That Man Stephen Ward

Thomas Hyde That Man Stephen Ward Damian Thantrey baritone Nova Music Opera Ensemble George Vass conductor RES10197 Thomas Hyde That Man Stephen Ward One-man Opera by Thomas Hyde That Man Stephen Ward Libretto by David Norris 1. Scene 1: Consultation [10:12] Op. 8 (2006-07) 2. Scene 2: Conversation [9:07] Damian Thantrey baritone (Stephen Ward) 3. Scene 3: Congregation [10:03] Nova Music Opera Ensemble 4. Scene 4: Consternation [10:30] Kathryn Thomas flute Catriona Scott clarinet 5. Scene 5: Condemnation [10:42] Madeleine Easton violin Amy Jolly cello 6. Scene 6: Consummation [12:19] Timothy End piano & keyboard Jonny Grogan percussion Total playing time [62:57] George Vass conductor About That Man Stephen Ward: World premiere recording ‘[...] a score that deftly conjures up the songs and dances of the era, but also has an apt, brittle edge’ The Times ‘With a modest but punchy chamber ensemble conducted by George Vass, it turned small history into surprisingly large musical gestures’ Opera Now Synopsis Scene 4: Consternation A few minutes later. Johnny Edgecombe, an Scene 1: Consultation ex-boyfriend of Christine, furious at having Harley Street, London. 1963. been dumped by her, has shot at Ward’s Society osteopath Dr Stephen Ward is front door demanding to speak to Christine. attending to his patient Lord Bill Astor. Ward The police arrive to take names and statements. refers to their many mutual friends and the They turn a blind eye to the more distinguished meaning of friendship. But Bill asks for the guests, but notice there are a lot of girls about. keys to Spring Cottage back. Ward conjures- Ward is dismayed by the press reports but is up the fading world of Spring Cottage and confident that his friends will rally around to Cliveden in a song. protect him. But will the phone ring? Scene 2: Conversation Scene 5: Condemnation Spring Cottage, Cliveden, 1960. Summer 1963. Ward is at Spring Cottage sketching a Having been charged with living on immoral beautiful girl, Christine. He meditates on earnings, Ward prepares to defend himself at his ideas of beauty and grace and describes his trial at the Old Bailey. Still waiting for his how they first met. Ward tutors Christine friends to phone with support, Ward becomes on how to make an effect in polite society. a jumble of twitches and panic. He recalls a schoolboy incident that suggests what he Scene 3: Congregation should do. But will he? Wimpole Mews, London, October 1962. Against news reports of the impending Scene 6: Consummation Cuban missile crisis, Ward, the socialite, London, 30 July 1963. entertains his numerous guests including Facing ruin, Ward takes an overdose of pills Peter Rachman and Minister for War, and vodka. The phone is taken off the hook. John Profumo. He sings a hymn of praise. In his mind, he is transported to an idyllic Eugene Ivanov, a Russian naval attaché fantasy. Then he sits at his desk to write a arrives. Ward decides he can solve the final letter. international crisis and bring about world peace by introducing Ivanov to Profumo. At that moment shots are heard. This spells big trouble. Damian Thantrey as Stephen Ward (Nova Music Opera, 2015 production) er Fribbins Photography © Hannah Megan Lane et P Stephen Ward osteopathy where needed, until the RAMC restaurants… Nightclubs and parties with One diplomat, Yevgeny Ivanov, the Russian intervened… only to enrol him afterwards as lords and ladies, actors and artists, important military attaché and probably a spy, became Stephen Ward, born on 19 October, 1912, ‘a commissioned stretcher-bearer’. foreigners, all the West End socialites. And – friends with Ward – which Ward duly reported was undoubtedly well-bred. His mother was ah – the prettiest girls. Streams of them … to Whitehall. For he was ambitious now. One Anglo-Irish stock; his father was Vicar of As such Ward was posted to India where by aspiration was to help – if only backstairs – Torquay. Thus at thirteen he was sent away chance he quite unofficially treated Jawaharlal By day, too, he was still with the highest in the worsening relations between Russia and to Canford, a brand-new, old-fashioned Nehru who needed attention to his neck and the land and relations in the consulting room the West, soon to culminate in the Cuban country boarding school – and he liked it. shoulders… were more… intimate. His hands: their ear. He Missile Crisis. Fanciful perhaps, but he was For example, he never forgot owning up was their confidential, professional associate. encouraged by ‘government agencies’ to to a schoolboy prank – and taking the … After the War osteopathy began to prosper, Mr Ward, Consultant. By appointment. Best continue his friendship with Ivanov. punishment – though utterly innocent. especially in London where it became quite of all he was Stephen, their friend. Well, one does the decent thing by one’s fashionable. Now Ward found recognition and Ward wanted to help all his friends. One of friends, doesn’t one? with it a position in a fashionable Marylebone Most of these friends were eminent – them, Lord Astor, a millionaire politician and clinic. eminently respectable and eminently married. owner of a great stately home, Ward helped Decent but lazy, Ward left school lacking (As was Ward, briefly.) But quite a few also by guiding him through his first experience much ambition. He drifted. But in 1934, Such treatment was expensive and ‘exclusive’. liked… ‘girls’. Ward, himself liked girls very of a night-club, and as a bonus by introducing with a push from his family, he left for Ward’s first patient was the multi-millionaire much. Very much more than he liked sex. him to Mandy Rice-Davies. In return Astor America where he qualified as a general American Ambassador, Averell Harriman … let Ward use a cottage on his Clivedon estate medical practitioner. next was Duncan Sandys, Winston Churchill’s The girls he liked most were unsophisticated at a next-to-nothing rent. son-in-law… then it was Winston himself, girls, drifting up to London for a bit of fun and He might have stayed there and practised who told Ward (always a very good listener a bit of life. And Ward ‘liked to help’ them And they helped each other by sharing among ‘warm-hearted... hospitable people and easy, conversationalist) that if he – the find both. And he liked to improve them. weekend parties there, Astor providing the ...’. Instead he came home to begin his career Great Man – had ever had his hands around drinks and swimming pool, Ward bringing girls, among the ‘standoffish British’ of Torquay, Nehru’s neck… He met Christine Keeler, for instance, when of course, and before long, trouble, too. as the local… osteopath? she was no more than another Soho showgirl. … Ward was feeling confident and appreciative He was charming; she was seventeen; he It was in that swimming pool one warm At the start of World War II, Ward of his own talents. He set up his own practice offered security – plus fun; she moved in. And weekend in July 1961 that Ward introduced volunteered for the Royal Ar my Medical off Harley Street. Always socially correct and became a favourite at his parties. Christine Keeler to John Profumo, one of Corps and was rejected. But he wasn’t a gentlemanly, he was now suave and polished Lord Astor’s guests and Minister of War in proper doctor, was he? to boot; increasingly welcomed into the best Ward’s parties rivalled any he was invited to. MacMillan’s Government. Profumo fell for social circles. Everyone was there. Girls… And politicians… Christine at once – almost before he could Eventually he was conscripted into the Royal Girls… And barristers… Girls… And be introduced, poolside, to Ivanov, a Armoured Corps, where he practised a little He loved his blooming social life. Only the best diplomats… bosom friend of Christine’s already. More fun; more ‘networking’. published the story, presenting it comically but plain enough for all to see who was who and And helpfully, Ward reported these new what was what… relationships to MI5, who seemed more interested in an easy, sexy girl who might Next day, Profumo rose in the Commons to trap a Russian agent into defecting… deny that his acquaintance with Miss Keeler Wasn’t Profumo’s crush a complication? was at all ‘improper’. He threatened to sue. Something to think about later… Surely from a man of honour that was enough. For a few weeks? six months? Keeler and A call-girl babbling her money-grubbing Profumo carried on their affair, with Ward phantasies to the gutter press? Even her providing their rendezvous. Where better, ‘agent’, that man Ward, had denied it and safer, than his own house? Christine lived was standing four-square behind Mr Profumo. there anyway. So the passion flared – and then it died. Had anyone known? The Press? So that was that… Probably not. Not yet. Except for… ‘events’, as MacMillan is celebrated Then, in 1963, Christine was called as a for saying. And the first event happened very witness in the trial of another ex-lover. This soon after Ward learned that the Metropolitan one had fired off a pistol – at least twice – out Police was investigating him, on suspicion of of disappointed passion. She didn’t turn up. ‘immoral earnings’… Now, while a jilted lover was everyday, to the Outraged because he certainly did not live on Press Christine Keeler was ‘The Missing anything his girls received… humiliated by the Witness’, a mysterious femme-fatale, a spreading talk making him the centre of high headline. Out of her depth, Christine tried society corruption… and frightened, Ward placating the papers by selling her story.

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