Notable Women — and a Few Equally Notable Men

Description

In NOTABLE WOMEN — AND A FEW EQUALLY NOTABLE MEN the biographical plays of Ruth Wolff are, for the first time, collected in one volume. Seen in major productions around the world, these plays, hailed by critics and audiences alike, are now made available for production at all levels. Introducing the collection is an essay about the art of dramatizing lives which, in addition to the plays, makes this collection invaluable to students of playwriting and theater and to anyone interested in the process of writing the biographically based play. In all, these plays portray extraordinary women and men from many different centuries and civilizations, whose experiences are especially illuminating for our own time. The collection includes: THE ABDICATION, ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE, EMPRESS OF CHINA, GEORGE AND FREDERIC, HALLIE, JOSHUA SLOCUM SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD, THE PERFECT MARRIAGE, SARAH IN AMERICA, and THE SECOND MRS WILSON. Also includes the essay “We Open In Florence: An Anxious Playwright Flies to Italy for the Italian Premiere of her Play,” reprinted from the New York Times Magazine: With the title changed, the cast size seemingly changed, and all other variety of problems, the playwright flies to Italy and tries, alone, in a country whose language she doesn’t know, to deal with events leading up to what turns out to be the triumphant premiere of the Italian-language production of THE ABDICATION. Her hopes and fears highlight the gripping tale of this theatrical adventure. THE ABDICATION: Why, having become Queen in childhood, would Christina of Sweden give up the throne? Confused about her sexual identity and religious beliefs, and thwarted in love, she decides to abdicate, convert to Catholicism, and throw herself, for life, on the hospitality of the Vatican. Once there, this proud but troubled woman is stunned to discover that, before she can be received by the Pope, she must submit to intense questioning by Cardinal Azzolino. At first she sees him as an adversary. But then, against all rules and expectations, Christina finds herself falling in love with her inquisitor. A probing exploration of the nature of woman, whether queen or commoner, is the subject of this highly original play. ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE: The sweep of Eleanor’s entire life — from her early marriage to Louis VII, King of France, through her marriage to Henry II of England, to her imprisonment, reign and death — is encompassed in this action-packed, highly literate drama. Through every challenge, Eleanor, with her grace and independence — in a world which expected women to stay in their place — triumphs, as wife, soldier, mother, queen and patron of the Courts of Love. EMPRESS OF CHINA: As the 19th century moves into the 20th century, the Dowager Empress Tzu-His struggles to hold together the proud ancient Chinese empire, which is being assaulted by foreign nations and the technological advances of the age. Following the arrest of a Young Actor who is playing her in the streets, she finds herself powerless at the pinnacle of power, trying to preserve traditional Chinese civilization against overwhelming forces for change. GEORGE AND FREDERIC: A Play with Music — the music of Frederic Chopin. George Sand had many lovers — but the one to whom she was most attached, and who almost ruined her life, was Frederic Chopin. His illness and dependency, the rivalries of two artists living under the same roof, the conflicting demands of two careers, all these batter the relationship. But most damaging is what the affair does to her family. Sand is hailed as an icon of female liberation. In GEORGE AND FREDERIC we see what can be the consequences of that liberation. Her rebellious daughter, Solange, embraces the tenets of feminism as an excuse for wild behavior, eventually causing the final rift between her mother and her mother’s lover. To assert his own creativity in this maelstrom, Maurice, George’s doting and doted-upon son, creates puppets of each member of this explosive ménage, puppets who, throughout the play, comment wryly on all the heated goings-on with humor, irony, and wit. HALLIE: Hallie Flanagan Davis headed the Federal Theater in the 1930s and 40s — until the anti-art element in Congress decided that federal support of what they saw as lazy left-wing artists must end. This play, based on the tumultuous hearings before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, pits artists against philistines and demonstrates that then, as now, politics and art don’t mix. JOSHUA SLOCUM SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD: As he is making preparations to set out on what will become his final sea journey, Joshua Slocum (hounded by an unsympathetic offstage second wife), tells us about his previous Great Adventure when, in 1895, he set out on a three-year journey in his 34-foot sloop the Spray to prove that a man could sail around the world alone. In vivid anecdotes, he shares the tale of his unprecedented 46,000 mile journey, when (years before radio or G P S systems), he sailed through sun and storm, blazing heat and relentless cold, through hunger and delirium, across the world’s great oceans and seas, battled wind and waves to traverse the world’s two great capes, fought pirates and savages, and put into port in some of the wildest, weirdest and most inhospitable lands around the world. Slocum takes us with him on his epic adventure, told with humor and originality through the eyes of a weather-beaten sea salt who, against all expectation, did what no one had ever done before. Based on Slocum’s own account of his epic journey. THE PERFECT MARRIAGE: In this comedy about the nature of marriage, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley battle out their relationship at the gates of Heaven and Hell. Predeceasing Mary by several decades, Shelley can hardly wait for her to come to him in Limbo — but when she does, he is astonished to find that the woman who seemed for all her life to worship him now wants an independent existence. The Archangel/Devil must adjudicate between them and decide whether, in this afterlife, they will enter Heaven or Hell. SARAH IN AMERICA: Sarah Bernhardt made her lasting fame in America. This tour de force for one actress takes Bernhardt from her first American tour, in her thirties, to her last, when, with leg amputated, she toured the country at age seventy-two. Her indomitable spirit, summarized by her motto “Quand Même,” is abundantly displayed as she travels from coast-to-coast experiencing triumphs and tragedies. THE SECOND MRS WILSON: This play depicts the dramatic final year of the Woodrow Wilson White House when, on her husband’s urging, his new second wife, Edith (sometimes criticized as being “America’s First Female President”) hides the gravity of his illness from his Cabinet and the entire country, hoping to keep him in office long enough to achieve his goal: US entry into the League of Nations — in his view the only possible guarantor of future world peace. A pivotal moment in the play is the Woodrow Wilson/Henry Cabot Lodge confrontation over isolationism vs. internationalism — a topic as fraught with conflict then as it is today.

Introductory Essay

NOTABLE WOMEN — AND A FEW EQUALLY NOTABLE MEN opens with a 38-page introductory essay: DRAMATIZING LIVES — THE ART OF WRITING THE BIOGRAPHICAL PLAY

“Life is messy, theater can’t be. I like writing biographical plays because I like giving shape and meaning to the complexities of existence.” —Ruth Wolff