August - Play Reading Cancelled

Sincere apologies, but due to personal circumstances I need to cancel our meeting on 5 August.   I look forward to seeing you in September, when we will read When We Are Married.

5 August - When We Are Married by J B Priestley

We had a marvellous turn out for such a hot day - 11 of us were grateful for any breeze we could catch with the windows and doors open!

We were delighted to welcome Christine for a taster of the play reading group, but very sad that this was Ryoko's last meeting with us before her return to Japan at the end of the month: Ryoko you have been a lovely member of the group and we are really going to miss you.  We wish you had found us earlier and been able to be to more meetings.  We all wish you much happiness in being reunited with your family.

And so to the plays.  Well, after Bennett's somewhat saucy romp, very much set in the English Farce style and looking at not just bodies by human foibles and obsessions - and also perhaps very much a play of the 60s/70s - we are next going to step back in time to the more restrained Victorian Era.

In J. B. Priestley's 1938 hit play, a group of three couples, old friends and all married on the same day in the same chapel, gathers at the Helliwells’ home to celebrate their silver anniversary somewhere in the north of England.

When they discover that they are not legally married, each couple initially reacts with proper Victorian horror – what will the neighbours think? – and all three couples find themselves re-evaluating their marriages.

Hovering closely over the proceedings is the Yorkshire Argus' alcohol-soaked photographer, keen to record the evening's events for posterity, and a wickedly destructive housekeeper who is hoping to use the couples' mortification to her own advantage.

When we are Married was turned into a film in 1943.

A still from the 1943 film

 
In an interesting connection with July's play: in a 1994 radio adaptation of When we are Married Alan Bennett played one of the husbands!
 
This is a popular 'traditional' play, which I hope you will all enjoy.

The three couples in the original cast: clockwise from top left, Raymond Huntley, Lloyd Pearson, Ernest Butcher; Ethel Coleridge, Muriel George, Helena Pickard

1 July - Habeas Corpus by Alan Bennett

Postponed from 3 June: for further information about this play, please see below.

3 June - Change of Play - The Visitor

As we were a small group today, we had a last-minute change of plan and instead of reading Habeas Corpus we read The Visitor by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt.  This was a very different play to the one the group was expecting to read, addressing serious issues with very little light comic relief.  However, the group seemed to enjoy the play and discussing the questions it raised.

The Visitor, based on a real incident, imagines a night between the invasion of Vienna by the Nazis in 1938 and Freud's departure to safety with his wife and daughter, Anna.  Anna is taken away by a Nazi officer to be interrogated after she is rude to him.  Freud wrestles with his conscience over whether or not to sign a declaration that will enable him to leave Austria, and a strange, well-dressed, man appears in his room.  Who is he?  Is he a magician?  Is he an escaped psychotic patient?  Or is he God?

This intellectual play raises issues about faith as well as coping with life under the Nazi threat. 

Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt was born in France in 1960 and now lives in Belgium.  After being brought up as an agnostic he became a Christian  years ago. He is quite prolific and has a large number of plays, films and books to his name, most notable Oscar and the Lady in Pink.

Much is known, and written, about Sigmund Freud (1856-1939).  Most relevant to The Visitor he believed that God was created by man's desire to have a permanent father-figure.  He died in London, just after a year after signing the paper that enabled him to leave Austria.

Anna Freud (1895-1982) was born in Austria; the last child of Freud and his wife, Martha Berneys.  She followed her father and worked in the field of psychoanalysis, particularly child psychoanalysis.

3 June - Habeas Corpus by Alan Bennett

Well, The Rivers of China certainly gave us something to think about.  I think we all found this a life-changing play and will be certainly taking home with us the following passages (I copy them here so that you can print them off and put them on your fridge):

"Woman is from ground.  Self development not possible for her unless she is with man"

"Only way for woman is to evolve - go to what you call 'heaven' - is with man"

"There are women try to become man, but this wrong for her nature. Man has aspiration to find heaven because has possibility for immortality. But such aspiration poison for woman unless has man to help her"

We might also have taken away the message from this play that there should be equality of the sexes and that neither should be the ruling gender.

Habeas Corpus by Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett is a popular playwright with the group, and after today's more challenging play we are throwing ourselves back into his arms!

Habeas Corpus is the legal term for: You shall have the body.  And that pretty well sums up this 1973 farce!  I think we can look forward to a bit of a romp, double entendres and rumpy pumpy! I read that Bennett wanted to write using the farce tradition, but with a twist.  His twist is that there are few stage instructions ... so you'll need to keep on the ball!

The play concerns the aging Dr. Arthur Wicksteed and his pursuit of a nubile patient, Felicity Rumpers. Wicksteed's wife, Muriel, is, in turn, lusting after the charming head of the British Medical Association, Sir Percy Shorter, who, as well as being Wicksteed's old rival, turns out to be Felicity's father - the result of an under-the-table liaison during an air-raid with Lady Rumpers, her mother.  Felicity herself is pregnant and finds a way to cover it up in the hypochondriac son of Dr. Wicksteed, Denis.  Meanwhile, Wicksteed's spinster sister Connie, ashamed of her flat-chestedness, has schemes of her own.

Sir Alec Guinness and Madeline Smith

6 May - The Rivers of China by Alma de Groen

Alma de Groen, the author of The Rivers of China, is an Australian playwright, born in New Zealand. 

In The Rivers of China two plots interweave: the Fontainebleau narrative and the Sydney narrative, both involved with the life and death of the New Zealand-born writer Katherine Mansfield, and both concerned with the place of women and artists in a patriarchal society. In 1923 the writer Katherine Mansfield went to the guru Gurdjieff in Fontainebleau that he might "cure her soul." In the 1980s (or 'today') in Sydney, a young man awakes in a hospital to find himself in a world dominated by women. As they struggle to discover their true identity, their separate stories intriguingly interweave. Alma De Groen makes free use of Mansfield's journals and letters and the writings of Gurdjieff.

Katherine Mansfield Beauchamp Murry (14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction who was born and brought up in colonial New Zealand and wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield. At 19, Mansfield left New Zealand and settled in the United Kingdom, where she became a friend of modernist writers such as D H Lawrence and Viriginia Woolf. Her life-style was 'bohemian'.  She had lovers of both genders and whilst romantically engaged with  Arnold Trowell took his brother, Garnet, as her lover.  Pregnant by Garnet, Mansfield quickly married George Bowden, but left  him the same evening before the marriage could be consummated and returned briefly to Garnet, but lost the baby after her mother dispatched her to Bavaria.  Shortly after her mother cut her out of her will.

She then began on a tempestuous relationship, and marriage, with the magazine editor John Middleton Murry. 

Mansfield was greatly affected by the loss of her brother in France during WW1.

Mansfield spent her last years seeking increasingly unorthodox cures for her tuberculosis. The play The Rivers of China is a based on the time she spent Georges Gurdjieff's Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in Fontainebleau, France.  She died of TB aged only 34 in 1923.

George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (January 13, 1866–1877? - October 29, 1949), was an influential spiritual teacher of the early to mid-20th century who taught that most humans live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to transcend to a higher state of consciousness and achieve full human potential.  At different times in his life, Gurdjieff formed and closed various schools around the world to teach The Work. He claimed that the teachings he brought to the West from his own experiences and early travels expressed the truth found in ancient religions and wisdom teachings relating to self-awareness in people's daily lives and humanity's place in the universe.

Gurdjieff was born in culturally diverse Kars, a former outpost of the Ottoman Empire, and grew up speaking Armenian, Pontic Greek, Russian and Turkish before acquiring various European languages.  He traveled widely, funding himself through various 'business' enterprises along the way. As well as seeking 'the Truth', Gurdjieff was a writer, choreographer, composer and lecturer who gave assistance to members of his extended family fleeing from Russia.

The establishment at Fontainbleu was spartan and Gurdjieff put into practice his teaching that man needs to develop physically, emotionally and intellectually, hence the mixture of lectures, music, dance, and manual work and Gurdjieff was often harsh on his pupils.  He acquired notoriety as "the man who killed Katherine Mansfield" after she died under his care. However, another school of thought is that Mansfield knew she would soon die and that Gurdjieff made her last days happy and fulfilling.  

During the play the author directs some of Gurdjieff's music to be used.  You can find it here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt0CXEPpYmY

 

The Rivers of China also makes reference to various other works, most notably the three poems below:

The Soul has Bandaged moments - Emily Dickinson

The Soul has Bandaged moments -

When too appalled to stir -

She feels some ghastly Fright come up

And stop to look at her -

Salute her, with long fingers -

Caress her freezing hair -

Sip, Goblin, from the very lips

The Lover - hovered - o'er -

Unworthy, that a thought so mean

Accost a Theme - so - fair -

The soul has moments of escape -

When bursting all the doors -

She dances like a Bomb, abroad,

And swings opon the Hours,

As do the Bee - delirious borne -

Long Dungeoned from his Rose -

Touch Liberty - then know no more -

But Noon, and Paradise

The Soul's retaken moments -

When, Felon led along,

With shackles on the plumed feet,

And staples, in the song,

The Horror welcomes her, again,

These, are not brayed of Tongue –

On First Looking into Chapman's Homer - Keats

Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold,

   And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;

   Round many western islands have I been

Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.

Oft of one wide expanse had I been told

   That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne;

   Yet did I never breathe its pure serene

Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:

Then felt I like some watcher of the skies

   When a new planet swims into his ken;

Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes

   He star'd at the Pacific—and all his men

Look'd at each other with a wild surmise—

   Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

Rarely, rarely, comest thou - Shelley

Rarely, rarely, comest thou,

         Spirit of Delight!

Wherefore hast thou left me now

         Many a day and night?

Many a weary night and day

'Tis since thou are fled away.

How shall ever one like me

         Win thee back again?

With the joyous and the free

         Thou wilt scoff at pain.

Spirit false! thou hast forgot

All but those who need thee not.

As a lizard with the shade

         Of a trembling leaf,

Thou with sorrow art dismay'd;

         Even the sighs of grief

Reproach thee, that thou art not near,

And reproach thou wilt not hear.

Let me set my mournful ditty

         To a merry measure;

Thou wilt never come for pity,

         Thou wilt come for pleasure;

Pity then will cut away

Those cruel wings, and thou wilt stay.

I love all that thou lovest,

         Spirit of Delight!

The fresh Earth in new leaves dress'd,

         And the starry night;

Autumn evening, and the morn

When the golden mists are born.

I love snow, and all the forms

         Of the radiant frost;

I love waves, and winds, and storms,

         Everything almost

Which is Nature's, and may be

Untainted by man's misery.

I love tranquil solitude,

         And such society

As is quiet, wise, and good;

         Between thee and me

What difference? but thou dost possess

The things I seek, not love them less.

I love Love—though he has wings,

         And like light can flee,

But above all other things,

         Spirit, I love thee—

Thou art love and life! Oh come,

Make once more my heart thy home.

15 April - The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard and Sotoba Komachi: a Noh Play

In March we enjoyed the highly entertaining Sleuth, which had definite parallels with Deathtrap which we had read last year.  It is basically a two-man play, and we enjoyed the surprises when additional characters were revealed to be one of other of the protagonists.

In April we will be reading an entirely different sort of murder mystery.  One by Tom Stoppard (Sir Thomas Stoppard that is).  This Czech-born Brit is a prolific writer, whose works are usually quite mentally challenging!

Sir Tom Stoppard

  

The Real Inspector Hound

The Real Inspector Hound, a short, one-act play, is definitely one of Stoppard's more accessible works.  The plot follows two theatre critics  who are watching a ludicrous setup of a country house whodunnit and, by chance, they become involved in the action causing a series of events that parallel the play they are watching.  The play was written between 1961 and 1962, and is a parody of the stereotypical mysteries such as those written by Agatha Christie.  Indeed, the title is a direct reference to the ending of The Mousetrap.  Interestingly Wikipedia tells us that the producers of Agatha Christie's play could not publicly object to Stoppard's title without drawing even more attention to the closely-guarded ending of The Mousetrap.

The Real Inspector Hound examines the ideas of fate and free will, as well as exploring the themes of the play within a play.  It is an example of absurdism, farce, parody and satire!

Noh Plays

I have to confess that I have had to resort once again to Wikipedia for a summary of what a Noh play is!

Noh, or Nogaku, is derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" and is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami (1333 – June 8, 1384, a Noh actor, author, and musician) and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art still regularly performed today. Traditionally, a Noh program includes five Noh plays with comedic Kyōgen  plays in between, although an abbreviated program of two Noh plays and one kyōgen piece has become common in Noh presentations today. An okina (a particular sort of Noh) play may be presented in the very beginning especially during New Years, holidays, and other special occasions.

Noh is often based on tales from traditional literature with a supernatural being transformed into human form as a hero narrating a story. Noh integrates masks, costumes and various props in a dance-based performance, requiring highly trained actors and musicians. Having a strong emphasis on tradition rather than innovation, Noh is extremely codified and regulated.

Emotions are primarily conveyed by stylized conventional gestures while the iconic masks represent the roles such as ghosts, women, children, and old people. Written in ancient Japanese language, the text "vividly describes the ordinary people of the twelfth to sixteenth centuries".

Some Noh masks:

Sotoba Komachi by Yukio Mishima

Yukio Mishima (January 14, 1925 – November 25, 1970), was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, and film director. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century; he was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Literature.  He was expected to win the prize in 1968 but lost the award to a fellow countryman and it was presumed that this was because of his radical right-wing activities. His avant-garde work displayed a blending of modern and traditional aesthetics that broke cultural boundaries, with a focus on sexuality, death, and political change.

He is remembered for his ritual suicide by beheading following a failed coup d'etat attempt, known as the "Mishima Incident". Mishima and four other members of his Tatenokai (private defence force formed by Mishima) barricaded themselves and in the office of a defence commandant, and tied the commandant to his chair. With a prepared manifesto and a banner listing their demands, Mishima stepped onto the balcony to address the soldiers gathered below. His speech was intended to inspire a revolt to restore the power of the emperor. He succeeded only in irritating the soldiers, and was mocked and jeered. He finished his planned speech after a few minutes, returned to the commandant's office and committed suicide (with the aid of one of his colleagues) following  a traditional suicide ritual, which included the composition of so-called death poems.  Mishima planned his suicide meticulously for at least a year and no one outside the group of hand-picked Tatenokai members had any indication of what he was planning. His biographer suggests that the coup attempt was only a pretext for the ritual suicide of which Mishima had long dreamed. Mishima made sure his affairs were in order and left money for the legal defense of the three surviving Tatenokai members.


Mishima was also known for his bodybuilding and modelling.  Despite having a wife and children, after his death Mishima's sexuality was also questioned and a male lover published letters that he had received from him.

Sotoba Komachi 


The original work was a conversation between two priests and a 99-year-old lady at a Buddhist shrine. She later admits that she is Ono no Komachi (one of the six great waka poets in Heian period). She is then possessed by Captain Fukakusa (one of Komachi’s suitors) angry spirit and confesses him visiting Komachi for 99 nights in order to earn her love but lacking one and dying in agony. Mishima reworked the story and borrowed the characters (the old lady and Captain Fukakusa) from Kanami’s Sotoba Komachi.

Mishima reset the story in a 1950s urban park. At the beginning of the story, five couples were sitting on the benches and embracing. A 99-year-old lady appeared in the scene and was questioned by a drunk poet, who was sitting alone observing her actions. They started a conversation and the old lady later confessed that she was once a beautiful woman when she was young and was admired by Captain Fukakusa. Suddenly the poet found themselves in the Rokumei Hall, a ballroom where many splendid-looking ladies and gentlemen were dancing. Everyone in the ball room were amazed by the beauty of the old lady (whom they recognized as the beautiful Komachi). The poet was surprised that the old, ugly and wrinkled woman became this beautiful young lady and felt in love with her. Not knowing the fact that all men who complimented Komachi’s beauty would die, he was not able to stop his affection towards her and spoke the taboo words. His last words before he died were ““I will meet you again, I am sure, in a hundred years, at the same place.”