The Barretts of Wimpole Street | |
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Written by | Rudolf Besier |
Date premiered | 20 August 1930 |
Place premiered | Malvern Festival, Malvern, Worcestershire |
Setting | Elizabeth Barrett's bed-sitting-room at 50 Wimpole Street, London, in 1845 |
The Barretts of Wimpole Street is a 1930 play by the Dutch/English dramatist Rudolf Besier, based on the romance between Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett, and her domineering father's unwillingness to allow them to marry. Presented first at the Malvern Festival in August 1930, the play transferred to the West End, where it ran for 528 performances. An American production, produced by and starring Katharine Cornell, opened in 1931 and ran on Broadway for 370 performances. The play has subsequently been revived onstage and adapted for television and the cinema.
The play caused some protests from the descendants of one of the central characters, Edward Moulton-Barrett, objecting to what they saw as his depiction as a depraved monster, although the author and original director denied that the play did so.
The Barretts of Wimpole Street was Rudolf Besier's only real success as a playwright. [1] It was first staged on 20 August 1930, at the Malvern Festival in Malvern, Worcestershire. Elizabeth Barrett lived near Malvern as a child, which suggested to the director, Sir Barry Jackson, the appropriateness of opening the play there before presenting it in the West End. [2] The production starred Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies as Elizabeth Moulton-Barrett and Scott Sunderland as Robert Browning. [3] The production was later seen in Birmingham [4] before opening, with the original cast unchanged, at the Queen's Theatre in London on 23 September 1930, where it ran until 2 January 1932, [5] a total of 528 performances. [6]
The production provoked protests from some of Edward Moulton-Barrett's grandchildren about the portrayal of their grandfather as a monster with "unspeakable vices". [7] Besier and Jackson issued a statement that neither when writing the play nor in its production was there any intention to portray Barrett as a man with incestuous impulses, and that such interpretation of the play was erroneous and unfounded. [8] The text of the play was published by Victor Gollancz in 1931. It is dedicated to Hugh Walpole. [3] [9]
In search of an American production, Besier was rebuffed by 27 producers before the actress Katharine Cornell took an interest in the play and had it staged at the Hanna Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio on 29 January 1931. [1] The play then went to Broadway, where it opened on 9 February, at the Empire Theatre, starring Cornell and Brian Aherne, running for 370 performances. [10] The Stage commented in 1974 that Elizabeth was Cornell's most famous part. [11]
Role | Original production (1930) | US production (1931) |
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Doctor Chambers | Aubrey Mallalieu | George Riddell |
Elizabeth Moulton-Barrett | Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies | Katharine Cornell |
Wilson | Eileen Beldon | Brenda Forbes |
Henrietta Moulton-Barrett | Marjorie Mars | Margaret Barker |
Arabel Moulton-Barrett | Susan Richmond | Joyce Carey |
Octavius Moulton-Barrett | Barry K. Barnes | John Halloran |
Septimus Moulton-Barrett | B. B. Coleman | William Whitehead |
Alfred Moulton-Barrett | Hugh Moxey | Vernon Downing |
Charles Moulton-Barrett | Leonard Bennett | Frederick Voight |
Henry Moulton-Barrett | Douglas Quayle | Basil Harvey |
George Moulton-Barrett | Anthony Marshall | Leslie Denison |
Edward Moulton-Barrett | Cedric Hardwicke | Charles Waldron |
Bella Hedley | Joan Barry | Dorothy Mathews |
Henry Bevan | Oliver Johnston | John D. Seymour |
Robert Browning | Scott Sunderland | Brian Aherne |
Doctor Ford-Waterlow | Wilfred Caithness | Oswald Marshall |
Captain Surtees Cook | Barry Wilcoxon | John Buckler |
Flush (Elizabeth's dog) | Tuppenny of Ware | Flush |
The action of the play takes place in Elizabeth Barrett's bed-sitting room in her father's house. She is an invalid, taking comfort from her pet spaniel, Flush. Her sister Henrietta tells her that their father is in a fury because of the impending visit of their cousin Bella, who is about to marry – something Barrett will not allow his daughters to do: "So long as Papa's alive none of us will ever be able to marry with his consent – and to marry without it is unthinkable". To Moulton-Barrett, love entails "cruelty and loathing and degradation and remorse ... With the help of God, and through years of tormenting abstinence, I strangled it in myself. And so long as I have breath in my body, I'll keep it away from those I was given to protect and care for". [12]
When Bella arrives, Elizabeth confesses that she too has an admirer – the handsome young poet Robert Browning. Invigorated by his renewed declaration of love, she gets up and walks for the first time in years. [13]
Some months later, Elizabeth is so much better that she is planning a trip to Italy, on her doctor's advice. Her father cannot bear to let her go. When Browning begs her to marry him and leave for Italy together, Elizabeth pleads for time. When Barrett discovers that Henrietta has an admirer, he is so angry that he assaults her and makes her swear never to see him again. [14] Elizabeth, realising that she must act, secretly marries Browning and elopes with him, leaving a note for her father. Barrett, devastated, wants revenge. "A smile of indescribable ugliness flickers across his face" and he orders Elizabeth's beloved dog to be destroyed – but she has taken Flush with her. Learning from Henrietta that his cruel vengeance has been thwarted, Barrett stands perfectly still, "staring straight before him and mechanically tearing Elizabeth's letter into little pieces, which drop to his feet". [15]
Cornell revived the play twice on Broadway: at the Martin Beck Theatre (1935) and the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (1945). [16] There was a West End revival of the play in 1948 at the Garrick Theatre, starring Margaret Johnston, Alec Clunes and Tom Walls. [17]
It was filmed in 1934, starring Fredric March, Norma Shearer and Charles Laughton. That film was remade scene-for-scene and almost shot-for-shot, in colour, in 1957, starring Bill Travers, Jennifer Jones and John Gielgud. Both films were directed by Sidney Franklin.[ citation needed ]
BBC television broadcast an adaptation of the play on 14 October 1951, starring Pauline Jameson as Elizabeth, Griffith Jones as Browning and D. A. Clarke-Smith as Edward Moulton-Barrett. [18] On 2 April 1956 NBC's Producers' Showcase aired a production featuring Cornell as Elizabeth. A 1982 TV film of the play was made by the BBC starring Jane Lapotaire as Elizabeth, Joss Ackland as her father and Jeremy Brett as Browning. [19]
The play also spawned a musical, Robert and Elizabeth , with book and lyrics by Ronald Millar and music by Ron Grainer. It opened in London on 20 October 1964, starring June Bronhill, Keith Michell and John Clements and ran for 948 performances. [20]
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime and frequently anthologised after her death. Her work received renewed attention following the feminist scholarship of the 1970s and 1980s, and greater recognition of women writers in English.
The Barretts of Wimpole Street is a 1934 American romantic drama film directed by Sidney Franklin based on the 1930 play of the same title by Rudolf Besier. It depicts the real-life romance between poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, despite the opposition of her abusive father Edward Moulton-Barrett. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Shearer was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. It was written by Ernest Vajda, Claudine West, and Donald Ogden Stewart, from the successful 1930 play The Barretts of Wimpole Street by Rudolf Besier, and starring Katharine Cornell.
Robert and Elizabeth is a musical with music by Ron Grainer and book and lyrics by Ronald Millar. The story is based on an unproduced musical titled The Third Kiss by Judge Fred G. Moritt, which in turn was adapted from the play The Barretts of Wimpole Street by Rudolph Besier. It is an operetta-style musical which tells the story of the romance and elopement of poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett. The original 1964 London production was a success, starring John Clements as Barrett, June Bronhill as Elizabeth and Keith Michell as Robert. Several revivals have followed.
Katharine Cornell was an American stage actress, writer, theater owner and producer. She was born in Berlin to American parents and raised in Buffalo, New York.
William Brian de Lacy Aherne was an English actor of stage, screen, radio and television, who enjoyed a long and varied career in Britain and the United States.
Una O'Connor was an Irish-born American actress who worked extensively in theatre before becoming a character actress in film and in television. She often portrayed comical wives, housekeepers and servants. In 2020, she was listed at number 19 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
Margaret Lorraine "Margalo" Gillmore was an English-born American actress who had a long career as a stage actress on Broadway. She also appeared in films and TV series, mostly in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Sir John Selby Clements, CBE was a British actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film.
Thomas Kirby Walls was an English stage and film actor, producer and director, best known for presenting and co-starring in the Aldwych farces in the 1920s and for starring in and directing the film adaptations of those plays in the 1930s.
Wimpole Street is a street in Marylebone, central London. Located in the City of Westminster, it is associated with private medical practice and medical associations.
Guthrie McClintic was an American theatre director, film director, and producer based in New York.
The Barretts of Wimpole Street is a 1957 British CinemaScope historical film originating from the United Kingdom; it was a re-make of the earlier 1934 version by the same director, Sidney Franklin. Both films are based on the 1930 play The Barretts of Wimpole Street by Rudolf Besier. The screenplay for the 1957 film is credited to John Dighton, but Franklin used exactly the same script for the second movie as he did for the first. The film, set in the early 19th century, stars Jennifer Jones, John Gielgud, and Bill Travers.
Margaret Rawlings, Lady Barlow was an English stage actress, born in Osaka, Japan, daughter of the Rev. George William Rawlings and his wife Lilian Rawlings.
Katharine Alexander was an American actress on stage and screen. She appeared in 44 films between 1930 and 1951.
Barry K. Barnes was an English film and stage actor. The son of Horatio Nelson Barnes and Anne Mackintosh Barnes, he was born and died in London. He appeared in sixteen films between 1936 and 1947. He played Sir Percy Blakeney in the 1937 film The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel. His film career was cut short in 1947 due to an undiagnosable illness contracted during the war. He was married to actress Diana Churchill, and worked with his wife on stage during the 1940s and 1950s, taking West End revivals of The Admirable Crichton and On Approval on profitable tours.
Charles Waldron was an American stage and film actor, sometimes credited as Charles Waldron Sr., Chas. Waldron Sr., Charles D. Waldron or Mr. Waldron.
Henrietta Foster Crosman was an American stage and film actress.
Brenda Forbes was a British-born American actress of stage and screen.
Rudolf Wilhelm Besier was a Dutch/English dramatist and translator best known for his play The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1930). He worked with H. G. Wells, Hugh Walpole and May Edginton on dramatisations.
The Empire Theatre in New York City was a prominent Broadway theatre in the first half of the twentieth century.