BETTE AND JOAN

by Anton Burge

W.I.T.S.

 

It is always exciting in many different ways to go and see a play for the first time, and with this one, W.I.T.S certainly seem to have got in early.  As you probably know I spend a lot of my time in the evenings, wandering around watching plays and I consider it to be a privilege to be invited to see so many.  This is certainly a first time for me and I think for A.C.T, and it follows that in future seasons companies will be including the play in their programmes.  It is a duologue and requires two actresses of wide experience and considerable technical and artistic ability to deal with the challenges posed by acting these two famous Hollywood actresses, Bette Davies and Joan Crawford.  Recently there was a series dealing with the relationships between Bette and Joan, shown on T.V as they attempted to identify their new roles in life as well as in their declining careers as they were cast together in the film “Whatever happened to Baby Jane?”.

 

   The set showed adjacent dressing rooms as authentic and detailed as it is possible to be.  I looked in vain for anything missing and, in fact, there were items shown and used not expected to be seen in a theatre dressing room, such as a large wheel chair.  The front of the rooms was open to the audience as were the back walls, also open to the audience.  The originality was complete from my point of view because I couldn’t recall seeing anything like it before.  I reckon to have seen most creative inventions in my wanderings but two sides of a round where audience face each other while the story takes place between them showed an exciting creation.   Full marks to the actresses – it must have taken them awhile to talk facing both forwards and backwards so realistically and naturally, that it wasn’t long before I felt that they were talking just to me and that I was in the play with them.  It was just another example of how this company had adjusted this huge hall space to work for them in whatever their production.  How interesting and inspiring of director John Cunningham.

 

The play illustrates and deals with the poisonous relationship that existed between these two great stars of the silver screen in 1962 during the production of the Baby Jane film.  Sarah Kirk played Bette Davies and Sally Griffiths played Joan Crawford.  What these two actresses were like in real life had  been referred to and hinted at many times in the past, but this story goes into intimate details and really lifts the lid on their lives and how they feel about each other.

 

   As you would expect in a two hander, there are masses of dialogue to be learnt.  It comes in the form of the stories from each to the audience; the vitriolic descriptions of how they feel about each other; the odd telephone communication room to room; telephone calls to others e.g. the film director; and the occasional visit to the other dressing room for a specific purpose i.e. Bette to push Joan on to the set in the film in the wheel chair, or Joan to effect some sort of temporary lull in hostilities for the film’s sake.  We are privy to their innermost thoughts; their experiences in life – awe inspiring, despairing, sexual, mutual, life-enhancing, idiosyncratic but never ordinary – intense but never placid.  Our two stars Sarah and Sally had to deal with all these character changes, sometimes within one speech, in a bewildering succession of personal feelings coming from their hearts and souls. I wasn’t aware of  any help needed from the prompt and it was easy to imagine that for tonight the very people themselves had somehow turned up to tell us their stories.

 

To quote from your programme – Joan laces her Pepsi with vodka and signs photographs for her beloved fans to help manage her anxiety, while Bette chain smokes and misses her love life and her ability to pick a decent script, but never a decent man”.  Every move made by Sarah and Sally was purposeful and meaningful; every speech hit the desired spot whether addressed to each other or a mythical audience (us) and carried with it history or blame, rancour, bitterness, sarcasm, reproach, envy or even a grudging respect. To sustain and portray characters like this with the characteristics inherent in them, for a couple of hours, in such a multi-layered way requires experience and technical acting ability at the highest level.  It also demands belief, heart and deep feeling, plus a love of acting which is the basis for all we do in this pastime of ours.  We were privileged to-night to witness it all from Sarah and Sally in their remarkable and quite memorable performances.

 

   Of course, they didn’t do it on their own.  Direction was in the hands of John Cunningham, who master minded the whole project.  There is a refreshing originality about all John’s work, and the team spirit he created with this one, reflected so well with all involved in any way.  He drew from his cast performances of dramatic intensity, and who, with them and through them, told a story of many strands and issues, and wove them all into a memorable dramatic experience.  It was a production of which W.I.T.S can be proud - all of you – remember “we are such stuff as dreams are made on”.

 

Happy play making. Thank you for your warm welcome and hospitality.