[Grace Toll Hall, Scripps College, Claremont]
TheRock, Theopening night and reception;c9 enclosed notices seem to indicate a satisfactory measure of success,1 though I suspect that the majority of the audience was more bewildered than delighted. The play is still much too long – I did not stay to the end, as I wanted to avoid being spoken to afterwards, but I am told that it did not finish until nearly 11.30 – and I am worrying about what can be cut – we have cut so much already that there seems nothing left. The choruses were magnificently delivered – I wish you could have heard them. The finale of part I seems to have been a success also, andHowson, Revd Vincentas Bert;a3 Bert’s song in part II went over well; theWoodliffe, Phyllisas Mrs Bert in The Rock;a1 girl who played with him, Phyllis Woodliffe,2 is very good. IArthur, Prince, Duke of Connaught and StrathearnTSE presented to;a1 had to make a brief public appearance on the pavement first – BrowneBrowne, Elliott Martinproduction of The Rock;a2presented to Prince Arthur;b1, IBaylis, Lilianpresented to Prince Arthur;a1 and Miss Bayliss had to be presented to Prince Arthur3 by the Bishop of London; but this was purely formal, and no conversation took place. After that I retired to a corner besides the light switchboard on the stage, in the company of Judy and Joe, where I could neither see nor hear well; but the main thing was not to be seen.
TheRock, Thecuts pondered;d1 trouble with the play is that it is really two things. The people who like my dialogue find the pageantry becomes boring, especially in the second part; and the people who like the pageantry and children’s ballet are bothered by my dialogue. Possibly the ballet can be shortened; but I fear that a chorus or two will have to go as well. You can’t take pieces out of the choruses here and there, because they are all divided into parts between the alto, soprano, tenor and bass voices; and it would be dangerous to upset them now. We had already omitted two choruses, and may have to omit another.4
The result is satisfactory to me in this respect, that I think my work on it has been well enough received to make it possible for me to get more dramatic work to do in the future. Also, it is reassuring to know that no chorus work is too difficult for Miss Fogerty’s pupils. Some of the lines are exceedingly hard to speak, though I have striven to make them intelligible to the most prosaic mind.
IRichardses, theTSE rewatches The Rock with;a8 shall go again on Thursday, I think, when the Richards’s are going; but now I must try to make up the arrears of work which has been neglected. By the way, I shall tell the Club Porter to forward to Lingfield any letters that come during that period.
IHale, Emilyas director ('producer');v9Comus;a4 suppose you are moiling over Comus. You do seem to me, from what you tell me, to be in pretty poor health, and I shall not really feel relieved until you are safely aboard a steamship.
Nowgames, diversionssolitaire patience;a1 I shall play a game of Patience and go to bed. I feel rather washed out.
1.TSE enclosed cuttings of these notices: John Hayward, ‘London Letter’, New York Sun, 19 May 1934; Francis Birrell, ‘Mr Eliot’s Revue’, New Statesman and Nation, 2 June 1934, 847; Anon, ‘Mr Eliot’s Pageant Play’, TLS, 7 June 1934, 404.
2.PhyllisWoodliffe, Phyllis Woodliffe (from Wanstead Park, Essex) played ‘Mrs Bert’ in The Rock.
3.PrinceArthur, Prince, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1850–1942), seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
4.GeoffreyTandy, Geoffreyon cuts to The Rock;a2n TandyRock, TheTandy on cuts to;d2nForty-Five Churches Fund, The
3.PrinceArthur, Prince, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1850–1942), seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
2.LilianBaylis, Lilian Baylis (1874–1937), English theatre producer; manager of the Old Vic and Sadler’s Wells theatres; an opera company (subsequently English National Opera) and a ballet company that was to become the Royal Ballet. She fostered the careers of numerous stars including John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Sybil Thorndike and Michael Redgrave.
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.RevdHowson, Revd Vincent Vincent Howson (d. 1957), St James’ Vicarage, Ratcliff, London, was ‘Bert’ in The Rock. Founder and producer of the East End Amateurs, he had been a member of Sir Frank Benson’s Shakespearian Company. His final post was as rector of St Paul’s, Covent Garden.
2.GeoffreyTandy, Geoffrey Tandy (1900–69), marine biologist; Assistant Keeper of Botany at the Natural History Museum, London, 1926–47; did broadcast readings for the BBC (including the first reading of TSE’s Practical Cats on Christmas Day 1937): see Biographical Register.