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Gielgud's Letters
By John Gielgud, edited by Richard Mangan
564 pages
£20
Weidenfeld and Nicholson
Dateline: 28th March, 2004
John Gielgud survived for many years on the income that he derived
from a solo show based on Shakespeare's writings called The Ages
of Man. This selection of 800 letters covering 87 years could easily
have been given the same title.
The book is a wonderfully opinionated history of Twentieth Century
theatre in Britain, America and to an extent elsewhere. Along with Laurence
Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Peggy Ashcroft, Gielgud was the pre-eminent
actor of his day. In that he was a member of the Terry family on his
mother's side, he was also steeped in the theatre from childhood.
The letters are particularly interesting as he covers such a long period
from Ellen Terry, Gordon Craig and Harley Granville Barker at one end
through to Dudley Moore and Jane Birkin, Peter Brook and Peter Hall
at the other.
They could be divided into three different "Ages". For the
first fifty or so years of his life, his most regular correspondent
was his beloved mother. During this period, his prime focus was on theatre
and he worked tirelessly as both an actor and director.
In fact, he did get tired and drove himself so hard that aged 26, playing
his first Hamlet, he got to the point where he had to take an enforced
break. "I honestly do not feel that I could anyhow have gone on
doing justice to the part for eight shows a week and it is hateful to
have to save oneself and not go 'all out' for fear of being too tired".
Gielgud was of fighting age when the Second World War broke out but
physically he was not up to it. He continued to work in the theatre,
cheering up troops and civilians alike in the U.K. and with ENSA on
gruelling tours. His letters suggest that, for him, the war was rarely
more than a minor irritant that occasionally evacuated the theatres
where he was playing.
Thereafter, he became a transatlantic superstar along with many other
Brits and had numerous American friends. He succeeded on both sides
with many plays including Much Ado About Nothing and The Importance
of Being Earnest, following Hamlet's great success before
the war. He set the record for performances as Hamlet in New York, later
broken by Richard Burton in a production directed by Gielgud.
He also introduced Christopher Fry's The Lady's Not For Burning
to the stage in both London and New York. Clearly, just after the war
members of American Equity were far more accommodating of their British
brethren than tends to be the case today. The reverse also applied.
By 1953, Gielgud had become more overt in his sex life and in that
his tastes, exclusively male, were illegal, disaster was almost inevitable.
It is both distressing and heartening to read about the scandal that
followed his arrest for importuning and the support that he received
from friends.
There is some irony in this scandal as he loved the prurient and as
he said in a letter to Cecil Beaton "Nobody writes me any gossip,
and you know it's the only thing I really enjoy".
This period heralded a change in the nature of his letters as they
enter a sexually hungry phase with his friend Paul Anstee becoming prime
recipient. Gielgud entered milieus in London and eventually New York
where his tastes could be accommodated and as a result, the letters
became risqué. His friendships with so many young men are described
in some detail and house parties with friends such as Noel Coward must
have been a riot.
His life did cause him much heartache, both with the arrest in England
and an effective ban from the United States. Even when he returned there
in triumph, the problems did not end as he was blackmailed for some
minor indiscretions.
Despite a tendency towards promiscuousness, Gielgud generally had one
or two special lovers such as Anstee and George Pitcher to whom he sent
tender, if sometimes apologetic letters for life.
Throughout, his middle career he continued with The Ages of Man
visiting every continent and playing to houses of up to 5,000 that helped
pay the bills, even though "I always detested touring".
The third phase of Gielgud's life is as an éminence grise
of the theatre. This was fitting for a man loved by many, though his
relationships with Donald Wolfit in the early days and Olivier (who
was jealous of his friendship with Vivien Leigh) could be strained.
In this period, actress Irene Worth and writer Hugh Wheeler take over
as sounding boards for ideas, comment on shows and gossip.
Despite initial reluctance, Gielgud eventually embraced film and screen
roles and continued working into his nineties. He seems to have made
it into almost every major British film and TV series over a vast period
from Olivier's Richard III to the TV adaptations of Brideshead
Revisited and A Dance to the Music of Time. He also acted
in several Hollywood features.
His last great collaboration with Peter Greenaway, Prospero's Books,
demonstrates an ability to empathise with new ideas, that never left
him.
It is sad that even in his seventies, he was still struggling financially
and had to be saved by wine adverts that he described as "exhausting
and somewhat humiliating" and that he banned from Britain. They,
with Margaret Thatcher's reduction of the income tax rate from 83% to
60%, guaranteed a comfortable old age in the country with his animal-loving
companion Martin Hensler.
This is a book for those who like to read oblique, sometimes acidic
comments about big names and to learn about a great. On the stage-acting
front, Gielgud worked with every almost acting star as well as so many
great directors.
Richard Mangan has done a fine job in editing and annotating over 500
pages of letters that make up a fascinating view of a great man's life.
He spent four years on this labour of love and can be congratulated
on a very worthwhile result that will please any theatre lover.
As a bonus, Gielgud's Letters is also reasonably priced, considering
the many hours of pleasure that it will give to those who read it from
cover to cover.
Philip Fisher
You
can buy Gielgud's Letters from our Bookshop for £17.50
Articles Indices:
Articles from 2004
Articles from 2003
Articles from 2002
Articles from 2001
Articles from 2000
Articles from 1999
Articles from 1998
Articles from 1997
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