FPC Newsletter- Aug 2012

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MARY BROOME: Backstage Drama by Jonathan Bank I

IN THIS ISSUE: mary broome: backstage drama

By Jonathan Bank An Except mary broome

By Allan Monkhouse About the Playwright allan monkhouse enrichmint events

A Special EnrichMint Event the conquering hero

spring benefit 2012

have been reading some of Allan Monkhouse’s other work, in particular his novel True Love, published in 1919. With regards to MARY BROOME, it’s almost like reading his private diary (had he kept one). The novel’s protagonist, Geoffrey Arden, lives in Manchester and works for the city’s main newspaper just as Monkhouse did. Like Monkhouse, Geoffrey has written a play for the local repertory company: Alice Dean —an obvious stand-in for MARY BROOME. The novel offers insight into the composition of Alice Dean, Geoffrey’s second play. With Alice Dean, Geoffrey “seemed to have made the discovery that it is easy to write plays. It was an illusion, no doubt, but not wholly an illusion…One speech provoked another, and his characters seemed to do the work themselves.” Before long, the play is scheduled for production and Geoffrey receives a letter from Elleray, the company’s leading man who has been cast in the key role. The letter was a request to be permitted to “alter a few lines” with the object of “making the part more sympathetic.” It was not so much that Elleray wanted to put things in, but that he did very positively wish to take things out. He could not give details in the letter, but Geoffrey might “rest assured that the greatest discretion would be observed,” and the character would emerge much more to the taste of the audience than in its original condition.

Geoffrey agrees to meet Elleray over tea and muffins. The actor comes prepared with a “bundle of cues and speeches.” [Geoffrey] glanced over a page or two, and it seemed to him that there was going to be a devil of a row. All sort of salient things were roughly scored out in pencil, and his first impulse to kick over the apple cart was succeeded by a rather pleasant feeling of power… He found no difficulty in being mild and ami-

Milton Rosmer’s third letter to Allan Monkhouse detailing his suggestions for MARY BROOME

able and treating Elleray as a reasonable being. He gave a little sketch of the general intention to which Elleray listened with a slight sulkiness, and then they went through the part in detail…Once or twice he had to be firm, once or twice he made trifling concessions with an air of deferring to mature judgment and generally he showed Elleray how good the lines were which had been crossed out, and how remarkably they would tell when they were delivered exquisitely—as they would be. The lines were restored, Elleray having thoughtfully provided himself with a piece of india-rubber. They parted amicably, though Elleray managed to convey presage of disaster to the play.

Imagine my delight when Heather Violanti, our staff dramaturg, discovered that the University of Manchester Library had a trove of letters written to Monkhouse, including seven from Milton Rosmer, the actor who played the key role of Leonard Timbrell in the play’s first production. Reading these letters made it obvious that Rosmer was the basis for the fictional Elleray. The library sent us digital copies; Rosmer’s handwriting was rather inscrutable but my assistant, Jesse Marchese, slaved over them and managed to make usable transcriptions: