[No surviving envelope]
I was glad to get your letter of the 13th, though sorry that it cost you double postage. And it took me several attempts to discover which passage followed which, on the fold-over sheet: I was startled to read at first that you had ‘a new becoming hair-cut, a beautiful shade of red’, but on reassembling the parts was reassured. I am glad to hear about the birthday party, which seems to have been very successful, and the testimony of so many loyal and devoted friends. NowShakespeare, WilliamTwelfth Night;d3 youHale, Emilyas director ('producer');v9Twelfth Night;c4 are struggling with ‘Twelfth Night’ – not an easy play to produce or act, I should think. I wonder if you have any theory of the relative value of Shakespeare and modern social comedy for young amateurs: I have wondered whether the former, partly because of its remoteness and greater superficial difficulty, is not better practice for beginners; and whether it isn’t easier for them to appear in period costumes and talk period language, than to stimulate [sc. simulate] a contemporary adult behaviour that they have not grown up to. (I think that I myself should have felt less stage fright in a period costume than appearing in my own clothes, or such as I might wear!).
Itravels, trips and plansTSE's 1951 British Council mission to Paris;h5recounted;a2 do not seem to have suffered any ill effects from the short but fatiguing visit to Paris; andBritish CouncilTSE opens exhibition for;b8 the British Council people smoothed my way very well, providing a car to take me everywhere, which saves a great deal of wear and tear. I go again on Friday, returning Monday night. This time I shall be entertained at the expense of the University, which may not be quite so satisfactory, but the Council will help too. A rather full and tedious programme: Friday afternoon, a university reception immediately I get there – aVilar, Jean;a3 call on Jean Vilar, the theatrical producer who launched ‘Meurtre dans la Cathédrale’ so well six years ago; Saturday morning the degree-giving (but I don’t have to make a speech); Saturday night an official dinner; Sunday a semi-official lunch; andCain, Julien;a1 Monday a lunch party of the Director of the Bibliothèque Nationale.1 And I have to take evening dress and an Oxford gown as well. These honours that one cannot refuse can be rather costly in energy as well as in money (fare and incidentals).
And then the month of December, always distracting, with Christmas cards to send, presents to god-children etc. and pot plants for ladies towards whom one is under some obligation or other. INason, Margaret ('Meg') Geraldine;a7 must try to think of some present for Meg (and Doreen) in return for the cakes. At this season, one cannot look forward to any continuous labours until the end of the year.
TheresaEliot, Theresa Garrett (TSE's sister-in-law);f9 seems to have been well looked after: I have just had a letter from her from the Storrow House in Lincoln, which seems to be a convalescent attachment to the Mass. General. (She says, by the way, that she was not allowed to have visitors. HerEliot, Marion Cushing (TSE's sister);g9 remark to Marian seems very odd, and I should think M. might have felt a little hurt).
IPerkins, Edith (EH's aunt);k9 will write again to Aunt Edith when I get back from Paris. I want to get this letter off before I go to see my doctor this morning: he has wanted me to come before and after each of these expeditions, which is probably wise. I shall be thankful not to go abroad again until the spring. MartinBrowne, Elliott Martin;f6 is back, and wants to see me: HenzieBrowne, Henzie (née Raeburn);b7, after her operation is coming back by sea. Martin must have a very tough constitution: he had a very stiff programme in Australia, then had Henzie’s illness, flew all the way back, and immediately dashed off to some Drama meeting in Leeds. (IIrving, LaurenceHenry Irving: The Actor and His World;a4 hope that you receive the new Life of Sir Henry Irving, by Laurence Irving, which I sent you the other day).2 IGuinness, Alecpresses TSE for new play;b6 have been approached by the Edinburgh Festival people – and also by Alec Guinness – but I see little likelihood of being able to finish this play to my satisfaction in time for that.
1.JulienCain, Julien Cain (1887–1974) was general administrator of the Bibliothèque nationale, 1945–64. A Jew, he had been held by the French authorities before being sent off to Buchenwald, Jan. 1941–Apr. 1945.
2.Laurence Irving, Henry Irving: The Actor and His World (F&F, 1951).
4.E. MartinBrowne, Elliott Martin Browne (1900–80), English director and producer, was to direct the first production of Murder in the Cathedral: see Biographical Register.
1.JulienCain, Julien Cain (1887–1974) was general administrator of the Bibliothèque nationale, 1945–64. A Jew, he had been held by the French authorities before being sent off to Buchenwald, Jan. 1941–Apr. 1945.
1.Marian/MarionEliot, Marion Cushing (TSE's sister) Cushing Eliot (1877–1964), fourth child of Henry Ware Eliot and Charlotte Eliot: see Biographical Register.
5.AlecGuinness, Alec Guinness (1914–2000), distinguished English actor: see Biographical Register.
1.LaurenceIrving, Laurence Irving (1897–1988) – theatre designer and author; grandson of the legendary actor-manager Sir Henry Irving – served with distinction as a pilot during WW1 (Croix de Guerre, 1916) before spending a period in Hollywood as art director to Douglas Fairbanks Sr. From 1931 he worked in London and elsewhere – designing among other plays the first production of Murder in the Cathedral in 1935 – and in film. His writings include Henry Irving: The Actor and His World (1951), The Successors (1967), The Precarious Crust (1971); he was a director of the Times Publishing Company, 1946–62, and he campaigned for the establishment of the British Theatre Museum.
1.MargaretNason, Margaret ('Meg') Geraldine (Meg) Geraldine Nason (1900–86), proprietor of the Bindery tea rooms, Broadway, Worcestershire, whom TSE and EH befriended on visits to Chipping Campden.
3.JeanMurder in the Cathedral1945 Théâtre du Vieux Colombier production;g2 Vilar’s production of Murder in the Cathedral opened at the Vieux-Colombier Theatre on 18 June 1945. VilarVilar, Jean (1912–71), actor-producer and administrator, who founded his acting company in 1943, was awarded in 1945 the Prix du Théâtre for his outstanding work on Murder and on Strindberg’s Dance of Death. In 1947 he founded the Avignon Festival, the first drama festival in France; and he was appointed director of the prestigious state-owned Théâtre National Populaire, 1947–63. His acting roles included Macbeth, Don Juan and the gangster in Brecht’s Arturo Ui; and his productions extended from French plays to Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Beckett and Robert Bolt.