Forever Juliet: The Life and Letters of Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies 1891-1992 (review)

428Comparative Drama (1986); Cambridge, ed. Alan Nelson (1989); Herefordshire/Worcestershire, ed. David Klausner (1990); Lancashire, ed. David George (1991); Shropshire, ed. J. Alan B. Somerset (1994); Somerset includingBath, ed. James Stokes with Robert J. Alexander (1996); Bristol, ed. Mark C. Pilkinton (1997); Dorset/Cornwall, ed. Rosalind C. Hays and CE. McGee, Sally Joyce and Evelyn S. Newlyn (1999); Sussex, ed. Cameron Lewis (2000); Kent: Diocese of Canterbury, ed. James M, Gibson (2002). MartialRose.ForeverJuliet: TheLifeandLettersofGwenFfrangconDavies 1891-1992. Dereham (UK): LarksPress,2003.Pp.202 + illustrations. £9.50. Outside anglophile dieatrical circles die actress Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies is not well known in the United States. She acted in America only in 1962-1963 as Mrs. Candour in a touringproduction ofSchoolforScandal. She is better known to die British public because of her long and distinguished career and also because of a series of retrospective programs in 1988, the first of which was entided "Forever Juliet," die source for the tide for this engaging book. Martial Rose, recognized for his work on medieval drama and iconography, has chosen to write for a broad audience. The book is not a traditional biography, aldiough Rose traces Ffrangcon-Davies's life and career from its inception (at fourteen she was given Ellen Terry's blessing) until her death. Radier, as he says in the introduction,he has represented"the actress's life dirough die letters and memorabilia ." Neither is die book a mere epistolary collection, but rather a judicious selection from her letters and from the thousands ofletters and notes written to her. The letters not only create a vivid portrait of the actress, but also provide a broad panorama ofthe English theater in die central halfof the twentiedi century . Long quotations from reviews, often from reviewers long forgotten but also from well-known critics like Kenneth Tynan and James Agate, provide a sense ofthetaste ofthe times. Ifmost are congratulatory, Rose cannot be blamed for bias,for he notes that criticisms were fewand sometimes idiosyncratic. James Agate, for example, who generally praised, was acerbic about her "wistful" Lady Macbedi. Aldiough not ascholarly book,ForeverJulietwas clearlywritten bya scholar faced widi die task of reading and organizing material in over 2,000 letters written between die 1880s and 1992, not to mention scrapbooks, programs, photos, and tapes. (Anyone who has visited Ellen Terry's house at Small Hythe will appreciate the collecting proclivity of actresses.) The minimal footnotes carry just die right amount of information for a general audience, and Rose provides plot summaries, particularly helpful for drama now largely forgotten. Thechronologicaltables ofFfrangcon-Davies's stage roles as wellasperformances Reviews429 in film, television, and radio are particularly useful, testifying to the range of her acting ability. She starred in work by Shaw, Wilde, Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, Coward, Rattigan, O'Neill, and above all Shakespeare. She repeatedly played opposite John Gielgud, in Richard ofBordeaux (1922),Romeo andJuliet (1924), The Importance of Being Ernest (1939), and Macbeth (1942). She also played opposite Dirk Bogarde (Summertime, 1955), Anthony Quayle (Long Day's Journey into Night, 1958), and Paul Scofield (Uncle Vanya, 1970). Her career began, however,with what became a signature role in the twenties,when she sang the part ofEtain in the opera The ImmortalHourbyRudand Boughton, first at the Glastonbury Festival in 1919-1920, and in five later productions at Birmingham and London. During World War II she assumed a significant role in the history ofSouth African theater. Together with her friend and long-time companion, Marda Vanne, she laid the groundwork for a South African national theater, culminating in her direction ofMacbeth in Afrikaans in 1950. In an age of e-mail and text messaging, it is heartwarming to read bits of such charming letters. PeggyAshcroft addresses her as"darlingest Gwen, sister, and room mate"; Gielgud closes with "Fondest love from your once skinny Romeo." After seeing her at Stratford, Robert Donat writes that her Beatrice was "absolutely enchanting and completely real." Congratulatory letters also merited gracious replies. On receiving one from Gwen, Glenda Jackson replied, "To know someone you admire likes your work is the greatest of all tributes." Gwen's perspicacity shines through her prose. Gielgud as Benedict looked like Danny Kaye in a ginger wig; Mrs. Smuts...