Education Pack to accompany The Watermill Theatre’s 2008 touring production of LONDON ASSURANCE by Dion Boucicault

CONTENTS

Resources 2 Introduction 3 Dion Boucicault (Writer) 6 Interview – Clare Corbett (Actor) Activities 7 What’s in a name? 9 Costume Design 10 Everyone’s a critic! 11 The Director’s Approach 12 The ‘Aside’ – theatrical convention

INTRODUCTION

This education pack is designed to complement your trip to see our 2008 production of LONDON ASSURANCE , either at The Watermill or on tour. The text is designed to be easily photocopied. You will find information and exercises for use in the classroom, feel free to use them as written or adapt them to suit your class and situation. If you have any comments on either the show or the education pack please email them to me at [email protected]

Robin Belfield Deputy Outreach Director

The Watermill Theatre Bagnor Newbury Berkshire RG20 8AE

LONDON ASSURANCE Education Pack (The Watermill Theatre 2008) 2 BOUCICAULT - THE ‘VICTORIAN ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER’

HIS LIFE…

1820 Dionysius Lardner Boucicault (pronounced BOO-see-coe) is born in Dublin on 26 th December.

1837/8 Boucicault runs away from his apprenticeship as a civil engineer to become an actor. It was not long before he began to write plays, and his first, A Legend of the Devil’s Dyke, opens in Brighton.

1841 London Assurance , originally titled “Out of Town”, opens at Covent Garden on 4 th March. Despite having written it in a hurry and apologising for it’s “out of breath style”, Boucicault’s play was a hit.

1842-3 Boucicault followed this with a quick succession of new work including An Irish Heiress , A Lover by Proxy , The Bastile [sic], Alma Mater; or, A Cure for Coquettes and The Old Guard , all of which are produced in London

1844 His next big hit is Old Heads and Young Hearts , which opened at The Haymarket Theatre on 18 th November.

1845 Boucicault visits Paris with the intention of searching for a French play to adapt into English.

1850 Becomes house dramatist for Princess’s Theatre in London which was managed by Charles Kean, son of the great actor Edmund Kean.

1852 One of the most successful of his French finds was The Corsican Brothers , which was based on Alexander Dumas’ Les Frères Corses .

Boucicault proved himself to be not only a successful playwright, but actor too when he took the title role of his play The Vampire . 1853 Elopes to the United States of America with a young actress, Agnes Robertson, who was in Charles Kean’s care. Unsurprisingly this brought Kean and Boucicault’s professional relationship to an end.

1853-1860 This husband and wife team took America by storm managing theatres across the country including New Orleans, Washington and New York.

LONDON ASSURANCE Education Pack (The Watermill Theatre 2008) 3 Boucicault had by now perfected his craft. But now with plays like The Poor of New York (1857) and The Octoroon (1859), he had developed his trademark popular melodrama to tackle the present day issues of urban poverty and slavery.

1860 Boucicault becomes the first Irish playwright to write about Ireland with one of his most successful plays The Colleen Bawn . Despite it earning the Boucicault’s a fortune, the money was soon lost and they were declared bankrupt.

1863 Proving his commercial prowess, on his return to England, Boucicault re- staged his American hit, turning The Poor of New York into The Poor of Liverpool and then of Leeds, Manchester, London (Islington) and Dublin!

1864 His next Irish success came in the form of Arrah-na-Pogue which was produced in November at the Theatre Royal in Dublin.

1865-1885 Over these twenty years Boucicault continued to write, including the notable successes of Rip Van Winkle (1865) and a third Irish drama The Shaughraun (1875) which is arguably one of the greatest plays of its genre. Despite continuing to churn out new work and enjoying these occasional successes, Boucicault earnt his living through revivals of his earlier plays.

1885 Now aged 64, Boucicault enters a bigamous marriage with Louise Thorndyke, claiming that his common-law wedding to Anges was never legal. Louise Thorndyke, like Agnes was a young actress in Boucicault’s company and was only 21 years old.

The new Mr and Mrs Boucicault moved back to the United States. Although still writing, Boucicault’s main source of income was gained through teaching at an acting school in New York where he lived.

1890 Dionysius Boucicault dies, penniless.

LONDON ASSURANCE Education Pack (The Watermill Theatre 2008) 4 HIS WORK…

“Like a Victorian Andrew Lloyd Webber, he devoted his life to creating spectacular long runners aimed at playing across the world, so their basis in day-to-day reality was necessarily thin.” 1

In their book Changing Stages , Richard Eyre and Nicholas Wright identify Boucicault’s gift – he was a crowd pleaser. His plays were bold and popular, many of them playing across the world enjoying many revivals.

Boucicault knew he wasn’t writing for critical or literary renown and was self- deprecating about his own work. He once said “I can spin out these rough- and-tumble dramas as a hen lays eggs. It’s a degrading occupation, but more money has been made out of guano than out of poetry.” He was undoubtedly a business man knowing full well that he would earn more from popular rubbish (or ‘guano’ meaning manure) than trying to create fine art. London Assurance was no exception; in his preface to the play Boucicault apologises saying:

“London Assurance was made to order, on the shortest possible notice. I could have wished that my first appearance before the public had not been in the out-of- breath style; but I saw my opportunity at hand: I knew how important it was not to neglect the chance of production; the door was open – I had a run for it, and here I am.”

Had he not taken the chance and hurried out this debut, the world may have never seen the sheer volume of work that Boucicault produced. Although often criticised for plagiarism, he is credited to have written or ‘adapted’ nearly 200 plays, many of which were based on French originals.

Boucicault was more than a playwright; he was also a popular actor at the time, known for his own flamboyant style of performing, but he didn’t only work on the artistic side of the theatre. Boucicault was also a very successful theatre manager, running several theatres throughout the USA and made significant contributions to the industry as a whole; he contributed to the establishing of copyright laws in the US and the introduction of a profit-share system for writers which led to them receiving royalties. Boucicault also helped establish training for actors in America and was significant in the development of fire-proofed scenery, a crucial stepping-stone in theatre history made at a time when fires in theatres were common.

He was, in both his professional and private life, a melodramatic pioneer dancing between scandal and delight, riches and ruin. His contribution to British, American and most importantly Irish theatre was great, paving the way for the likes of Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw and WB Yeats.

1 Richard Eyre & Nicholas Wright; Changing Stages , Bloomsbury (2000)

LONDON ASSURANCE Education Pack (The Watermill Theatre 2008) 5 INTERVIEW – CLARE CORBETT (Actor)

What part do you play? Grace Harkaway.

Tell us a bit about her? Grace is a complicated character. She is carefree yet complicated. She is feisty and intuitive, cheeky and amusing, serious but fun.

The play was written over 160 years ago, what relevance does it have to an audience today? It has great relevance – it talks of love and honour and mistaken identity and the country versus the city – all themes that ring true today. Sir Harcourt Courtly talks about being a fool and dupe to his own vanity – we all know someone who concentrates on the material side of life.

What research did you have to do to help you in rehearsals? Research about the year - 1841. We researched the clothes, behaviour, attitudes of the age and language of the time.

Throughout the play characters often speak directly to the audience. What are the advantages and challenges with such a convention? The advantages are that you can make a connection with the audience directly and they get to feel part of the play.

Do you find it interrupts the play? Well the challenge for us actors is to keep the action on stage flowing smoothly.

The relationship between Grace Harkaway and Charles Courtly is, for want of a better word, complicated. What challenges do you face when rehearsing & performing these scenes and how have you overcome them? We had to make sure that the progression of the relationship was clear and that we know how exactly we reach the right pitch for the love scenes at the end. In rehearsals we worked slowly through the language in each scene, with the director and looked at the characters objectives [what they want] and actions [what they do] , which allowed us to connect strongly with the characters and each other.

What have you enjoyed most about working on LONDON ASSURANCE? The cast are superb and are a delight to work with. The director Nikolai Foster is inspiring and really supports each actor through their process.

And finally, what has been most challenging? Most challenging has been working on such a complicated character and also very complicated language. Some of the words used are not used today and a lot of time had to be spent finding the true meanings. A rewarding challenge.

LONDON ASSURANCE Education Pack (The Watermill Theatre 2008) 6 WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Boucicault was writing for an audience who wanted spectacle when they went to the theatre and so London Assurance is a colourful melodrama with boldly drawn characters.

Following a tradition in the theatre, Boucicault gives suitable names for his characters. These names give the audience a clear idea of what the character may be like even before we meet them.

Here are a couple of the main characters in London Assurance and a photo from the production.

MARK MEDDLE – a lawyer. Lawyers weren’t well liked at the time as people thought they were out to make money wherever and whenever possible, just like MEDDLE.

He’s always getting in the way, ‘meddling’ in other people’s business!

LADY GAY SPANKER In the 19 th Century the word ‘gay’ meant bright, merry and lively. She is described as “Glee made a living thing”. So before we meet her we know she’s going to be lively and fun!

‘Spanker’ refers to her love of horse-riding and we can see in the picture, the riding crop in her hand.

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SIR HARCOURT COURTLY (on the left)

It’s a pompous name for a pompous character! He is a Sir, so we expect him to have some power and wealth – we know he has servants and he lives in Belgrave Square (a very fashionable part of London).

However the playwright is making fun of fashions of the age – focussed on appearance and wealth. In this production Sir Harcourt is always looking at himself in the mirror – he is very vain!

Someone who is ‘courtly’ is said to be elegant, refined and flattering to others, even though they might not mean it. Do you think this describes Sir Harcourt?

How about Cool, Sir Harcourt’s servant, seen on the right-side of the photo? Or Grace Harkaway? Or Richard Dazzle?

What do their names suggest about their characters? What were they like? How did they behave?

TASK For each of the characters we have mentioned write down 5 adjectives to describe them.

MARK MEDDLE LADY GAY SPANKER SIR HARCOURT COURTLY 1. 1. 1. 2. 2. 2. 3. 3. 3. 4. 4. 4. 5. 5. 5.

COOL GRACE HARKAWAY RICHARD DAZZLE 1. 1. 1. 2. 2. 2. 3. 3. 3. 4. 4. 4. 5. 5. 5.

LONDON ASSURANCE Education Pack (The Watermill Theatre 2008) 8 COSTUME DESIGN

Costume designer, Philip Witcomb, had to think very carefully and consult the director and the actors about what each character was like. He also had to take into consideration the fashions and trends of the period.

In the first few pages of the script Dion Boucicault writes:

The scene lies in London and Gloucestershire in 1841 Costumes of the day; striking and very fashionable

TASK What can you find out about the fashions for men and women around 1841? Try and look for different styles worn by different sorts of people e.g. upper and lower classes. Collect together as many different pictures as you can, use the internet or find books in your school or local library to help you.

Below is a copy of Philip’s design for Lady Gay and Adolphus Spanker.

TASK Using your own words describing each character and with the help of your research into clothes of the time, create your own costume designs. Remember the Victorian audiences loved a spectacle, so be bold!

LONDON ASSURANCE Education Pack (The Watermill Theatre 2008) 9 EVERYONE’S A CRITIC!

Below are extracts from reviews for The Watermill’s production of London Assurance .

“Dion Boucicault’s mid-19 th century play is

the missing link between restoration

comedy and Oscar Wilde’s witty comedies

of manners. If it sometimes lacks the savagery of both, it makes up for it in freshness, the way it takes everything at a gallop, and its ability to temper cynicism with sentiment…This is undoubtedly fluff, but Nikolai Foster’s production has a strong sense of mischief.” Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

“Yet even though it is a ridiculous raucous comedy, the play still manages to convey the importance of the power of money and social class during the period of the 1800s. Geraldine McNulty almost steals the show as the fearless Lady Gay Spanker, together with her diminutive husband ‘Dolly’, played by Christopher Ryan.” Julie Watterson, The Stage

“An ‘out-of-breath’ style perfectly sums up the pell-mell nature of this piece, which races along, hurling aphorisms here and there, tangling itself up in intrigue like a kitten in a ball of wool and almost forgetting, until the final speech, to declare its thematic intentions…Boucicault’s breathlessness acquires the unmistakeable hue of brilliance.” Dominic Cavendish, The Daily Telegraph

It is a critic’s job to write a review of the production, taking into account all the elements: the script, direction, acting, set & costume design, lighting and music. Theatres rely on reviews to provide the public with an objective view of the performance; a good review will attract more people to come and see it, but a bad review will put people off.

LONDON ASSURANCE Education Pack (The Watermill Theatre 2008) 10 TASK Using the box below, write your own review of London Assurance . Remember you are trying to give someone who hasn’t seen the play an idea of what it’s like. You must include and brief outline or introduction to the story as well as your opinions on the main elements and performances.

Why not send a copy of your review into us at The Watermill; we’d really like to know what you though of the show!

LONDON ASSURANCE Education Pack (The Watermill Theatre 2008) 11 THE DIRECTOR’S APPROACH

In this statement the production’s Director, Nikolai Foster, speaks about what the play means to him and his approaches to it.

“I feel honoured to be directing the first major revival, in recent years, of this

exceptional Victorian comedy. Boucicault's accessible, witty and

electrifying language stands the test of time and his colourful characters

never fail to inspire, delight and intrigue. A dazzling satire, the play is still

relevant today. It could easily represent one of drama's earliest feminist

plays. Lady Gay Spanker's love for her husband, is brilliantly balanced with

the demands she makes on him, and her dexterity in handling a modern

marriage. Similarly, at 18 years old, Grace is an exceptionally intelligent and

erudite young woman, who understands only too well that marriage equals

money, nothing more. Over the course of the play she also discovers a

capacity for love, and this dichotomy creates brilliant, challenging and

entertaining drama.

Our production is set very much in the period it was intended, with the

occasional modern twist along the way. I am thrilled to be working with

such an accomplished and talented group of actors on this remarkable

text.”

Nikolai Foster - Director

It is the Director’s job to have a vision of what the play represents, the story and themes. They must inspire the actors and production team to work together to achieve this vision and portray it as clearly a possible to the audience.

Questions

To what extent do you agree with Nikolai’s thoughts on London Assurance ?

Having watched the production, do you think Nikolai achieved his aims, and conveyed his ideas strongly and clearly?

LONDON ASSURANCE Education Pack (The Watermill Theatre 2008) 12 The ‘Aside’ – a theatrical convention

In London Assurance , Boucicault employs several theatrical conventions that were common in plays of that period – the soliloquy and the aside .

‘Aside’ is a stage direction which instructs the actor in his delivery of the line. When a character speaks a line ‘aside’ they speak directly to the audience but cannot be heard by the other characters on stage.

A ‘Soliloquy’ is a type of monologue - any continuous speech spoken by one actor. However, a monologue becomes a soliloquy specifically when the character who is speaking is (or thinks they are) alone.

They are two devices that have been utilised by playwrights for a long time and are often associated with classical drama rather than modern plays. Shakespeare frequently uses them – Hamlet’s speech “To be or not to be” is probably the most famous example of a soliloquy; and in many of his comedies, characters speak ‘aside’ to the audience when they are hiding from others (Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing and Malvolio in Twelfth Night are good examples to look at).

TASK

List a few reasons why a playwright would want a character to speak directly to the audience.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Any convention set up by the playwright or director will have an effect on the actor’s performance, and though they often have very clear advantages they are sometimes a challenge too. In her interview actress Clare Corbett remarked that with so many ‘asides’ the challenge for the cast of London Assurance was to keep the ‘action on stage flowing smoothly’.

On the next few pages there is an extract of London Assurance taken from Act Three, a scene between Charles Courtly and Grace Harkaway, followed by some suggested activities.

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LONDON ASSURANCE Education Pack (The Watermill Theatre 2008) 14 TASK

In pairs, read through the scene a few times, one reading Courtly and one reading Grace. Highlight or underline any soliloquies or asides.

Joining with another pair, make a group of four. Two people read the lines but miss out all the soliloquies and asides that you have highlighted. How has the scene changed? Read it through again, the same two reading their character’s ‘aloud’ lines (i.e. lines which can be heard by the other character) and this time the remaining pair speak the character’s lines which are directed to the audience. Swap around so you all have a chance to read different parts.

Questions

What have you discovered about the ‘asides’?

Why has Boucicault given them these lines to the audience, what does it achieve?

What insights do the ‘asides’ give to audience about the characters?

TASK

Now, two people step out and become Directors. The remaining pair play the parts of Courtly and Grace (speaking all the lines) and with the help of the directors rehearse and present this scene.

Some things to think about: Try to bring out all that you have learnt about the asides and the characters in your performances.

Try to mark a clear difference between lines to each other and to the audience, without disrupting the flow of the scene.

While one character is speaking to the audience, what is the other doing? Frozen in a tableau? Looking in another direction? Or something else?

If you were directing a full production how could you use sound and lights to help you in the scene?

LONDON ASSURANCE Education Pack (The Watermill Theatre 2008) 15