|
The Early Diaries
By Simon Gray
Faber and Faber £14.99
471 pages
Dateline: 29th August, 2010
Faber and Faber have taken the opportunity to reissue in a single volume
An Unnatural Pursuit and How's That for Telling 'Em Fat Lady?
Together, the books cover productions of one of Simon Gray's most popular
plays, The Common Pursuit, on its initial outing in London and
then in two different American cities.
In addition to detailing the trials and tribulations of a playwright
and sometime director seeing his baby birthed and rebirthed with troublesome
midwives, the diaries paint a picture of a man whose lifestyle now seems
positively archaic.
Goodness knows where the money comes from but Gray takes taxis when
he's not in limousines, travels first class on planes, drinks champagne
as if it were going out of fashion supplemented by wine, whisky and
anything else imaginable and alcoholic, in addition to chain-smoking,
although he was ineffectually trying to give up the last of these vices.
Considering that the production in Los Angeles was in such a small theatre
that the actors and director were not getting paid, this all seems a
little strange.
The first volume of the journal, which commences in November 1983,
details the trials and tribulations of putting on a play without any
star names. The current problems that producers face in having to recruit
film and TV legends to sell new plays were already apparent 27 years
ago.
Therefore, Gray first of all struggled to find a producer and then,
after a successful run at the Lyric in Hammersmith, could not achieve
a West End transfer for a well-regarded play.
Even without the star names, casting was a nightmare and this is an
issue that few theatregoers will even consider. Simon Gray is clearly
something of a perfectionist and had his own view of the kind of actors
that would make his characters come to life on stage. Sadly, during
the auditioning process, very few appear who could fit the bill. The
good news was that his close friend Harold Pinter was willing and able
to direct.
Having eventually got to first base, the Journal takes us through rehearsals
right up to and beyond the opening night for a play that eventually
clearly gave pleasure without quite succeeding as it should have. What
would have been a relatively light volume is then bulked out with a
number of esoteric pieces of writing that do not on the face of it appear
to have anything whatever to do with the main topic.
Having succeeded and failed in London, the play opened at the Long
Wharf Theatre in New Haven but once again could not transfer from there.
We then re-join the story two years later as Gray flies out to Los
Angeles for a tempestuous few weeks as his play is revived in a 99 seat
theatre, though it causes as many traumas as the largest of commercial
productions.
Finally, the frustrated playwright gets The Common Pursuit to
New York, albeit off-Broadway, when it finally opens to significant
acclaim leaving this double dose of Gray diaries with a happy ending.
These two books together provide a fascinating insight into the mind
of a playwright and director, showing the concerns, both significant
and remarkably petty, that can derail a production. For most readers,
it will be hard to see any future production of a Simon Gray play (or
perhaps any others) in quite the same light as before reading them.
Philip Fisher
Articles from 2010
Articles from 2009
Articles from 2008
Articles from 2007
Articles from 2006
Articles from 2005
Articles from 2004
Articles from 2003
Articles from 2002
Articles from 2001
Articles from 2000
Articles from 1999
Articles from 1998
Articles from 1997
|
