THE DISTUF SI:OB
by John van Druten
A Produotion Theaia Preaented tor the Degree ot Kaster ot Arts By
1'11""- lU•anor iJ. ; Baua,,,, A.B •• B.s.
%HB OHIO STATE UBIVBRSITY 1947
Approved bya PREF.A.CB
!he production thesi1 ot The Diatatt Side consisted ot three part11 (i). A production book oontaining an ab1tract ot the theai•• a history and analysis ot the pla7 and a de1oriptioa ot all element• ot produotion.
{ii). Conatruotion ot a atage aodel.
(iii). Production ot the pla7 at 8100 P••·• July 24, 26, 26. 1947 in the University !heatre in Derb7 Rall.
The ooaplete produotion book ia on tile in the
Department ot Speeoh. !he abstract and the history and analyai• ot th• play ar~ alao on file in the Graduate
School. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pre.face .Abstract Section I. History and Analysis Part I. John van Druten and His Plays Part II. Stage History of The Distaff Side Part III. As to Kind --- Part IV. Analysis of the Script Part v. Direction
Section II. Character Psychographs
Section III.Tryouts
Section IV. Publicity
Section v. The Settings Water Color Sketch Working Drawings Photographs
Section VI. Production Notes Light Plot Costume Color Chart Makeup Sound Effects Director's Rehearsal Schedule Production Start Date Sheet Curtain Calls
Section VII. Performance Notes Ticket Program Instructions to the House :Managers
Section VIII. The Director's Script JOHH V.llf DRUTEN AND BIS PLAYS
•1a John William van Druten a great playwright?•
Before this question oan be an11Wered it ia neoeaaary to anewer another question. •what determines a great playwrightt•
Many ot Mr. van Druten'• plLya have weak plot•• but what modern author oan write more akilltully ot hia charaoteraT It ia interesting to note part• ot an article published in 1946.
Plays of the future will be more oon- oerned with character than event. Thia ia in line with other art torma aa well ae with acientitio reaearoh whioh ia seeking the eaaenoe ot being rather than developing on detail• ot ita manifeatationa • •••• Little happens in Lite With Father, fhe ~George Atl•z·-or-~lriilember Maaa. Some critloa main ain they are not plays according to past detinitiona •••• certainly there ia a greater and richer variety ot expreaaion in character revelation than in the altered application ot long u1ed situations •••• someone once took the trouble to enumerate the basic situations available to the dramatist. I doubt it anyone would attempt to catalogue the DUJllber ot character taoeta that are employable. It would be like counting fingerprints. That the inner aan ia a_rioher field than his outer aanitestationa is evident in much claaa literature •••• A tragic price is being paid tor the mistakes ot a •getting• civilisation. It there ia to be a better world it ia to be a •giving• world. 1
1. Arthur Hopkins, The Theatre Arta Monthly, February 1945, 29181.
1 Van Druten'• play• are more oonoerned with oharaotera than with event•• Ria oharaotera have a depth and a graap on lite that give ua true pioturea ot an inner man and the above aentioned peraona who •give• aa well aa •get•. Before anal7aing the playa ot van Druten in regard to their etrength and weakneaaea another question mu1t be considered. "What goea into the making ot a auoceaatul playwrightt• Bot one taotor alone oan be oonaidered reaponaible tor it ia rather the aum total ot his baokground and his experiences. Several bit• ot advice given van Druten early in hia lite appear to have exerted an intluenoe on hia writing - perhapa attributing to hia aucceaa 1n characterisation. When he took hie early poems to the writer and orit1o, J. c. Squire, he relates the tollowinga At last Squire apoke. talking very generally, and telling ae the thing• I needed moat to hear, oalling •7 attention in the kindest and aoat indireot way poaaible, to tho imitat• iven••• or ay ver••• not ao auch in ita fora as in its oontent and emotion. •wo artist,• he told me, •haa ever produced a genuine work ot art unleea ho were tirat sinoerel7 aoved by ita aubjeot.• He told me that it was no use pumping up emotion tor tho sake ot writing about, sitting down to write a aiaerabl• poem or a happ7 poem beoause someone elao had done ao and I had liked their po•••• I had, ayselt. tirat to hav• been one ot those things - happy or unhappy - and then to have felt the need, •trongly and urgently, to rea-ord the experience. 2 Later van Druten gave up the writing ot poetry in favor ot writing dram.a. In 1924 an· agent, J. L. Campbell, having aeen van Druten•a tirat play, -The Return Halt, aake4 to handle hie work and to help him to auoo••• aa a playwright. Van Druten relate• the advice Campbell gave him at that time. He asked me what I was engaged on then, and I replied that I waa thinking about a very light comedy, on which remark hia rather di•ooncerting eoam•nt waa the queation •whyt• I found it hard to reply. I told him that I had an idea whioh aeemed not unamuaing, and I thought it aight go down well, at whioh a• looked ahooked. "What a p•rteotly dreadful reaaon tor writing a play&• he aai4. •1t you have really got to write it, beeauae the idea taacinatea you and you oantt l•ave it alone, then you must write it, however alight or bad it ia, but not beoauae you 'think it will go down well.• ••••B• gave me a grea~ deal ot advioe before he lett, all on the aaae theme ot ainoerity and ot never writing any• thing in which I did not write about ta• kind ot people I knew, to abandon imitation and to write wholly troa with• in ayaelt. •it aay take a long time,• he ended, •1 don•t think you will ever aet the fhaaea on tire, but I do believe it you are honest and ainoere with it, that you oan be a good and auooeaatul playwright.• a A year later van Druten'• Young Woodlez was produced. At the tiae the author was a university
John van Druten, Tae Way To The Present, pp.16-18.
Ibid., pp.256•267• l•ctur•r in Wal•• and his plar concerned the lit• with which he waa most familiar. It ia not a great no• a powertull7 imagined pla7 but a delightful and gentle thing. Ot l•sa•r TI.rtue wa• his next pla7. After .!!.!• Thia pla7 ahowe T&n Drut•n•e lapae ot heed to the adTioe giTen to hia earlier. Be attempted to writ• a table ot middle olaae Bngliah lite designed to prove that the •todg7 virtue• ot one generation are gladl7 aooept•4 by the auooeeding one. The following ie from a review b7 John Rutohina1 You did not quarrel with such a theme tor itaelt. beoause leea prevooatiT• on•• than that h&Te made good playa. You did• however queation it• repetition in terms aa laokadaiaioal aa it• title• and eventuall7. as exasperating aa it• own aetting •••• It waa indeed ao 1uooeeatul that it auggeeted •ome deep pleaeure in - as Kr. Lardner once phrased it • hurrying home and settling down to read the telephone book. 4 Three aontha later, Karch 9, 1932, the Bmpire
Thea~r• opened with another T&D D~uten play, !here's Al.ware Juliet. The tone ot the pla7 was light and quiet e.d avoided an7thing iaherentl7 draaatie or clearly 1ignitioant. Thia play draws oharaoter1 with auoh detail that the Catholic World oo:m.mented• •1t all aeam.a Tery simple - so doe1 figure skating when
John Butohina, Theatre ~ Monthly. February 1932, 161101. 6 done by Olyapio ohaapiona.• i Another aucoeasful produotion. largel7 beoaua• ot its oharaoteri1ationa, wa1 -The Diatatt -814•• In this play it is evid•nt van Druten followed the advice given hi• in hi• earlier lite. Kany ot the oharaotere eabo47 trait• ot persona he once knew well. John van~ Druten wa1 a keen• ••n1itiTe boy who grew up in the
1heltered confines ot a.n Bngliah hoae and private schools. Hie father wae a atriot. unaooiable aan and • tear ot him cauaed John to turn to his mother an4 1uooe1aive nuraea with hi• problem•• Bia earl7 di1like ot men followed in hie aohooling. Reoorda ahow that out1tan4ing progreaa waa made in Dame Sohoola and almost no advance was made when he waa placed in bo7•a aohoola. A period ot illneea interrupted his law career and during hi• long month• of oonvalescence he was again aa1ooiated almoat exoluaively with women. -----The Diatatt -Side includ•• aany ot theae women ot hia aequaintancee It has aa it• theme the eternal love of a wonderful wite and mother. In van Druten'• autobiography he attributes the 1&m• trait• to hia own mother. Be also writes ot hie demanding grandmother who kept his mother always doing thing• tor her. Both in the pla1 and the autobiography the aother did thia unoomplainingl7. Kan7 other charaoteri•tio• ot hia tam.117 appear in -----The Dietatt
&. Catholic World. April 1912. 115171. 6
Side character•• There oan be no doubt that the advice giTen to him •to write wholl7 from within himselt• waa followed in thia play. Deviating troa hie u•ual aanner ot treataent a:a.d ot th•••• was his play, Flowers of :!:!.!_ Forest; which opene4 at the Martin Beok Theatre, April 8, 1935. Starring latharin• Cornell and dealing with an anti• war theme the acript appears to haTe a:a. exoesa ot talk and ot deliberate a:a.ti-war propaga:a.da. The theme wae sincerely treated but wandered tar afield in •earch of acenea a:a.d pathoa that belong to the atory but are incidental to it. Joaeph Wood Krutch wrote1 •nice people in their nicer and quieter pla7a he under•t&nd• ver7 well but he ia not at home anywhere except in the drawing rooa •••• Flower• ot the Forest 6 -- is depresaingl7 dull.• Grenville Vernon atated in a reTiew, •yan Druten i• one ot the aoat aenaitiTe and delicately poetio talents now writing tor the theatre •••• playa seem thin in subatanoe but they are alway• skilltull7 oonatruote4, the characters have., reality and the writing has charm and often poetry.• Few Cood reTiewa can be found tor Gertie Maude produced in the tall ot 1987. Ashley Dukea mentioned s. Joseph Wood Kruteh, Bation, April 24, 1936, 1401491.
GrenTille Vernon, Commonweal, April 26, 1935, 211740. ot it1 •there ia an entire row ot good character
pertoraanoe•• tor the material ot which players 8 will alwaye bleaa their playwright.•
Comments are almost unanimously good tor Old
Acquaintance which followed in January, 1941. Robert
Bendener published in the Bation1
There wae no dramatic excitement but it waa a good ahow •••• he doe• a re• aarkable job ot ateering a group ot civilised people throughatuatione which bring out their pettineaa and jealousies without •tripping the• or their eaaential kindliness and decency •••• the play convey• a peouliarly wara conviction that humanity, even on its lee• rarefied level• ie capable ot a aodeat aort ot nobility. 9
Perhaps the beet comaent on van Druten•e play-
wrighting ability to date ia round in a review ot Old
Acquaintance in the Commonweal. •There are tew authors
now writing who know how to write high comedy. va.n
Druten•a touch ia at onoe delicate and sure; hie aen••
ot character, partioularly on the diatatt 1id•• keen 10 and 1ubtle1 his dialogue witty. often diatinguiahed.•
A confe1eion to Lloyd Korrie ot a deaire to write a play with an .laerican background brought about their
collaboration tor The Damaak Cheek. Produced at •he ------~~~- ~layhouae, October 22. 1942 it proved to be a comedy ot
a. Ashley Dukes, Theatre Arte Konthly, November, 1937, 211847.
9. Robert Bendener, Nation, February l, 1941. 1621137.
10. Commonweal, January 10, 1941, 331303. 8 manners. The values of the play are the old-gashioned values of charm and of witty commentary upon human nature
and social behaviour. Rosamond Gilder in reviewing the play wrote, MMr. van Druten has a sympathetic as well as discerning and often caustic pen when it comes to the dissection of feminine psychology as all his plays from 11 The Distaff Side to .2!! Acquaintance have shown.• In 1943 at the Morosco Theatre on December s, one of the most recent van Druten successes, Voice ot the
Turtle, opened. Stark Young wrote of the play and its
author 1
Mr. van Druten differs from the average run of Times Square playwrights in that he does not regard literature as a weakness. He is the kind of dramatist who might read Milton even after the Theatre Guild has decided that Milton was impracticle or literary. Voioe of the Turtle marks an advance over hi~ work of recent years. It sticks to the point and does not try for coyness. It has many and quite genuine searchings into character. It has too a tenderness and a quiet imagination as to human living. There is an all-pervading wit that comes ot education and good breeding and a perception of the more distinguished theatre values. And a definite growth in pattern, stage sense and intelligence is evident •••• the play is light but has over tones that are both poetic and haunting. 12
Th~ reviews and analysis of the plays of John
van Druten show that his strength in his dramatic writings is in characterization; his apparent weaknesses
l. Rosamond Gilder, Theatre ~Monthly, December, 1942, 261740. 12. Stark ~oung, New Republic, December 27, 1943, 1091915. 9 are in theme, plot, oonCliot and sometimes dialogue. A great playwright should exoell in all aspect• ot hi• art. The pred1otion of J. L. Ca..m.pboll seema to have oome true, •1 don't think your work will ever be aeneational or set tho Tham.ea on fir•• but I do believe it you are bone•t and sincere witk it, that you can be 13 a good and •ucoeaatul playwright.• We oannot say John van Druten ia a great playwright but we oan aay that he ia a good and euooeaatul one.
Van Druten, .!i.!. o1t., pp.256~257. 10 STAGB HISTORY OF -----THB DIS!AFF SIDB It ia important tor a direotor to eecure eome knowledge ot a play•a past popularity to help hia determine the problems inherent in the play. Kuoh inforaation ia available oonoerning -Th• Distaff Sid•• Firet perforaan.oe ot John T&D Druten•a The Diatatt Side was at the King'• Theatre. Edinburgh• on Auguat 14 th, 1913 and atterwar4a waa opened at the
Apollo Theatre, London, on September 5, 19~3, with the following oaat ot ohllr' aoter aa Mra. Venables ••••••••••••Raidee Wright Kra. Killwar4 ••••••••••••Sybil Thorndike Kr•. Frobiah•r•••••••••••••artita Run~ Kr·•· Fletcher • ••••••••••• Dorothy Bol:m.e •-Gore Roland •••••••••••••••••••.Al•zander Arohdale .&lex •••••••••••••••••••Viola leata Christopher Venablea ••••••Robert Borton !hereaa Venabl•••••••••••••argaret Carter Mias Spicer ••••••••••••••Dora Barton Ro•• •••••••••••••••••••Maude Buohanan. Toby Chegwidden ••••••••••Clifford Ivana Charle• Hubbard ••••••••••Geoffrey Gomer Gilbert Baise ••••••••••Edgar Bortolk 14 lo reviews or oom.mente are available on the Engliah produotiona but it had a run of •102 per• 16 tormanoea• whioh ia indicative of ita aooeptanoe. Auriol L••• who had staged this produotion tn England oam.e with it to Jew York, aeoured the ••rvioea ot Raymond Sovey tor aet deaigna and oonatruotion and it. John van Druten, The Diatatt !!!!.• Samuel French, See program. page., 15. !!! !.!!!. Times, September 26, 1934, LXXXlllal? 11 with Dwight Deere Wiman produced it at the Booth Theatre. It opened September 26, 1934 with three member• ot the original oaat and ten new oast members. The play opened with the following aotoraa Mre. Venable• •••••••••••••Mil4red latwiok Mr•• Millward •••••••••••••Sybil Thorndike Mra. Frobieher ••••••••••••• Estelle Winwood Mr•• Fletcher •••••••••••••Viola Roache Roland ••••••••••••••••••••Bretaigne Winduat Alex ••••••••••••••••••••Viola Keats Christopher Venable• •••••• Charles Bryant Theresa Venable• ••••••••••Lillian Brennard Tonge Mi•• Spicer •••••••••••••••Hilda Plowright Roae •••••••••••••••••·•Dorie Hall Tob1 Chegwidden •••••••••••Clifford BTana Charles Hubbard •••••••••••Charles Campbell Gilbert Baise •••••••••••Austin Fariman 16 Tho play receiTed •mized notice1.• The day following the Am.eriean opening the show blurb in the Iew York Tiaea quoted the tollowing from opening night reTiew11 The comedy is one ot the Tery beat. the acting ia euperior. You will know that you haTe had a good eTening with a tine comedy brilliantly pertorae4. Peroy H&ll.Dlond. Herald Tribwae A wosthwhile draaa •••• the beat play Mr. T&D Druten baa so tar written •••• a aaater• piece ot our time. Robert Garld. World Tele5ram A brilliant audience received it enthusiastically. I had a good ti••• .And I•m here to say that it I had 1ona and daughter•• rampantly modern. the tirat thing 1 1 d do would be to take them to see, The Distaff Side. --:Bernard Sobel, Mirror An engaging comedy •••• one feel• a wara regard tor all the characters and for the author and hi• play. Richard Lockridge, Sun
16...... Ibid • 12
It ia a tine. aenaitive pla7. written gracetully and with und•ratanding. S7bil Thorndike waa greetea with cheera • •••• You'll 1ee no tRuer acting thi• season. be sure ot that. Arthur Pollock. Brooklyn Eagle
A perceptive and highly enjoyable comedy •••• the new season can at last be aaid to have been safely launched. John Mason Brown. Post 11 Later, Grenville Vernon. writing tor the periodical, Comm.onweal,wrote, •van Druten i1 a master or quiet sentiment, ot clear characterisation and ot dialogue at once natural and distinguished. This is another delicately conceived play, which beautifully and 1enaitivel7 acted 18 makea a aatiatying comedy.• The lation under the ooluan heading !!:!. Quiet !!!!.. published an interesting review which reads in parta van Druten's chosen field is the tield of the moat intimate domeatic attection and hi• cha.raotera almost without exception are persona who have contracted their interests to auch a degree that these interests hardly extend beyond the limits or the family group within whose sheltering confines the cha.raotera have taken refuge from a rough world. The Diataft Side is also the quiet side.-rt' has lta i'Oi'ints ot charm. Bia people are irreaistibl7 likeable even when they seem to be more negative. have less real character than a member ot the audience •••• There are flashes of humor. shrewd ae well as gentle. There ia not enough ot anything poaitive to auatain the interest at any high pitch throughout an evening •••• The theme has something to do with wives and the ditterent roles which they oan play in the lives ot their husbands. 19
• Ibid. la.- Grenville Vernon, !h.!. Commonweal, October 12, 1934, 20a56S. 19. Joseph Wood Xrutch, The Nation, October 10, 1934, 1391418-419. 13
The Catholio World climaxed the good reviews by printing, •the play is beautiful by that same eimplicity 20 and dignity that shone through Saint Joan.•
Other reviewers, among whom waa Edith J. R. Isaacs; were less oomplimentary.
In The Distatf Side which John van Druten oalra-a •comedy-or-women• it must be said frankly that the author i• the villian. Mr. van Druten ia one of the most gifted young playwrights of England. He sees both young people and situations clearly and dramatically. Be writes dialogue fluently, incisively. The Dietatt Side uses not only all ot these til8nts in servi'Ci"Et'Ot a banal, false, domestic melo drama, but employs as well the talente of halt a dozen of the finest women of the theatre to oomplete the job •••• But no man of Kr. van Druten•s relentless and penetrating generation should be writing playa (except taroe) about mothers who are supposed to be divinly good, but who are actually so stupid (in spite of the tact that they read books on education) that all their goodness had no further in• fluence over the outrageous grandmothers, aunts, sieters, daughters, oousins, etc.,that surroullll them than to leave these ill-tempered immoral, selfish, dissatisti•4 people a little drugged with contentment while radiant mother is in the room •••• It Krs. Millward was anything like as radiant as Mr. van Druten says she is, ehe would have helped somebody in that orew to accomplish something more than what is supposed to be the daughter's great accomplishment - going oft with a third rate moving pioture director - hopeful to take care of him when he i• siok. Really, Kr. van Druten, this must not happen again. 21
Brooks Atkinson was not too favorably impress•• as the following exerpt shows. oo. ~Catholic World, November 1934, 1401212. 21. Edith J. R. Isaaoa, Theatre ~Monthly, November, 1934, 1818lf 14 .llthough Kr. van Druten•a comedy of women, The Diatatt Sid• is an i:nnoououa job ot prote11ional pla;ym.aking, it ia the sort of thing that oan be acted and Sybil Thorndike is in the caet. For that much let us give thank1. It redeeaa the ahoddinea1 of the Autuan theatre ••••whatever the play ma7 be, it i1 •oaething to have a lad7 like that set down in our aidst •••• »r. Tan Druten can be a latter day Pinero when he ie feeling indolent in mind. There ie something in• tangibly di1taatetul about the complacence with which he ha1 written a play tor the sake of being at work •••• Although !he Dietatt Side leaves Kr. van Druten~oareer in tempoi="i'rY abeyance, it is the oooasion tor much that is heartening in the theatre. 22 Ne leas complimentary was Stark Young •
.An interesting event it but lenten enter• tainm.ent. We remember the mildnesa through out and keep thinking it must not be ae mild as it seems. Ia there a preasure there, something pushing towards intensity of mood• an edge 0£ characterisation, a further draaatio acouracyt •••• It lack• a olinohing ot word•• linee and reactions that are sharper and aore immediate to lite and aore vibrant to the daily surface ot our apeaking •••• Pla7 lacks shots of lite. Perhaps a bit ot pepper and ext~ayaganee - blade against blade of per• sona.1. it7, the flare ot one lite against the flare ot another. 23 After a tour months run a notice appeared in the Bew York Times, January 14, 1915. •To make way tor
'Laburnum ·GroT•' John T&D Druten•s The Diatatf Side is aoTing tonight to the Longaore. It will remain there through February 2nd, and then will seek the road. A fortnight in Boston beginning February 4th will be followed by a week in TorontoJ and that by other days •l sewh ere. • 24 • Brooks Atkinson, New York Times, September 26, l943,LXXXIV117. Stark Young, !!!_Republic, Oc••ber 17, 1934, 801273. !!.!, York Tiaea, January 14, 19$5, LXXXIV120. 15
When the produotion closed it had a total of 177 performances to its credit. 161 on the tirat engagement and 2• on a return one. In th• theatre season ot 1914-35 there were 116 pla7a opened and onl7 11 had longer runs than ---The ------Di1tatf Sid• while 164 had shorter runs. Bven though there were apparent weaknesses in The Diatatf !!!!. this anal7ai1 ot it1 notieea ahowa that the play was liked and accepted. 16
AS TO KIND
A play is a pattern or character and event created by the playwright. As the audience watohee the pattern emerge, they stand trom some point or view 1eleoted by the playwright and see the inter weaving or action and personality through his eyes.
Many times a director diaregards the playwright' a point of view, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally, and produoes a play tar atield trom the author's conception.
In order to avoid the errors leading to a poor production the director must make a thorough
study of the 1oript to determine the kind or play, the inherent mood1, the problems presented, the
interpretation ot lines and the problems ot char
acteriz&ti on - all determining his ultimate style
of direction.
Ia the play tragedy, comedy, melodrama or rarcet Mr. van Druten underscored his interpretation
ot The Diatatt Side as to kind when he subtitled it ! Comedy 2.!_ Women. But there his labelling stops and it is left to the director to determine the type ot
comedy inherent in the eoript. Betore this type oan
be determined one must decide just what comedy is
and what its types are. 17
What then is the natur• ot aomedy? The answer is that in comedy temporal values prevail. and in tragedy etern&lJ comedy ia always rooted in the
social order. It deals with the relationships ot individuals to society and ot society to individual1.
Comedy doe1 not move into the realm ot abstract justioe, but &nohors itself in this world with its imperfect but easier emotional and ethioal judgement•• The essenoe ot oomedy is that lite within its limits does •make sense• at the oonolueion ot the play. It is partly the sense ot release from the bonds ot the aotual, ot the conventional, ot the expeoted. whioh laughter always giv••J and it ia partly the pleasures ot the gratitioation ot wiah-tultillment. The oonolusion satiatiea both our oonoiouaness ot oommunal good aenae and good teelinga it leaves us with a coherent and stable attitude to lite. In it lite is made to appear i~telligible and finite. 25
There are many explanations and definitions of
oomedy. They all agrae in substance it not in terminology
and detail. Elizabeth Drew writesa •the essential difference
between Comedy and Tragedy is that Comedy is a sociable thing and that Tragedy is a solitary thing1 that we all
like to share a joke. and that everyone who suffers is 26 alone.•
llizab•th Drew, Diaooverin; Drama, p.l70e
26. 18 •fhe pleasure that men take in comedy arises from their feeling of superiority to the persona involved 27 in the oomio action,• says Ludwig Lewis-hn. ~n
~Art ot ~Dram.a we find the statementa•in general, comedy makes a leas exalted appeal, and a less profound analysis of human emotions than tragedy, that is it deals more honestly and leas irreaponsibly with its 28 material than tarce or melodrama.• On the same subject
John Gassner writes1
•••• it would be easy to define comedy as a play that evokes laughter. It is still a sensible, practicle procedure to define it thus, provided one differ entiates between the most elementary kind of tun known as farce and more intelligent laugh•er of high comedy•••• Comedy is a way ot looking at lite with the mind rather than with the paaaiona and lite regarded in this manner become• comparatively light and playtul1 it induces smiles, it not laughter1 it asks ot an audience detached observation instead or emotional involvement. 29
The psyohologists tell us that laughter always has a sense ot release behind it, and in comedy it finds this particular ohannel of expression which it cannot have in actual_ lite. In the theatre we are released from the bonds of actuality and can find a primitive pleasure in identifying ourselves with the characters and situations presented on the stage.
27. Ludwig Lewisohn, The Drama ~ the Stage, P• 24. 28. Fred Millett and Gerald Bentley, !!!.!.. !!,! ot the Dram.a, p.84o 29. John Gassner, Producin' !!:!. Play, P• 48. 19
Even though fashion in wit change• continually there are some external elements of comedy constant in their appeal. A liat of ten compiled by Elizabeth Drew area 1. men and women 2. expoaurea or every aspeot of humbug 3. greed 4. egotism 5. vanity 6. enobbery 7. atupidity a. roguery 9. folly 10. inconTenienoea of flesh 30
Thea• elements or comedy with their individual
or combined twists or theme or character have given
rise to T&rioue type• of comedy. Gasaner classitie•
theae types asa
le comedy of intrigue or eituation 2. comedy of realism or eatire 3. romantic comedy '· high comedy or comedy of character s. comedy of wit or manner• 6. sentimental comedy 31 Arter an analysis of --The Distaff Side one can clearly aee it ia high comedy or comedy or character.
The situations are not inherently tunny in themselves
but are adapted to bring out the comic qualities in
the characters. Human nature is revealed as it is, the
characters really live, they do not just represent ideas.
These characters are oomic tor van Druten exposes their
absurditiea, their incongruities, their attitudes and
eccentricities whioh aet them. ott from •normal lite.• 30 • .2R,• cit., P• 140e 31. £i.!. cit., P• 1120 20
The7 are not unreal or tantaatio people - but types.
The aetioulou1 oharaoterization ot the playwright haa given ua credible huaan 9einge in reoognisable aituationa.
Bach person in the oaat ot thirteen i1 at the aa.m.e time an individual and a type. Henri Bergaon tell• ue that every oomio oharaoter ia a typeJ oonvereely every reeemblanoe to a type has something comic in it.
The oomio person ia unoonoioua ot the comedy he provides tor other1 and ie tunny in porportion to his ignorance ot himaelt. To analyse further th• comedy in The Dietatt
Side we recall another 1tatement ot Bergaon'• that a witty person makes ua laugh at someone elaea the oomio person make• ua laugh at himself. With this brief analysis ot oomedy aa a baai1 let ua turn to an analyaia ot the indivi~ual charaoter1.
Firat ia Kr1. Venablea, a bunchy old lady ot seventy-ti••, who demands trom everyone a alavi1h oomplianoe to her whiaa. Her inaiatenoe upon one chair being her• and AD.ly here, her habit ot eating aott ohooolate1 and giving only the hard ones to others, her ordering the assembling ot the tamily are all a aouroe of amusement. But ahe ia a type& In addition to being a type ahe exemplifies several •~ the eternal element• ot oomedya vanity, greed, egotiaa, snobbery, to some extent atupidity, and her age adds the inoonvenienoea 0£ the tleaho 21
Lis, Jira. Frobisher, i• baaioally coaic. A• a type ah• r•preaenta the unoonventional, oosmopolitan women of sooiety. Vanity is the moat comic ot all weaknesses and Lis is vain. Ber atteotationa, her flirtations, her acorn of plebian manners and people. her fear ot getting old and her aelt•admiration all bear' out her vanity. Another oomio element diaplayed by Lis is anobber7. Thia ia ahown in her disdain of
Newcastle and all that Nellie repreaenta, in her di•• regard for Thereaa and combines with T&nity in her treatment ot Karoel. Lis•a involvement with Gillie bringa another coaic situation to the audience through making vice tunny. One sees the entire situation ot
Lia and Gillie through the e7•• ot Lis. You laugh with her at the possibility of their being married in blaokeat
.lf'rioa and the proapect of the vicar calling. The audience never minds their past ten yeara together of •living in
sin.• A oomio effect ia often secured through the repetition of the same situation repeated with different charaotera. For example, the same Lia who has spent ten year a living with a man to whom she waa not married.objects to Alex•s misstep and insists upon a different code ot moral a tor her nieo e than the one she has lived by.
Nellie is another well known type. An attractive young girl who leaped into romance and marriage only to find herself buried in a small town with an unromantic 22 husband and four ohildren dependent upon her. The basic oauae of her now being a comic character waa her folly in marrying Arthur whioh has been the oauae of her retrogression. Her ignoranoe of modern dress and manners all stems from her isolation brought about by this folly. Her &DLusing aanneriam of playing with her handkerchief pioturiaea her nervousness at having been uprooted from Newoaatle and her realisation of being a misfit. Both Nellie and Liz strengthen the other•• oomio element through their contrast to eaoh other. Not the most comic of the characters but •till a carrier of the comedy and plot is Roland. He is a typioal, intellectual, lacy boy of twenty years. Hi• egotism is one of the element• of come4y • .ln example ot oomio effect in his character is hie way or taking literally an expression whioh was ue•d figuratively. For specific example hia speeoh to Lisa •stir Mother up? What do you auggeat I do1 Take her joy riding on my motor bike? Why, yea, Grandma might oome too. I'll bring 32 a boytriend for her from the hospital.• Theresa is anota•r type eaaily recognised - a bachelor girl. About her the usual oom.ment is often made, •What she n•••• is a good, strong, he man.• Her interest in social wozk and in getting others to do something she considers worthwhile is entertaining. It
The Dir•otor•s Soript, p.56. 23 ia ao beoauae ahe ia typioal of an indiTidual who haa been depriTed ot a husband. home and tamily and has deToted herself to a cause. Her interest and absorption haa been ao complete that she cannot understand why others do not throw themaelvea into a miasion - the oomio element ot stupidity. Comedy is emphasised in Thereaa by having her gesture• and costume. masculine. sharp and tree trom feminine frill••
Theresa might be termed a bachelor-girl but we tind a type more representatiTe ot the old maids in Kiaa Spioer. Again we haTe a fundamentally comic person tor the audience laughs at her becaa•e of her aanneriaaa. A comic sort of stupidity exiata in her lack ot realisation ot how muoh she ia mi•ting in lite. Comedy directs attention to geaturea and Mias
Spicer ~ttraots auoh attention in this manner. Examples are her fluttery hands. mincing steps. manner ot peering at someone or thing. her facial expreaaiona. her move• ment as ahe uttered •dear.• her tunbling of objects and her adoratiTe movement• as ahe obserTed the romantic in lite. She is neither a new character in drama nor lite and a source of much plea•ure in both.
Placed in the drama to complicate the plot but aotually another carrier ot the comedy is Charle• Hubbard.
Newly rich and still impreaaed with himself. he exemplitiea the comic element of egotism. vanity. snobbery and stupidity. 24
His implied disdain ot the Millward home, amazement at dressing tor dinner so early, his disregard of
Toby and the baby Auatin and hie self aatietied manner are examples ot these elementa.
•• in lite we find selt•aasured men of middle age who are the objeot of female adoration, 10 we find Gillie. Frequent reterenoo to Gilli• in the first and second acts makes the audience ready to accept him when he appears in the third. He is a vain, egotistical man - perhaps somewhat stupid but a non-conformist with the underlying qualities of a rogue. As with Li&, Tice ia made comic and the process of handling his aituation with Li& ia given added impetus through inversion. Until this scene, Gillie has dominated Li& and now he realises she has lett him and he pleads tor her to return. He goe1 so tar as to offer marriage and to agree to live in Paris.
In spite of his capitulation the audience knows it is only a temporary retorm and are completely aatistied with him.
.From this discussion 9~ the play as to kind it appears that it ia the director'• problem to direct and produce The Diatatt Side eo that each person ie ali~• as an individual, representatiTe ot a type and likeable eTen when an object ot humor. 26
AJTALYSIS OF THB SCRIPT
.An analysi• or -fhe Diatart -Side is necessar7 to determine its strengths and weaknesses and to torsee the problems ot production. A atruotural analysis shows a total ot lOZ French aoenea. No. of' aoenea Bo. ot oharacters on stage
6 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1 33 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2 34 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • a 13 •••••••••••••••••••••••••• 4 7 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 5 6 •••••••••••••••••••••••••• 8 7 •••••••••••••••••••••••••• 7 With the above aoene anaiyai1 in mind it ie interesting brietly to analyse the number ot speeches and lines tor eaoh charaoter. Character Speeohee Lines - Mrs. Venables • • • • • • • • • 99 • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1?4 Mrs. Millward ••••••••• 383 • •••••••••••• 4?6 Mra. Frobiaher ••••••••• 267 • •••••••••••• 320 Hellle • • • • • • • • • 62 • • • • • • • • • • • • • 72 Rolland ••••••••• 86 • • • • • • • • • • • • • 121 Alex ••••••••• 288 ••••••••••••• 387 Christopher • • • • • • • • • 39 • • • • • • • • • • • • • 45 Theresa ••••••••• 28 • •••••••••••• 44 Mias Spioer • • • • • • • • • 39 ••••••••••••• 71 Rose • • • • • • • • • 20 • • • • • • • • • • • • • 34 Toby Chegwidden •••••••• 162 • • • • • • • • • • • • • 259 Gilbert Baise • • • • • • • • • 62 • • • • • • • • • • • • • 97 CharlesRubbard., ••••••• 50 • • • • • • • • • • • • • 61 These two tables ahow that the burden of' the play is being carried by three oharactera. To avoid monotony van Drut•n has rotated the number of pereons in successive soenea following a pattern ot 2-S-4•3•2•3·1-1 and ita variations. 26 A more uaetul analysis ot eoene division often used is that each aoene represents an idea inoidental or pertinent to the main story or idea. Alexander Dean has olassitied all such eoenes into tour kinda ot technical arrangements.
1. Scenes ot Incidental Aotion.Theee are ecenee not pertaining to the main action but, neverthe lees, eoenee of activity through which exposition, atmosphere, or pre sentation ot characters are woven. z. Scenes ot Background.In these the locale, setting ot the place, or time is established••••••••••••••• 3. Scenes of Main Action. These contain the main aituationa or the story in which the plot is in graphic or dramatised tor•••••••••••••••••••• 4. Scenes ot Dramatised Emotional Relationship. They are aoenes ot mental and psychological states and attitudes. 33
Following Dean's classification we find these ecenea ot ideas in The Diatatt Sidea
Scenes ot incidental action •••••• 76 Scenes ot background ••••••••••••• 13 Scenes ot the main plot •••••••••• 36 Scenes ot the sub-plot ••••••••••• 16 Scenes ot emotional relationahip.15 Total number ot scenes 155
The latter plan ot eoene division ia the method chosen tor this analysis.
Scenes ot incidental action are the greatest contributors to the comic element and not to be lightly treated. The Distaff Side is a high comedy, a comedy ot character, and through the character deTelopment opportunity 3!. Alexander Dean, Fundamentals ot Play Direoting, pp.207•211. 27 arises to display the more humorous aspects ot each character. The main plot and theme are both serious.
The sub-plot of Gillie and Li& is humorous because the oharacter1 make it ao, but a careful banance ot the serious and high comedy elements must be achieved.
A survey of Act I shows us that the title The
Distaff !!.!!., ia most appropo and revealing tor there is no intense plot. Instead a family is introduced
- a family of women - where each is strongly individ ualized, but also representative of a type. In this respect van Druten shows craftsmanship and it is evident that characterisation ia the chief element ot the play. Remembering the play is basically a comedy we find that the comedy is in the character•• not in the situations. It is evident in this act that van
Druten's weakness i1 in plot development.
The first tour scenes ot Act I include the details ot the immediate situation and antecedent action. In the first speeches the characters or Mrs. Venables and Mrs.
Millward are drawn and at the same time the comic element is introduced in the character of grandmother. It is well to observe here that the dramatist in his better scenes trtquently includes or calla tor a bit or businees shich aids greatly in emphasizing his purpose. In this scene
Grandmother's distaste of milk, her dissappointment over a hard chocolate and cryptic dialogue with herself not 28 only reveal• the aatriaroh ot the tamil7 but reveals her in a humorous manner. In the opening conversation the seed is planted tor intereat in Theresa and her works, Spioer and her poeition in the houaehold, Liz•e expeoted arrival and Eve' a obildren, Alex and Rolland.
Atter the entrance ot Alex we are prepared tor the precipitation ot the conflict or major question. The expoation acquaint• us with Charles Hubbard and hi1 background and with To"J' who is lesa popular at the moment with Alex. The beginning ot the conflict ia eeen after the disouseion ot Alex'• •young men• and
Grandma state ot Charles, "Perhaps he'll get his father to write a bigger part tor you next time.• Alex replies, a• "That's pa1sed through •Y mind, too.• Thia scene shows van Druten•s ability to create character through dialogue tor almost devoid ot action a certain dislike tor Charles is born and an unconcious liking and sympathy is created tor Toby.
Ki•• Spicer'• introduotion precipitates no crisis but oontributee to the background and comic element. Her entrance timed with Grandma' a irritation makes her at once an object ot am.uaing sympathy. Excellent dialogue has been given her better to portray her character. A previous table shows that Ki•• Spicer had 39 speeches but 71 lines. Thia talkineas is evident in the count and
Ii. The Director•a Script. P• a. 29 more evident in the non-essential information she supplies. Ae the handmaidn ot Grandma she lends an opportunity to Grandmother to devlop an irritable. demanding and amusing nature.
The following soene of main action between Alex and her mother further develops the conflict tor the major question when Alex's confused atate ot mind is revealed ae ahe weighs her f•ndnees for Toby against the wealth and influence of Charles • .Adroitly used as preparation for the entrance of Lia and the aub-plot ot the affair between Liz and Gillie is the mention of Aunt
Liz and the diacuasion of her past. Not only does this scene lead on toward the attack of the play but it is important tor it reveals Eve ae the understanding, patient, loveable mother.
Liz's arrival aoene is one ot interest because of her delayed entrance which has been built up through
small talk. A technical contrivance to bring Lis on to an empty stage where the audience could receive the full impact of her arrival has been further heightened by hearing a hubbub ot familiar voices offstage and a new voice topping them.
Rolan' a intDoduotion seems contrived and merely incidental action which only furthers Liz's flirtatious nature until you analyze van Druten 1 1 purpose and discover 30
two more things are accomplished here. Eve is again
shown in the role of mother and pal; Roland's profession
is introduced which makes acceptable his oaring tor Toby when he becomes ill.
Rose's entrance to ask for Mrs. Frobisher's keys
seems to have no motivation nor purpose and has no
relation to what preceeds or follows. It is necessary to manufacture interesting business to keep the play from
dropping or the interest waning.
Now Eve and Liz are alone on stage and a conflict
is initiated which later proves to be the sub-plot of the
play. Liz tells of leaving Gillie and her intention of marrying Karoel. The audience's doubt and belief that her move is a wise one is brought about by Eve's expression
of her tears and Liz's replya
Evea Are you in love with him? Liz (with a giggle)a Eve dear' If you saw him ••• Evea What's the matter with him? Liza He's a Belgian. He•s ••• (searching for a word) funny1 Evea Then ••••••••••• 35
With these few remarks the audience absorbs the feeling
about Marcel and is better prepared for the ending oi
the sub-plot when it comes. Al.so this scene builds Liz
as an amusing and most interesting person. Her lines
show her sense of humor and her actions must be correlated with them to help the audience see things through her eyes.
35. Ibid.,p.15. 31
The next five scenes ot incidental action relate
additional exposition and re-emphasise Grandma's dogmatic ways, the purpose or the family gathering
and Aunt Nellie's provinciality. Much ot the humor in these soenes is brought about through Liz's actions and reactions.
One of the weakest scenes in Aot I is Toby's introduction. There is little action and much ex• position. Extreme care will have to be taken to avoid a drop in tempo and audience interest.
As Alex enters her relationship to Toby is
suggested in her first line and movement to him. 8 Toby. what a meas you're ial You do want a hairout.(she 36 straightens him) Now, then.• Their ensuing conversation
provides the major dramatic question of the play. Will
Alex marry Toby and go to .America or will she turn him down in favor of a career and what Charles representaf
We now find the beginning ot a plot and true conflict.
The acene of attack is about to resolve itaelt with Alex's acceptance of Toby when the arrival ot
Charles furthers the oomplioations. The contrast ot
Charles and Toby, shows the conflict of man aCainst man
and causes Alex to favor first one and then the other.
Thia gives to the observer a sense or suspense and
conflict. The climax, not ot the major question but ot
the moment, will Alex go out tonight with Charles or
36. lbid.,p.21 32 remain home with Toby. is resolved in her leaving with Charles. Thia 1oene otters more than the oonfliot for it humorously oontrasts the traits ot the two suitors. The more this oontrast can be developed the better the scene will be.
The last three aoanes of incidental aotion in the first act return to the theme of •wonderful Eve.•
She bids .Alez and Charles goodbye. attempts to oonsol• and oompensate Toby. tells Roland goodnight and turns out the lights in preparation tor retiring when Liz enters. With this last aoene ot Eve sitting on the arm ot Liz's chair in the quiet aolitude ot the room. we realize the plot is aubordinate to the theme - Eve.
At the end ot the diaouaaion ot the tirst act it ia well to injeot the skeletal information that the play ia revealing • .Already we have found the plot ia too slight and that the play cannot depend upon it tor auooesa. On what does the play depend? The tirat act has given a definite answer - ita characters. They have been master• fully drawn by the author and must be just as well portrayed by the actors. Their aotiona and their speeoh must convey the living reality and interests ot their lives to the onlooker. Juat how haa the playwright dev eloped his play to do this? We see first that he has choaen representative peopl•• Each oharaot•r in The
Diatatt !!!!, haa hie oounterpart in every oomm.unity. Not
only haa van Druten made these oharactera reoogni1able 33 but he has given them typical actions plus interesting quirks ot character which maintains interest in them. Their manneri1ms and habits are representative ot persona ot that type and one feels you have known them well tor a long period ot time. Their dialogue is realistic and oonvincing. Psychologists tell us human attention changea every ten seconds. The playwright avoided losing the audience' a attention by having the characters ••k• short speeches. When longer ones are made by the characters they are interrupted by a question or a remark by another character. At times characters like Eve, Alex and Lis deliver long speeohes but fortunately these can be broken by rhythm of delivery and interest is maintained. In writing their dialogue the dramatist has been especially adept at capturing a rhythm ot speaking which is natural to the character. Thia adds much to characterization. Following the pattern set in the tirat act ot having oharacters enter on an empty stage and through their conversation deliver all kinds ot exposition, the second act begins. Charles, essentially a comic character in hie stuffiness and acorn of the middle class brings out even more the vital question at stake tor Alea. Which one shall it be? To bring Rose in to tell Alex where every• one is and that Toby is expected was not too clever but the aoeno can be made interesting if Rose is treated aa 34 more than the conventional aaid. Most good plays are aaid to repeat an important idea at least three times to make sure the audience grasps it. Van Druten•s !.!.!, Distaft !!.!!. does thia. The theme ot the wonderful wife and mother has been brought up several times in Aat I and again it is streeaed when Alex tells Charles of the love her mother bad tor her tather. !he repetition has been done in regards to Nellie's provinoiality, Grandma•a birthday, Alex's struggle and Toby•a new job. Weight of the oontlict seems to be on Charles' side when Alex asks, •you've got quite a lot ot pull 37 one way and another, haven't you?• The suspense oontinuea to grow until she turns from him, refuses a kiss, and is saved by the entrance ot Lis and Nellie. Hot only here but in the beginning of Act I Thereaa has been strongly mentioned and an anticipation ot her entrance is being built up, muoh mote than her minor role warrant•• Its only purpose apparently is to provide oontraat with the atay•at-home, suoceaatul wife and mother, Eve. Nellie's social lite providea excellent contrast material to the continental Liz. Alex, the protagonist, otter• further complications in the major dramatic question when she reveals to Liz her intimacy with Toby and asks tor advice. Lis' a reaction to Alex is a surpriae tor one remembers her relations with Gillie and hardly expect her to rail against Alex's behaviour. Aa one exieots Li& to send .Alex out to marry 31. 36
Toby we expeot a aolution to the oontlict. However.
A.lex introduoe1 a new soene by stating. •rt I told you I thought I could marry Charle• Hubbard. what would you say theni• Liz now surprise• all by answering.
•1•d 1ay then. it you like him at all you'd be extremely 38 1illy not to.•
The plot i1 further advanced with Toby's return. his change in plans and his plea tor Alex to aocoapany him. The obstacle. Charle•• seem• more apparent than ever when Toby becomes ill and again .llex 1 1 intere1t returns to Toby. The suspense ot Toby'• illness reveals
.&lex•s love and concern tor hi•• again stres1es Eve's competency and brings in Roland. The following scenes inject more humor by the return ot other characters.
Nellie's and Theresa's small quarrel. Grandmother's
scoffing and domineering qualitie1 are 1ourcea ot
amusement. The entranoe ot Christopher just adds to
the atmosphere (and male numbers) and prepares tor Eve
another 1oene ot love and confidence. Lis and Gillie
are ag•in brought to our attention in the scene just
following when a telephone call bring• the iasue to notice and the announcement that Gillie is wack in towno
Without any reference to him we immeadiately think ot
Marcel and the complications bound to reault. Now the
sub-plot i1 developing. The concluding 1cene ot Act I
uses Christopher as a toil further to build Eve a1 a
loving wife and mother and the second ourtain is hers. 36
Lacking in variety Soene II ot Act II open• as
have two curtain• before in the pla7 - on an empty
atage. Again voioea are heard ott stage, this tiae
tevealing the end of the birthday party. As Eve prepares
tor the night, one feels sorry tor the lonely Nellie and
her unexciting life. However, it appears the author
intended Nellie leas aa a sympathetic oharacter than as
another character to show Eve as the consoler and unselfish
stabilizer ot the family. As Nellie reads the poem ah4
discusses her lite with Arthur it only bringa more vividly
to aind the lite ot Eve and .Andrew, their happiness, and
the attempt to go on remembering even after death.
The sub-plot is brought into toous with Liz's
oonteaaion to Eve that Gillie ia in town and wants to see
her. Liz's inner nature and true feeling• tor Gillie are
discerned and we eee a new Liz, not the superficial one we•ve been so tar accustomed to. Thi• miracle has been
brought about by Eve.
Both the main plot and the sub-plot are in a state
ot suspended crisis. A major oontlict1 which not only
furthers the plot but is one of the two strongest aoenea
in the play tor Eve, is now preaented. Alex contesaes to
her mother other relations with Toby. Alex's sense d1'
futility, of inability to aeet her problems is a build
to the oonfesaion and the cliaax of Eve'• reaotion is an
unexpected turn of events. In contrast to the scene where
A.lex confided to Liz the scene with Eve is quiet and her 37 ohiet conoern is to find •why?• As .Alex is unable to answer ET• has veen given the aoene by the playwright.
&er philosoph7 and views on love and marriage expressed here seem to explain her whole lite, why she ie wha~ she ie and what ah• wants her daughter to be. The philoaophy in the aoene is axoellent but one must avoid monoton7 and not let it be talky. It must be built to suoh an intensit7 that no action ie needed to hold the listener.
~ sudden return to action ia motivated as Toby enters in hie delirium. Kain aotion, renewing the suspended oriaie of Charles, .Alex and Toby now prevails. Tob71 1 mental wanderings strengthen hie proolaimed love of ~•x• bring out the wonderful qualities of Eve and toroee the full realization to ~ex ot how muoh Toby needs her. Juat aa one ie again oonvinoed that Toby has removed the obstacle ot Charles, the telephone r~ngs and the author reminds us that Charles is still in the picture. Alex's reaction to
Charles ie negligible and her tear tor Toby is so deep that another curtain scene belongs to Eve as she oomtorte her daughter. A note ot warning must be given here to avoid a quiet curt~in with no build to intensity. The scene may be Eve's but the curtain build should be elimaotic.
Many ot the opening scenes of .lot III are ex• positional and humorous, turth•r revealing the oharaotere ot Roland, Liz, Spicer and Theresa. Renewed interest in the drama is oleTerly introduced through a new personality,
Gillie. This introduction gives the audience a new 38 character to watch when they may be slightly tired ot the old ones. Consequently, Liz and Gillie's scene creates interest andthe director has little trouble in maintaining suspense in the sub•plot. Their entire scene ia one ot oontliot and orieie. Suspense and interest grows in Gillie's disclosure ot his tather 1 s death, his inheritance ot money, as he tells that Mae has consented to divoroe him, and finally when be capitulates and agrees to live in Pari• it Lia so chooses. In spite of oonventiona, the playwright'• intention ia to make one glad that Liz brought the resolution into toous and deoided to return to Gillie.
Mow that the sub-plot is disposed ot, van Druten returns to the main plot • Al.ex and Toby. Toby, (and the audience) have apparently resigned themselvea to Al•~'• retuaal ~t Toby when in a whirlwind of events Alex returns.
As Kre. Millward exits Al.ex rushes to Toby1
Alexi Toby ••• I•ve got a present tor you. Tobya A parting gitt1 .Al.ex (takes a large envelope trom her bag and handa it~• him. He looks at her)1 Open itl Toby (takes out a passport and a steamship ticket)a Alexl Alexa My ticket and my passport. I'm coming with you.• 38
The resolution, olima.x or denouement is over. The main dramatic question is answered. Al.ex ia going with him.
Again characterization and humor comes to the toreground in the reaction to the news. Mrs. Venables still 11 selt 3n. Ibid.,p64o 39 centered, Spicer is joyful over someonelse's happiness, and Eve is pleased and radiant as the scene closes.
The last scene of Act III is a realistic tying ot loose endsa Alex thanks her mother tor all she has meant to her1 Liz reveals her marriage plans to GillieJ Grand- motaer, somewhat chastened, offers her best wishe&J Nellie~
1ighing, pla.ns her return to Newcastle. A• befitting the play and theme the last scene is Eve's• The playwright offers Eve a chance to forsake her solitude by having
Christopher propose marriage. Her answer is what we expect.
Christopher, I couldn't. I'm terribly, terribly, sorry, but I couldn't• I like you. You know that. I'm deeply, deeply fond of you. But marriage and all it means is something different. That couldn't happen twioe ••••• tor me. 39
39 • Iqid., P• ?5 40
DIRECT I OB -The Distaff -Side is obviously not presentational but realistic and representational for it has a recognisable setting and characters and a probable plot and theme. Granted the script i• representational there are still two divisions to be considered. Is this play to be done in the style ot naturalism or realism? The nataraliat•• great desire is to imitate lire. Plots are treated with such simplicity and lack of emphaaie that one wonders it they could be called plote. The natural- istio setting ia detailed and correct, in tact 10 correct in detail that it is otten a diatracting in• tluence. Obviously ------The Distatt Side does not belong here. The second division of representational style is realiam.
"True re~liem in the theatre aims at giving the ettect 40 ot reality and not of reality itaelt.• Whereas natural• ism presents things just as they are, details and all, realism eliminates until only those elements vitally necesaa.r.;y, but still authentic, are present • .l realistic production must create a sense ot Terisimilitude. Its arrangement ot life for the stage must seem recognizable and plauaibleJ whatever artifice or heightening ia em- ployed must be made to appear unobtrusive or natural •
.lrtiatio aeleotion is neaeasary but must be inconspicuous to preserve the illusion of reality.
40. Fred Millett and Gerald Bently1 op.cit., p.161. 41
rhe Di1tatt !!!!, may now be classified as a realistio comedy. It is realistic in content because it deals with people we know in familiar situations.
It is reali1tio in writing and consequently in pro• duction, because the material has been chosen with a great deal of selectivity and give the plot validity and the oharacters reality. Only those element• are used which are necessary tor our understanding ot the cha- acter a and the story. No attempt is made to give a completely lite•like picture and a rigid control ie needed over the details ot characterization, movement and business.
No better method can be emplo7ed to help a director achieve hie aim, in this instance a realistic comedy, than a careful planning of the pla7 in terms ot the ~ive elements ot directinga composition, rhythm.. picturization, movement and pantomimic dramatisation.
Just aa it is impossible to take one aspect of a famoua painting and credit it with the total effect so it is with th·e element• o:t directingJ no one ettect can be secured without a carefully porportioned blending of the elements tor the total etfeot ot unit7 in art. The audience should feel this unity but should not conoiously realize the techniq•e which brought it about.
ro attempt to go into detail as to manner and methods 42 used to achieTe the various results in The Distaff --- ~~--- Side would be to repeat the direotor's notes in the script. It is interesting to note. however, the more obvious probl•m• faced by the director and the de• tailed manner of their solution.
fhe cardinal problem presented in the play was to make an average person interesting in his eTery day oourae of events. There was no powerful plot to interest the audience • only a theme. A theme ot a home where a remarkable mother kept her family on an even keel and through her gracious. radiant love and understanding, assured us that not all great women have achieved world renown. Van Druten wrotea
The nuaber of great persons in real life is• unhappily. small enough, but the elements of fineness, are pretty widely and evenly dia· tribut•d among the human raoe •••• May we not have plays of the everyday people around ua1 tor atter all how many ot us can count •great people• among our friendat •••• Why write about such people at all, is the ory. Well, it is partly beoauae there is in all of us something that enjoys seeing our own existenoe1 portrayed on the stage. just as, at other times, we enjoy escape trom them •••• It may be harder to make a great play around ignoble persons than around goda and heroes but it is not impossible. 41
The play had a plot and you were ooncious of it but you were more concious that there were live, people living in Saint John's Wood. tacing their daily problems as those individuals would. Without the complications ot a strong plot each person had to maintain interest individually
41. John van Druten. Small Souls and Great Plays, Theatre .Arts Monthlf• lla493•8• 43
and collectively through technical means - the fundamentals ot directing.
In the analysis of the author's intentions in hie script we learned that the house was representative ot Eve. a generous mother, an exalted woman - an image
of perfection. To provide a setting that was Eve's it was neoeasary to choose a set and a floor plan that gave a
feeling ot comfort. simplicity. dignity, freshness and
beauty. a room that wa1 lived in to its fullest. With this to remember the tourth wall had to be removed.
Including a fireplace with a cheery tire, a bay window
oveWlooking a garden, bookshelves tilled with interesting books and odds and ends, sofa, chairs and a haesock the
homey reality was achieved• Colors played an important
part. The soft blue walls with white woodwork and the
chairs and aota in their floral patterned alipcovera with huge splashes ot red and neutral yellow helped give
the freshness, beauty and comfort representative of Eve.
Real people had to be made to live in these rooms
and t~eir reason tor being there clearly expressed. Knowing this all the actors strove to approximate the effect ot
actual conversation. They eliminated all inflated and
rhetorical elements and developed a pattern or British
utterance. each individual according to his character.
Liz and Gillie worked to sound cosmopolitan wiwh no
dialectal or colloquial pattern. Rose, representative 44 of a working class, used a more broad colloquial pattern, not cockney, but more near it than the high English pattern chosen by the reat as typical ot their character, locale and position.
Dialogue in itself was not sufficient to carry to the audience the desired efteot. Psychologists tell us the eye is quicker than the ear so it was important to convey to the audience the dramatic situation in the placement of characters to suggest their mental and emotional attitudes toward one another. Each character developed by study and rehearsal, movements and pantomime indicative of his own character which aided immeasurably in establishing the e•t rhythm and picturization tor the overall etfeot. Once these bits were accepted, whether contributed by the cast member or the director, they became a part of the pattern and were blended into the whole.
As the curtains opened Eve and Mrs. Venables were each reading a book. The slight moment of silence conveyed the impression of two women quietly pursuing their own interests. This effect was accomplished with the dominance of horizontal lines and the placing of Mrs. Venables DR,
Eve LC, surrounding them with space, giving a picture ot each alone, yot together. Mra. Venables' controlled pantomime and crypt authoritative voice called attention 45
to her shen she started speaking• but Eve immediately
became a center of attention as she made a strong cross
from L to R, went upstage L of Mrs. Venables and, empha-
sized by level and body position, continued their con•
versation. Both women were cha-racterized in their looale
and shared the scene.
With thirteen persons in the cast numerous entranoea
were called for. To justify properly eaoh person he had to
be made important and the scene built to his entrance.
Following the described scene above incidental conversation
prepared the audience for characters entering later and
technical use of the fundamentals reinforced their entrances.
In the case of Alex's first entrance Eve and Ms. Venables r were kept seated, together in conversation and picturization
as Alex entered through the archway UL. Several kinds of
emphasis-were Civen to her. First, she entered on a higher
level than the two seated women and upstage of them which
called foz Mrs. Venavles to directly focus on her and Mrs.
~illward to countertocus. As she made a strong cross from
that area to RC of Mrs. Venables the movement attracted
more attention than the stationary objeots, in addition
to which she had a full front position. Using pantomime
to tell much of the relationship of the three women, she
kissed her grandmother dutifully, patted her mother lightly
on the shoulder and returned to her emphasized position on
the step, poised for flight until called back into the room by a query concerning Toby. 46
As Spicer entered. her fluttering indecisive movements were &11 the better seen for Alex, Eve and
Mrs. Venables were seated and still. Spicer was standing, receiving direct focus for her move~ents when crossing from one area to another while she talked.
The problem of making an entrance worthy of the cosmopolitan Liz was confronted. Conversation had aroused interest in her coming. With the sound of the car Alex and
Eve both jumped up. breaking the restful horizontal line and dashed offstage. The hubbub outside introduced the voice of Liz and increased the interest. When she entered all eyes were on her for she was emphasized by the height ot the step, surrounded by spaoe, had the advantage of the increased tempo, was reinforced by the archway and followed her appear.aaoe with a strong cross to DC to survey the room; O~her characters entered and talked with her but tor the most part she stood alone. balancing the figuree of Eve and Alex and •aking their focus while pantomiming affectations.
Much use was made in The Distaff Side of movement from weak to strong areas. All entrances from the hall to DLC were from a weaker to a stronger area as the exits were strengthened by movements trom a lower to a higher level. Movement trom L to R to add strength was utilized by all characters. One example ot the use or strong and 47 weak movement for contrast was where Spicer and Theresa entered in Aot III, one a.tter the other. Spicer, the weak, indecisive, fluttery female, made an entrance from the R crossing L - weak movement in keeping with her character. Just the opposite was Theresa, st»ong, in• dependent and oonoiae who entered from L and strode R
-surely an added strength through strong movement to a strong area.
When Liz and Eve were left alone and Li~ revealed her break with Gillie and plans to marry Marcel a new problem, that of pacing, was introduced. Liz was to be more emphasized •han Eve but Eve must not be made weak and should be strong enough to take over at timee. This was done by contrast. In the first portion of the soene
Eve remained quietly on the sofa while the nervous mood of Lis w~s shown through restless pacing, jerky movements and pantomime. To avoid cohfusion in the speotator'a minds the pacing wae planned in a definite pattern. Liz moved from R to L, then diagonally UR back of the ohair• back down to the L point and R again. After the pattern was formed she used a slight variation of it to avoid a eet patter• look and tiring the audience. Liz emphasised her lines by stopping and holding the movement for the line and then picking up her pacing in a raster tempo.
Eve interrupted and her strong oross from L to R to Lis gave her command of the situation in composition and pioturization as well as dialogue and pantomime. Back it 48 went to Liz when she moved L then U and Eve took a lower level by placing one knee on the chair with a diagonal focus to Liz who was n<>W standing tull front, upstage, reinforced by the bay window.
In order to avoid monontony and audience restlessness, partially teared because of the weak plot, it was especially important to change areas with the changes in thought. The latter part of Act I illustrates how this was done. Alex entered when Toby was talking to Eve DR and paused on the step UL. Eve crossed to Liz lifL and they exited as Alex crossed DR to Toby - where they played their scene. As
Charles entered "1ex was drawn UL to greet him and then they came slightly LC to meet Toby. The scene contrasting Charles
and Toby was played with Charles UC and Toby DR with Alex
shuttling between as her affections changed. With Eve's entrance-and introduction to Charles the main action was
DLC. As Alex and Charles exited Eve took the action to the
DRC area as she went to Toby. With Toby's exit and Rolan!'s
entrance Eve went to turn out the desk light, then the iota lamp, carrying the scene with Roland URC. As he exited, Liz
entered, sank in the chair LC and Eve sat on the chair arm dead center as the Aot I curtain tell.
Another scene of main action, Alex confiding to Liz was a problem of two characters sharing emphasis. Here Alex was kept standing DR, reinforced by the fireplace, while Liz,
shocked and upset over the information confided to her, 49 paced R to L, baok to R, then L and u. D to the Re Alex's stillness was more a picture ot complete battlement while Li1 1 s agitation was evident in her quick movements. Principally by contrast, Liz giving and taking the U position, and through sharing ot the same plane was the scene shared.
It is interesting to note here that contrast in
Nellie and Liz wa1 made more evident by having Liz on her feet, reatlessly moving about, whereas Nellie while less emphatic in character was standing still or more often slumped on the chair or sofa.
Throughout the three acts deep or multiplane use of form expressed the warmth, richness, mellowness, sincerity and realism 10 vitally a part ot Eve and her home. Not only was deep form used tor as the mood efteot changed so did the form. The compact form around Toby when he suffered an influenza attack expressed the warmth and concern of the others whe•eaa the single plane or shallow form was used when Alex and Toby were exoitad over Toby's telegram, when Liz and Gillie were fighting and making up and the diffused form was uaea to streea
Alex's turmoil and Liz's defiant individualism.
Because of the weak plot line, bits of business needed to be included to maintain interest and aupplement characterization. In Act I Rose entered and asked tor
Mrs. Frobisher's keys which would have been only a short 50 uninteresting scene ot incidental action. To build this to a more interesting pitch a bit ot pantomime was intro- duced which helped in clarifying the characters. Rose remained on the steps until Liz crossed to her while looking in her bag tor the keys. As she approached, Rose held out her hand. Lis kept hunting, with Eve, Rose and
Roland all focused on her. The evident stuffed and con- tused state of her purse, apparently an everyday oceurence with Li1, was· an objeot of male amusement by Roland and ot much !interest to Roso while Eve looked on with empathic understanding. Another pantomimic inclusion abetted Charles's~ characterization. When A.lex ottered him a cigarette he took it and while she went on talking, he looked at it, saw the brand n ..e, frowned, replaced it in the box and took ou~ a cigarette of his own and proceeded to light and smoke it.
This all-stressed the snobbish Charles. In the play•s opening Mrs. Venables told us she wasn't fond ot milk but her look oB obvious dietaste when drinking it wae more blatant than her words.
The latter half ot Seen I, Act II presented a major problem of handling a number ot persons en a small stage at one time and still maintaining good composition and pioturization. Toby's collapse with influenza placed him on the sota L while Roland, Eve and A.lex had been fussing over him. Nellie entered R and oame down R, balanced the scene and pictured her loss ot contact with the things and people If the house. Theresa's sweeping entrance and surveyal ot the room carried her to Nellie to argue about 51 the just spoken line. Eve moved baok to Toby and
Mrs. Venables and Miss Spioer entered. Nellie em phasized her mental outlook by moving a level lower on to the hassook. As Christopher entered L he stopped by Eve who was on the sofa L leaving the doorway cleared for Liz. Spioer was now U of the table and
Theresa was UR of bay-window surveying the room and tying the composition down prom its downstage weight.
After Liz entered DLC the room was filled with eight people on stage and blocking avoided with the emphasis ohanging from one person to another by slight changes in one or another torm ot composition. In this particular spot the picturization showed Eve and Christopher closely related, with Li& a speotatorJ Theresa U looking it all over1 Nellie the humble insider but outsider and Spicer tus:iling _over Mrs. Venables who was taking it as her right•
In order to prepare the audienoe tor the clesing pioture of the play it was neoessary to point the photo graph of Andrew. Placing it on the desk seemed logioal and in keeping with the realistic setting but here it was not obvious enough so needed toroed attention. Aotually this was done four times before the clesing soene whare it figured so importantly. First, Liz oornmented on .Andrew's photograph being good, then later Nellie noticed and remarked on it. In .A.ct II Eve pie ked it up when she was taJ. king to Alex about the enduring love one should have to marry, end in the opening of Act III Rose was dusting 52 the photograph. When Eve, in the closing minutes, emphasized by space, area and body position took her husband•s picture in hand and shared with it her renewed taith in their daughter, the audience accepted it as a logical ending.
An example of a portion planned with composition and pioturization was the confession of .Alex to her mother • .Alex needed to be humble so a lower level was indicated. In the preceeding scene Liz aad carried the hassook to chair LC. The hassock remained there when she exited a few speeches later. As Alex complained of loathing herself she sank to the hassock. Eve sat in the chair just above the hassock and was in a position to take .Alex's head into her lap and to look out over it.
Not only was the picturization that of a mother comforting a daugh~er but compositionally the mother was given streng-h by a higher level and a full front position.
In The Distaff Side no concious effort was made to establish a rhythm. The actors unoonoiously established their Ollll rhythm as they worked with the lines and other characters. ?he fundamental rhythm established was that set by Eve, one of three beats to the measure which con veyed gentleness, smoothness, resttulness and quiet. Other characters developed variations ot the tam.po in line with their temperaments. Miss Spicer and Nellie were a trigle slower and Liz, ?heresa and Mrs. Venables adopted a taster tempo in movement, speeoh and gestures. The end ot each 53 act was built by increased tempo. This was especially true ot Scene I • .A.ct III, where Alex and Mrs. Venables accelerated by shouting at each other. Builds within the scenes were established correlating with the believed intentions ot the playwright as set forth in the play analysis.
One more instance can be noted which shows all the tunds.mentals ot directing • .ls Liz and Nellie entered Alex welcomed the chance to avoid Charles' embrace moved L to meet them. Charles sauntered DR putting the three women
L and Charles balancing the composition R. This aided picturization tor the grouping of the women abetted by the compositional distance of Charles gave them a united family look and kept him the outsider. Liz had a strong movement_, a cross DC, and when seated LC it permitted visual focus and pantomimic action between Alex and
Charles and brought him back into the picture• .ls he said his_goodbyes and moved U to Alex, the rhythm was unbroken.
As in any production numerous problems were pre• sented but the aim ot the director was to make an audience believe real people lived in St. John's Wood - all giving the "illusion of the first time.• BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carter, Huntly. The New Spirit in Drama and Art. London1 Frank Palmer, l912.
Catholic World. Review of There's Always Juliet. April• 1932, 13517!.
Review of The Distaff Side. November, 1934 1 1401212.
Cheney, Sheldon. Stage Decoration. New York1 John Day Co •• Hrna.
C om.monw e al • Review of Flowers of The Forest by Grenville Vernon. October 12, 1935, 1401491.
Review of The Distaff Side by Grenville Vernon. October 12, 1934, 1391418-419.
Review of Old Ac~uaintanoe. January 101 1941• 331303.
Dean, Alexander. Fundamentals of Play Direetinf• ·New York1 Farrar and Rinehart.- Ino •, 19 s.
Drew, Elizabeth Discoverin~ Drama. New York1 W.W.Norton & Co., 1937. - Gassner, John. Producing the Play. New Yorks The Dryden Press, 1944.
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Nation. Review of The Distaff Side by Joseph Wood Krutoh. October 10, l934• 1391418-419.
Review of Flowers of the Forest by Joseph Wood Krutoh. lpril 24, 1935,1391491. Review ot Old Acquaintance by Robert Bendener. February l, 1941, 1521137. BIBLIOGRAPHY
New Republic. Review of Voice of the Turtle by Stark Young. December 27, 1943, 1521915.
Review of The Distaff Side by Stark Young. October 17, 1934, 801273.
New York Times Announcement of The Distaff Side. September26 1 1934, LXXX.III117.
Review of The Distaff Side by Brooks Atkinson. --~~~~~~- September 26, 1934, LXXXIII117.
Closing notice of The Distaff Side.January 14, 1935, LX.XXIV120e
Niggli, Josephina. Pointers on Playwrighting. Bostona The Writer, Inc., l945.
Theatre Arts Monthly. Small Souls and Great People by John va.n Druten. July 1927, 111493-6.
Review of After All by John Hutchins. February, 1932, l61lOl.
Review of The Distaff Side by Edith
J. R. Isaaos. November, 1934, 181818. Review ot Gertie Maude by Ashley Dukes. --~~~~----~~N~o-v--e-mber, 1937, 211847.
Review of The Damask Cheek by Rosamond --~------~--~-G~i~.l~d-er. December, 1942, 261740.
Van Druten, John. The Distaff Side. New Yorka Samuel French; 1935.
~--~--~~~~-- The Waz To The Present. London1 Michael Joseph Ltd., 1938.