Loyalties (play)

Last updated

Loyalties
Written by John Galsworthy
Date premiered8 March 1922
Place premiered St Martin's Theatre, London
Original languageEnglish
GenreDrama

Loyalties is a 1922 play by the British writer John Galsworthy. It was first staged at St Martins Theatre and ran for over a year. Galsworthy described it as "the only play of mine which I was able to say, when I finished it, no manager will refuse this". [1] The original West End cast included Ernest Milton, Edmund Breon, Eric Maturin, Malcolm Keen, Ian Hunter, Cathleen Nesbitt, Beatrix Thomson, and Meggie Albanesi. [2]

Contents

Dramatis personae

Charles Winsor: Owner of Meldon Court, near Newmarket

Lady Adela: His Wife

Ferdinand de Levis: A young Jew

Treisure: Winsor's butler

General Canynge: A racing oracle

Margaret Orme: A society girl

Ronald Dancy: Army Captain

Mabel: His wife

Inspector Dede: Of the County Constabulary

Robert: Winsor's footman

A Constable: Attendant on Dede

Augustus Borring: A clubman

Lord St Erth: A Peer of the Realm

A Footman: Of the Club

Major Colford: A brother officer of Dancy

Edward Graviter: A solicitor, junior partner of Twisden & Graviter's

A Young Clerk: Of Twisden & Graviter's

Gilman: A grocer

Jacob Twisden: Senior partner of Twisden & Graviter's

Ricardos: An Italian wine merchant

Plot

The play is an exposé of antisemitism in English upper-class society in the 1920s. It is set in Meldon Court, a country house near Newmarket, the home of Sir Charles and Lady Adela Winsor. One of their guests, Ferdinand de Levis, has had £1000 stolen from his room, and he charges another of the guests, Captain Ronald Dancy, with the theft. However, de Levis is Jewish and Dancy is a war hero. Despite evidence that Dancy may be guilty, de Levis is threatened with social ostracism by the members of the gentleman's club to which he belongs. He is suspended from the club and in turn resigns. When Mabel, Dancy's wife, pleads with de Levis, as a gentleman, to withdraw the charge, he replies "I'm not a gentleman - I'm a damned Jew!" echoing what Dancy has previously called him. Dancy, under pressure from the members of his club and from his wife, agrees to bring court proceedings against de Levis. The trial begins, but the case ends prematurely when the culprit is discovered.

During the play several characters admit that they don't like Jews, while at the same time phrasing their opinions in ways that seek to avoid a charge of prejudice. Early on, Charles Winsor says  "I like Jews. That’s not against him—rather the contrary these days. But he pushes himself." A friend of Mabel's, Margaret Orme, says, "I know lots of splendid Jews, ... but when it comes to the point—! They all stick together; why shouldn't we? It's in the blood." And when Lady Adela tells Margaret that she is proud of her Jewish great grandmother, Margaret says "Inoculated." A well-to-do grocer, Gilman, says, "I don’t like—well, not to put too fine a point upon it—’Ebrews. They work harder; they’re more sober; they’re honest; and they’re everywhere. I’ve nothing against them, but the fact is—they get on so." Gilman has come to give evidence in the case because he thinks that it will help Dancy against de Levis. Few of the characters come out well.

Adaptations

In 1933 the play was made into a film, Loyalties , adapted by W P Lipscomb, directed by Basil Dean and Thorold Dickinson and starring Basil Rathbone as Ferdinand de Levis, Miles Mander as Captain Ronald Dancy, Algernon West as Charles Winsor, Cecily Byrne as Lady Adela Winsor, Alan Napier as General Canynge, Heather Thatcher as Margaret Orme, Joan Wyndham as Mabel Dancy, Athole Stewart as Lord St. Erth, Philip Strange as Major Colford, Robert Mawdesley as Graviter, Lawrence Hanray as Jacob Twisden, Ben Field as Gilman, and Anthony Holles as Ricardos.

The play was broadcast on BBC Radio's Saturday Night Theatre in 1967, adapted for radio by Peggy Wells and produced by Betty Davis, with Keith Michell as Captain Ronald Dancy, John Justin as Ferdinand de Levis, Rolf Lefebvre as Charles Winsor, Diana Olsson as Lady Adela Winsor, Wilfred Babbage as Treisure, Robert Sansom as General Canynge, Margaret Ward as Margaret Orme, Hilda Schroder as Mabel Dancy, Stephen Thorne as Inspector Dede, Frederick Treves as Augustus Borring, Geoffrey Wincott as Lord St Erth, Alexander John as Major Colford, Frank Henderson as Graviter, Howieson Culff as Jacob Twisden, Ronald Herdman as Gilman, Harold Kasket as Ricardos, and Gordon Gardner as Robert.

In 1976, BBC Television broadcast a version as part of their Play of the Month series, directed by Rudolph Cartier and produced by Cedric Messina. It starred Edward Fox as Captain Ronald Dancy, Charles Kay as Ferdinand de Levis, John Carson as Charles Winsor, Dinah Sheridan as Lady Adela Winsor, Erik Chitty as Treisure, Robert Flemyng as General Canynge, Polly Adams as Margaret Orme, Catherine Schell as Mabel Dancy, Roger Hammond as Inspector Dede, Jeremy Clyde as Augustus Borring, Peter Dyneley as Lord St. Erth, Tom Criddle as Major Colford, Geoffrey Palmer as Graviter, David Markham as Jacob Twisden, Frank Middlemass as Gilman, and Steve Plytas as Ricardos.

In a review of a revival of the play at the Finborough Theatre in London in 2006, Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington wrote that "With consummate skill, Galsworthy shows how English caste and race loyalties diabolicially intersect" and that "Galsworthy's shockingly neglected plays are eminently revivable social documents". [3] He reported that he saw the play with a packed house "who seemed, like me, to relish Galsworthy's portrait of the poisonous worm inside the woodwork of English society."

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Galsworthy</span> English novelist and playwright

John Galsworthy was an English novelist and playwright. He is best known for his trilogy of novels collectively called The Forsyte Saga, and two later trilogies, A Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter. He was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in Literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry II of Castile</span> King of Castile and León (1366–1367, 1369–1379)

Henry II, called Henry of Trastámara or the Fratricidal, was the first King of Castile and León from the House of Trastámara. He became king in 1369 by defeating his half-brother Peter the Cruel, after numerous rebellions and battles. As king he was involved in the Fernandine Wars and the Hundred Years' War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Monarchs of Spain</span> Title for Isabella I and Ferdinand II

The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage and joint rule marked the de facto unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being both descended from John I of Castile; to remove the obstacle that this consanguinity would otherwise have posed to their marriage under canon law, they were given a papal dispensation by Sixtus IV. They married on October 19, 1469, in the city of Valladolid; Isabella was 18 years old and Ferdinand a year younger. Most scholars generally accept that the unification of Spain can essentially be traced back to the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella. Their reign was called by W.H. Prescott "the most glorious epoch in the annals of Spain".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland</span> English royal mistress

Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, Countess of Castlemaine, was an English royal mistress of the Villiers family and perhaps the most notorious of the many mistresses of King Charles II of England, by whom she had five children, all of them acknowledged and subsequently ennobled. Barbara was the subject of many portraits, in particular by court painter Sir Peter Lely.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penelope Ann Miller</span> American actress (born 1964)

Penelope Ann Miller, sometimes credited as Penelope Miller, is an American actress. She began her career on Broadway in the original run of Biloxi Blues (1985–1986), later appearing in the 1988 film adaptation of the same name. After playing small roles in the comedies Adventures in Babysitting (1987) and Big Top Pee-wee (1988), and receiving a Tony Award nomination for her leading role in the Broadway revival of Our Town (1988–1989), Miller came to prominence with a succession of major parts in films such as The Freshman, Awakenings, Kindergarten Cop, Other People's Money (1991), Chaplin (1992), The Shadow (1994), and The Relic (1997). For her portrayal of exotic dancer Gail in Carlito's Way (1993), she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

<i>An Ideal Husband</i> 1895 play by Oscar Wilde

An Ideal Husband is a four-act play by Oscar Wilde that revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour. It was first produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London in 1895 and ran for 124 performances. It has been revived in many theatre productions and adapted for the cinema, radio and television.

<i>Swing Time</i> (film) 1936 musical film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

Swing Time is a 1936 American musical comedy film, the sixth of ten starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Directed by George Stevens for RKO, it features Helen Broderick, Victor Moore, Betty Furness, Eric Blore and Georges Metaxa, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Set mainly in New York City, the film follows a gambler and dancer, "Lucky" (Astaire), who is trying to raise money to secure his marriage when he meets a dance instructor, Penny (Rogers), and begins dancing with her; the two soon fall in love and are forced to reconcile their feelings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald Firbank</span> English novelist (1886–1926)

Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank was an innovative English novelist. His eight short novels, partly inspired by the London aesthetes of the 1890s, especially Oscar Wilde, consist largely of dialogue, with references to religion, social-climbing, and sexuality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Field</span> British actress (1917–1992)

Virginia Field was a British-born film actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matinée idol</span> Celebrity film or theatre star

Matinée idol is a term used mainly to describe film or theatre stars who are adored to the point of adulation by their fans. The term almost exclusively refers to adult male actors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norma Varden</span> English-American actress (1898–1989)

Norma Varden Shackleton, known professionally as Norma Varden, was an English-American actress with a long film career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre</span> English nobleman

Thomas Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre of Gilsland, KG was the son of Humphrey Dacre, 1st Baron Dacre of Gilsland and Mabel Parr, daughter of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal by his wife, Alice Tunstall. Mabel was the first of the Parr family to marry into the peerage but she was surpassed by her great niece, Catherine Parr, who became the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">June Travis</span> American actress (1914–2008)

June Travis was an American film actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferdinand II of Aragon</span> King of Aragon from 1479 to 1516

Ferdinand II, called Ferdinand the Catholic, was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband of and co-ruler with Queen Isabella I of Castile, he was also King of Castile from 1475 to 1504. He reigned jointly with Isabella over a dynastically unified Spain; together they are known as the Catholic Monarchs. Ferdinand is considered the de facto first king of Spain, and was described as such during his reign, even though, legally, Castile and Aragon remained two separate kingdoms until they were formally united by the Nueva Planta decrees issued between 1707 and 1716.

The following timeline of twentieth-century theatre offers a year-by-year account of the performance and publication of notable works of drama and significant events in the history of theatre during the 20th century. Musical theatre works are excluded from the list below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marda Vanne</span> South African actress (1896–1970)

Marda Vanne was a South African actress who found fame in London.

<i>Loyalties</i> (1933 film) 1933 film by Basil Dean

Loyalties is a 1933 British drama film directed by Basil Dean and starring Basil Rathbone, Heather Thatcher and Miles Mander. It is based on the 1922 John Galsworthy play Loyalties.

<i>Escape</i> (play) 1926 play by John Galsworthy

Escape is a play in nine episodes by the British writer John Galsworthy. The world premiere was on August 12, 1926 at the Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End, produced by Leon M. Lion. The play ran until March of the following year, when it went on tour of England with Gerald Ames in the lead role.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Massingham</span> British actress and playwright

Dorothy Massingham was a British actress and playwright.

Molly Kerr was an actress, producer and playwright who was the first person to play the role of Bunty Mainwaring in Noël Coward's play The Vortex.

References

  1. Cody & Sprinchorn p.836
  2. Wearing p.153
  3. Billington, Michael (3 May 2006). "Loyalties". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 18 October 2024.

Bibliography