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.