-contained acts, and we will meet a number of lonely characters, so not really very Christmassy!  I'll try harder next year to find something more seasonal! Unfortunately my Google search for a Christmas play came up with nativities and other mostly child-orientated pieces.  I am as always open to ideas!

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8 November - London Assurance

I am not sure how to describe our November play, perhaps as a "Love Story".  But when you look at the list of characters, and I tell you that it was written in 1840 and was recently very successfully produced at the National Theatre, I hope you will appreciate that this is no Barbara Cartland. I am very hopeful that we will have a fun afternoon!

London Assurance was written by Dion Boucicault, an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the English-speaking theatre. The New York Times heralded him in his obituary as "the most conspicuous English dramatist of the 19th century."

List of Characters

• Sir Harcourt Courtly, cultured 57-year-old fop

• Charles Courtly, his dissolute son

• Dazzle, Charles' equally dissolute companion

• Max Harkaway, country squire

• Grace Harkaway, Max's 18-year-old niece, betrothed to Sir Harcourt

• Lady Gay Spanker, horse-riding virago

• Mr. Adolphus "Dolly" Spanker, her ineffectual husband

• Mark Meddle, lawyer

• Pert, Grace's maid

• Cool, Charles' valet

• James (Simpson)

• Martin, servant to the Courtlys

• Solomon Isaacs, moneylender, in pursuit of Charles

Some pictures from the recent production:

6 September & 4 October - Anna Karenina

I hope that you have all had a lovely summer and are looking forward to our next season of play readings.

My thanks to Pernette for suggesting that we read this recent adaptation of Anna Karenina by Marina Carr, and also for the idea of reading it in two parts!

Anna Karenina  by  Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina was first published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877.  However, due to a clash with the editor of the periodical, The Russian Messenger over political issues that arose in the final installment (Tolstoy's negative views of Russian volunteers going to fight in Serbia) the novel's first complete appearance was in book form in 1878.

Widely regarded as a pinnacle in realist fiction, Tolstoy considered Anna Karenina his first true novel, after he came to consider War and Peace to be more than a novel. Fyodor Dostoyevsky declared it "flawless as a work of art." The novel remains popular, as demonstrated by a 2007 Time poll of 125 contemporary authors in which Anna Karenina was voted the "greatest book ever written."

Anna Karenina is the tragic story of a married aristocrat/socialite and her affair with the affluent Count Vronsky. The story starts when she arrives in the midst of a family broken up by her brother's unbridled womanizing—something that prefigures her own later situation, though she would experience less tolerance by others.

A bachelor, Vronsky is eager to marry her if she will agree to leave her husband Karenin, a senior government official, but she is vulnerable to the pressures of Russian social norms, the moral laws of the Russian Orthodox Church, her own insecurities, and Karenin's indecision. Although Vronsky and Anna go to Italy, where they can be together, they have trouble making friends. Back in Russia, she is shunned, becoming further isolated and anxious, while Vronsky pursues his social life. Despite Vronsky's reassurances, she grows increasingly possessive and paranoid about his imagined infidelity, fearing loss of control.

A parallel story within the novel is that of Konstantin Lëvin or Ljovin, a wealthy country landowner who wants to marry Princess Kitty, sister to Dolly and sister-in-law to Anna's brother Oblonsky. Konstantin has to propose twice before Kitty accepts. The novel details Konstantin's difficulties managing his estate, his eventual marriage, and his struggle to accept the Christian faith, until the birth of his first child.

The novel explores a diverse range of topics throughout its approximately one thousand pages. Some of these topics include an evaluation of the feudal system that existed in Russia at the time—politics, not only in the Russian government but also at the level of the individual characters and families, religion, morality, gender and social class.

Main Characters

• Princess Anna Arkadyevna Karenina: Stepan Oblonsky's sister, Karenin's wife and Vronsky's lover.

• Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky: Lover of Anna, a cavalry officer

• Prince Stepan "Stiva" Arkadyevich Oblonsky: a civil servant and Anna's brother, a man about town, 34. 

• Princess Darya "Dolly" Alexandrovna Oblonskaya: Stepan's wife, 33

• Count Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin: a senior statesman and Anna's husband, twenty years her senior.

• Konstantin "Kostya" Dmitrievich Lëvin/Lyovin: Kitty's suitor, old friend of Stiva, a landowner, 32.

• Nikolai Dmitrievich Lëvin/Lyovin: Konstantin's elder brother, an impoverished alcoholic.

• Sergej Ivanovich Koznyshev: Konstantin's half-brother, a celebrated writer, 40.

• Princess Ekaterina "Kitty" Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya: Dolly's younger sister and later Levin's wife, 18.

• Princess Elizaveta "Betsy" Tverskaya: Anna's wealthy, morally loose society friend and Vronsky's cousin

• Countess Lidia Ivanovna: Leader of a high society circle that includes Karenin, and shuns Princess Betsy and her circle. She maintains an interest in the Russian Orthodox mystical and spiritual

Anna Karenina Family Tree:  it might be easier to read here:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Anna_Karenina_family_tree_EN.jpg

2 August - Appointment with Death

August's play will be a return to an old favourite: Agatha Christie.

Appointment with Death

The play opens as the family and the victim are introduced through the perspective of Sarah King and Dr. Gerard, who discuss the behavior of the family. Mrs. Boynton is sadistic and domineering, which she may have inculcated from her original profession: prison warden. Sarah is attracted to Raymond Boynton, while Jefferson Cope admits to wanting to take Nadine Boynton away from her husband, Lennox Boynton, and the influence of her mother-in-law. Having been thwarted in her desire to free the young Boyntons, Sarah confronts Mrs. Boynton whose apparent reply is a strange threat: "I’ve never forgotten anything – not an action, not a name, not a face." When the party reaches Petra, Mrs. Boynton uncharacteristically sends her family away from her for a period. Later, she is found dead with a needle puncture in her wrist.

Main Characters

• Colonel Carbury, senior figure in Transjordania

• Mrs Boynton, the victim

• Ginevra Boynton, the victim's stepdaughter

• Raymond Boynton, the victim's youngest stepson

• Lennox Boynton, the victim's eldest stepson

• Nadine Boynton, the victim's stepdaughter-in-law (Lennox's wife)

• Jefferson Cope, a family friend

• Dr Gerard, a French psychologist

• Sarah King, a young doctor

• Lady Westholme, a member of Parliament

• Miss Pryce, a former nursery governess

• Alderman Higgs, fellow traveller

5 July - Time of My Life

In June and July we will be returning to some favourite writers, before tackling Anna Karenina in September and October.

On 5 July we will read Time of My Life by Alan Ayckbourn.  I was looking for something 'light' to help us cope with this heat, but it IS Ayckbourn - so don't expect a RomCom!

Time of my Life takes place in Essa de Calvi, a ‘foreign’ restaurant: its exact nationality remains unclear!

The play begins as a family  meets to celebrate Laura’s birthday.  It is typical Ayckbourn, and therefore the family are of course in for a bumpy ride!  Along the way we meet a cast of waiters – all of whom are related in this family-run restaurant and all of whom, interestingly, are cast to be played by the same actor – who must have some jolly quick costume and make-up changes!

During the course of the play we will follow Laura and Gerry’s story as it proceeds in “real” time.  Glyn and Stephanie’s story will run at a different pace, at a different table, into the future, and we will look back at Adam and Maureen’s story, again at a different table.

The Family

Laura:  50s, mother, wife of Gerry.  A force to be reckoned with.  Despite the appearance of being no more than a support to her husband, she has in fact played a vital and largely unsung role in her husband’s success. She is just as astute and determined as him.

Gerry:  50s, father, husband of Laura.  Successful, self-made business man.  Originally a builder, he has diversified and weathered economic storms and recessions through a combination of astuteness and ruthlessness.  Visibly he is very much the head of the family, a man who rarely if ever expects his words or actions to be questioned.

Glyn: Elder son. Late 20s, at first glance very much his father’s son.  But he has lived for too long in Gerry’s shadow, and been compared unfavourably to him once too often. He has tried to compete with his over-competitive parent and failed. He has been groomed to take over the family business, but it is unlikely that the firm will survive when he does. He has charm, but little of his father’s drive or ambition.

Stephanie: Mid 20s, Glyn’s wife.  Has one child and, due to recent emotional upheavals in her marriage, has worn less well than she should have for someone reasonably comfortably off and with few material worries.  In marrying Glyn she may have hoped she was marrying the father, but has learnt better.

Adam:  Younger son. Early 20s.  Apple of his mother’s eye, he is a nervous, uncoordinated windmill of a boy and in gatherings such as this hopelessly out of his depth.

Maureen: Adam’s girlfriend. Very much the outsider, who is meeting the family for the first time.

The Restaurant Staff

Tuto:  Eternally cheerful and happy to serve

Bengie: Younger, no English

Dinka:  In his 30s, constantly sour

Ernesto Calvinu:  Middle-aged, ample, the owner of the restaurant

Aggi: Middle aged.  Has adopted Adam & Maureen who first fell in love at one of his tables and feels responsible for their continued happiness. Prone to bursts of unaccompanied, full-blooded singing of folk songs in his native tongue, which he hopes will further the course of true love.

7 June - The Aspern Papers

Having had a break from the group for one month, I hope that you will enjoy reuniting and discovering a play based on a novella by Henry James.  This was originally published in a magazine in 1888 and is one of James's best known works.

The Aspern Papers is based on the letters Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote to Mary Shelley's stepsister, Claire Clairmont, who saved them until she died. 

Set in Venice, The Aspern Papers demonstrates James's ability to generate suspense while never neglecting the development of his characters.

James (a very private man) examines the conflicts involved when a biographer seeks to pry into the intimate life of his subject. In the novel James paints the nameless narrator of The Aspern Papers as "publishing scoundrel", but also generates sympathy for the narrator as he tries to work the papers loose from Juliana, who is presented as greedy, domineering and unappealing.  

In 1959 Michael Redgrave adapted the book for the stage.  In the original the narrator was nameless, but in this adaptation he is Henry Jarvis: can there be any doubt that the initials are intended. Redgrave played Jarvis in his adaptation.

Characters

Henry Jarvis (HJ)	The narrator, an American writer and biographer of Jeffrey Aspern
Mrs Prest	HJ's old friend in Venice
Miss Juliana Bordereau	Aspern’s former lover, an American living in seclusion in Venice
Miss Tina Bordereau	Miss Bordereau's niece
Pasquale	HJ's manservant
Assunta	Juliana Bordereau’s maid

James, painted by John Singer Sargent

Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson in 1953

The Redgraves in 1959. From left: Vanessa, Rachel, Micahel, Corin, Lynn

Henry James OM (15 April 1843 – 28 February 1916)

James was an American-born British writer and is regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. 

He is best known for a number of novels showing Americans encountering Europe and Europeans. He claimed that a text must first and foremost be realistic and contain a representation of life that is recognisable to its readers. Good novels, to James, show life in action and are, most importantly, interesting.

In addition to his voluminous works of fiction he published articles and books of travel, biography, autobiography, and criticism, and wrote plays. James alternated between America and Europe for the first twenty years of his life; eventually he settled in England, becoming a British subject in 1915, one year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916.

Sir Michael  Redgrave CBE (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) 

Redgrave is perhaps best known as an English stage and film actor, but he was also a director, manager and author.

Redgrave was married to the actress Rachel Kempson for 50 years from 1935 until his death, and they headed a theatrical family.  Their children Vanessa (b. 1937), Corin (1939–2010) and Lynn Redgrave (1943–2010), and their grandchildren: Natasha (1963–2009), Joely Richardson (b. 1965) and Jemma (b. 1965) are also involved in theatre or film as actors. Their grandson Carlo Gabriel Nero is a screenwriter and film director; only Luke Redgrave has taken a path outside the theatre.

Lynn wrote a one-woman play for herself called Shakespeare for My Father. She was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award for this role. She traced her love for Shakespeare as a way of following and finding her often absent father.

5 April - Hedda Gabler

REMINDER:  NO MEETING IN MAY

In April we are going to read Hedda Gabler, inspired by it's current successful run at the National Theatre in London, and our enjoyment of A Doll's House.

Hedda Gabler was premiered in 1891, and its title character is considered one of the great dramatic roles in theatre.

Hedda's married name is Hedda Tesman; Gabler is her maiden name. On the subject of the title, Ibsen wrote: "My intention in giving it this name was to indicate that Hedda as a personality is to be regarded rather as her father's daughter than her husband's wife."

Characters:

• Hedda Tesman née Gabler — The main character, newly married and bored with both her marriage and life, seeking to influence a human fate for the first time. She is the daughter of General Gabler.

• George (Jørgen) Tesman — Hedda's husband, an academic who is as interested in research and travel as he is in his wife. Despite George's presumed rivalry with Eilert over Hedda, he remains a congenial and compassionate host, and even plans to return Eilert's manuscript after Eilert loses it in a drunken stupor.

• Juliana (Juliane) Tesman — George's loving aunt who has raised him since early childhood. She is also called Aunt Julle in the play, and Aunt Ju-Ju by George.

• Thea Elvsted — A younger schoolmate of Hedda and a former acquaintance of George. Nervous and shy, Thea is in an unhappy marriage.

• Judge Brack — An unscrupulous family friend.

• Eilert Lövborg (Ejlert Løvborg) — George's former colleague, who now competes with George to achieve publication and a teaching position. Eilert was once in love with Hedda.

• Bertha (Berte) — A servant of the Tesmans.

Hedda, the daughter of an aristocratic and enigmatic general, has just returned to her villa in Kristiania (now Oslo) from her honeymoon. Her husband is George Tesman, a young, aspiring, and reliable (but not brilliant) academic who continued his research during their honeymoon. It becomes clear in the course of the play that she has never loved him but married him because she thinks her years of youthful abandon are over. It is also suggested that she may be pregnant.

The reappearance of George's academic rival, Eilert Løvborg, throws their lives into disarray. Eilert, a writer, is also a recovered alcoholic who has wasted his talent until now. Thanks to a relationship with Hedda's old schoolmate, Thea Elvsted (who has left her husband for him), Eilert shows signs of rehabilitation and has just published a bestseller in the same field as George. When Hedda and Eilert talk privately together, it becomes apparent that they are former lovers ... creating a devastating cocktail of emotions.

Ruth Wilson in the lead role of London's National Theatre's current production

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REMINDER:  NO MEETING IN MAY

1 March: Suddenly at Home

I am glad that so many of you enjoyed Accidental Death of an Anachist: a very political, funny and finely crafted piece by the late Dario Fo.

In March we will go to the opposite extreme -  a murder mystery by Francis Durbridge.

Suddenly at Home

In this 1971 play (and the setting is very much of that era) a man murders his wife with the help of his mistress - but then there's a twist!

Characters

Glenn Howard - The Husband

Maggie Howard - His Wife

Helen Tenby - Maggie's Sister

Ruth Belcher - The Howard's Au Pair (but where are the children ...?)

Sam Blaine - Former lover of Maggie

Sheila Wallis - Friend of Maggie

Appleton - A Police Inspector

Reimick - A Police Inspector

Francis Durbridge (1912-1985)

Durbridge is most well known for his Paul Temple books and plays which have been turned into radio plays, television series and films.  Apart from fame as the Paul Temple author, Durbridge seems to have lived a quiet and happy life!

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1 February: Accidental Death of an Anachist

Firstly, many thanks to Rina for the lovely Fève Tiramisu! And congratulations to Daniele on becoming our Queen!

I think we all found last month's play, Death and the Maiden, a 'good read', leaving us with plenty of things to think about.

This month's play, Accidental Death of an Anachist, should also provide food for thought - although perhaps in a more light-hearted vein.

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The play is a farce based on the real-life events surrounding Italian railwayman and anarchist Giuseppe Pinelli, who fell – or was thrown – to his death from the fourth floor window of a Milan police station in 1969. Pinelli was accused of bombing a bank but was cleared of the charge. The events of the play, however, are fiction.

I will leave the play to unfold ... but there is an interesting factoid:  An actor Mark Blanco, who was cast in the lead role at a London fringe theatre, died in unexplained circumstances himself in December 2006 shortly before the production was about to open. Blanco fell to the ground from a balcony in Whitechapel, East London. His family said: "We absolutely do not believe that Mark committed suicide, or that his death was a simple accident." They continue to press for information on Blanco's last hours at the party from those who were present, including  former Libertines singer Pete Doherty.

I chose this play when the death of Fo, aged 90, was announced last October, and I thought you would all enjoy reading one by this Italian author who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997.

The ECC did a very funny production of the play some years ago, and I hope we will be able to recapture the humour!

11 January - Death and the Maiden

Firstly, many thanks for the very kind gift you gave me in December, and my thanks to for the contributions made by Margaret and Isobel towards the edibles!

I hope you all had a very happy Christmas and that 2017 has started well for you.

My plans for being prepared for January have been thwarted, as I decided that the play I had proposed, Present Laughter, by Noel Coward, was actually not great shakes! Indeed, it was a wee bit dull!

And so I have chosen a play that is quite the other extreme of Coward!

Death and the Maiden is a dark 1990 play by Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman. Dorfman was exiled for many years when Chile was under the dictatorship of General Pinochet, whose regime and the subsequent move towards democracy strongly influence this work - although the country in the play is never named.  This play has been performed world-wide, including in Chile, and adapted into a film by Roman Polanski.

When Dr. Roberto Miranda enters the lives of lawyer, Gerardo Escobar, and his wife, Paulina Salas, he raises memories that Paulina has hidden for many years.                                          

This is not a fun start to the year!  But I  believe it is a good play which, despite its sometimes forthright language, will get us all thinking and talking.  The themes of the play are many:

• Justice v Peace
• Civilisation v Depravity
• Past v Future
• Cycle of Violence
• Lies or Truth?
• Forgiveness
• Guilt or Innocence?

Schubert: Death and the Maiden

Schubert's 1817 quartet is referenced in the play and this piece, based on a poem by Matthias Claudius, is strongly linked with death.   The theme is a death knell that accompanies the song about the terror and comfort of death.

The Maiden:

"Oh! leave me! Prithee, leave me! thou grisly man of bone!

For life is sweet, is pleasant.

Go! leave me now alone!

Go! leave me now alone!"

Death:

"Give me thy hand, oh! maiden fair to see,

For I'm a friend, hath ne'er distress'd thee.

Take courage now, and very soon

Within mine arms shalt softly rest thee!"

You can listen to it here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fXYjSmR6Bw