Lizzie steps out on stage

In which our Diva is only a little jealous that it's someone else's Lizzie, and is happy to cheer from the sidelines

It's been a couple months since a Tweet popped up in my timeline that made my heart skip a beat, announcing "Lizzie Siddal, a new play." I don't even recall now who I saw post it first, though it was likely the lovely Stephanie Pina, who has given us both LizzieSiddal.com and The Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. But in any case, there it was in all its official glory on the Arcola Theatre website, complete with promo photo of its Lizzie, Emma West, in front of Ophelia with flowers scattered in her hair.

Damn, I couldn't help thinking in those first moments, somebody beat me to it. The irrational impulse of "Hey, that story is mine!" is of course completely ridiculous, but I'm as human and vain as the next creative person, so I'll admit I had to work through it for a minute there. I'll also admit to being greatly relieved when it became clear that, while Emma West was the only cast member announced right away, Jeremy Green has in fact written an entire play with other people in it, quite different territory from my solo piece in (slow-but-progressing) progress.

Even if it hadn't been, of course, in the end excitement about Lizzie's story being explored on stage had to triumph, and I very much wish I could be there. It's funny -- when I first had the idea for Unvarnished, over a decade ago now, when I first started getting mental images of stage pictures that have proven so challenging to build into words, the Pre-Raphaelite circle and their art were still just being rediscovered by the public -- especially here in the U.S. -- after decades out of favor.

These days, any given person with even a passing interest in 19th-century art is much more likely to know who I'm even talking about, let alone the lore of Ophelia's bathtub and that late-night exhumation. The images and stories have made their way back into pop culture, aided by an Internet that bears only the slightest resemblance to the nascent wilderness it was back when I happened upon a review of a one-woman show about Lizzie by Orange, a French multimedia artist who had worked with Cirque du Soleil (and whose somewhat generic pseudonym makes it impossible to find any hits for her on today's Google, if any still exist).  I was just starting my research then -- with Lucinda Hawksley's marvelous biography and so many other resources still in the offing -- and happened on an email address for Orange, resulting in a very kind reply that I wish I could still find, wishing me well in finding "your Elizabeth." I've carried that thought with me ever since.

I've not read or seen Kim Morrissey's Clever as Paint, but I've known it was out there for a while, and apparently there's also one from around 1999 called Dear Dove Divine. Still, it's thrilling to see a new play put Lizzie at the center of her own story, and to see it getting such great coverage, including this BBC News piece and Dinah Roe's interview with playwright Jeremy Green over at her great blog Pre-Raphaelites in the City. There's also this nice audio interview with Emma West from East London Radio.

April Love by Arthur Hughes

All this has also prompted a thoughtful blog post from Kirsty Stonell Walker over at her always-worth-reading The Kissed Mouth, about the ways in which the story is so often reduced to a few tragic episodes. It also puts me in mind, by way of contrast, of a couple conversations I've had recently regarding how little there is to read about Tryphena Foord. My conclusion that "that's what a long and happily married life will get you" might be facetiously phrased, but I stand by its essential accuracy. "Arthur Hughes married his muse and they lived happily ever after" is pretty much all we get.

After reading Kirsty's post, I feel a bit guilty always referring to Lizzie by her nickname, but I can't shake the familiarity. Anyway, guilt hasn't made me write Unvarnished any faster (as I've said before, I'm a busy actor and an unreliable writer), and in fact was pretty much what kept me paralyzed for a long time, for fear of what all these people I like and respect might make of my interpretation of events!

I've mostly managed to shed that, as about 75 handwritten pages of draft can attest, so now all that's left is periodic fretting about whether I'll still be believable on stage by the time the thing is ready to perform. *wry g* I don't have Emma West's uncanny resemblance to begin with (though I have had my share of unprompted comments over the years to the tune of "Hey, have you ever seen that Ophelia painting...?"), and I won't be carded beyond my time forever. (Though a hardware store clerk did ask for my birthdate before ringing up a can of spray paint last week, so I'm probably okay for a little while longer.) It will be what it will be; all I can do is forge on and hope people find it a story worth telling.

In the meantime, if they're in London starting next week (as I so very much wish I could be!) they can take in the story told by Jeremy Green, director Lotte Wakeham (of Matilda the musical fame), and a bright young cast who have been lighting up Twitter with their enthusiasm during rehearsals. It's been fascinating learning about the development of the project, and the collaboration of playwright and actress through a short film about the painting of Ophelia and on to this full-length play. I hope it's a great success, and look forward to reports from those able to attend!

Emma West and Tom Bateman  in rehearsal as Lizzie and Gabriel

Lizzie Siddal runs November 20 - December 21, 2013, at the Arcola Theatre in London. Click here for details and ticket info, and/or follow the production on Twitter.

The ghosts of Lizzies past

In which our Diva considers those who have walked a particular path ahead of her, on the occasion of meeting one of them

Okay, they're all alive, so "ghost" is rather a misnomer, but as Unvarnished continues to take shape (in longhand, making this Tumblr post a relevantly giggle-worthy observation), I can hardly help being a little haunted by them!

The one I saw first and know best is also the most recent: Amy Manson in Desperate Romantics. However fast and loose the series played with history, I loved its complicated and ambitious Lizzie, and Manson's performance made me an instant fan. I'm delighted to see her career growing, and wish I could have seen her well-reviewed turn as Nora in A Doll's House at the National Theatre of Scotland this past spring.

(Maybe someday we'll get something that gives the women of the Pre-Raphaelite circle the rounded portrayals they deserve without being quite so thoroughly ahistorical. A girl can dream.)

Mind you, the 2009 series' flights of fancy are nothing next to Ken Russell's take on the same events a generation earlier! His 1967 Dante's Inferno is unapologetically theatrical, veering at times into psychedelia (yes, you can do that in black & white, at least if you're Ken Russell) and at others into music-hall or panto (what even is going on with Annie Miller?). In that context, the paradoxical mix of strength and fragility in Judith Paris' ballerina presence serves Lizzie well, if the film's narrative doesn't always.

In a 2011 interview, Paris recalled that Russell cast her based entirely on her physical resemblance to Lizzie. "I saw Millais’s 'Ophelia' in the Tate and thought, 'That’s me!' It wasn’t about talent; Ken didn’t care if I could act or not. I did a screen test and I told him, 'I’ve never acted  apart from at school and a few lines in musicals and I don’t have any training.' He said, 'I don’t care. I’ll make your performance in the editing room!' I was thrown from being a dancer to playing opposite Oliver Reed on the BBC, which was one giant step for mankind!" I particularly cock my head at this apparent keenness to match Lizzie's physical appearance, when his Gabriel was Oliver Reed. (Actually, the fact that the same historical person has been played by Oliver Reed, Ben Kingsley, and Aidan Turner, all of whom work quite well for various reasons, makes me go full quizzical-puppy.)

Until recently, I had known her only from a favorite classic Doctor Who story (that's her under Eldrad's pretty blue scales in "The Hand of Fear"), but she's had a distinguished theatre career, and I've been particularly delighted to learn that she has written and performed several one-woman shows about historical figures over the years -- just as I'm trying to do with Lizzie!

Between these two, in 1975, came the most elusive dramatization (like the other two, from Auntie Beeb), the six-part The Love School. To this day, I (like the rest of the online Pre-Raphaelite community) have seen less than seven tantalizing minutes:



Yes, that Patricia Quinn, the one who created the role of Magenta in a certain "science fiction double feature" that was immortalized on film the same year.

Which is how I came to meet her this afternoon, at the Flashback Weekend horror convention. I couldn't make it to the Rocky Horror Picture Show screening she hosted last night, but I made it over there today, and found a surprisingly short line at her autograph table. I had no idea if this was a role she had any particular fond recollections of, but when I opened my Lizzie journal to a page for her to sign and explained what it was, she lit up and chatted about it for a good ten or twelve minutes!

"I have it," she told me with a conspiratorial grin. "I have the whole thing." Apparently a friend who worked in the production office managed to get hold of it for her some years ago, a minor miracle for anything made in the days when the BBC routinely aired shows once and then tucked them away to (as any Doctor Who fan who knows about the legendary "lost episodes" can tell you) vanish into the storage abyss or even be taped over.

But The Love School is safe and sound in its Lizzie's home -- something that impressed even its director, who had never been able to get his hands on it! -- and apparently she got around not too long ago to watching the full series, instead of stopping after Lizzie died. After all these years, she's downright gushing about how marvelous a production it is, with particular notice of its William Morris.

My favorite bit of the conversation was the anecdote about the day she, Richard O'Brien, and another RHPS castmate (she mentioned first names, but I don't remember the second one) did some sort of Q&A session at the Oxford Union. On the way over, she happened on Ben Kingsley -- her Rossetti -- in the street, and chatted briefly with him. Then, at the event, she looked up at the murals painted in that infamous adventure of the late 1850s (Dear Gabriel: When working in an unfamiliar technique, research is your friend!), "and I thought, 'That's me!'" Apparently there was a sequence in the series where "we were all in there painting away" that I, for one, would give minor body parts to see!

Mind you, that was the point where I made the dubious step of mentioning Desperate Romantics (in the context of my disappointment at its eliding that whole process -- which could probably easily make a feature film in itself -- into Gabriel painting a single church panel alone), of which she is... not fond. And not shy about saying so. Partly because of its inaccuracies, but also, I think, a bit because "I was asked in for it, you know. They had me read for Ruskin's mother. And I said, 'Ruskin's mother??'" I cannot capture the indignation of that in text, but I'm sure you can imagine!

All in all, she is a thoroughly delightful lady, and I heartily recommend meeting her if you have the opportunity.

And now I have someone else I need to finish writing Unvarnished for, because she said she'd like to hear about it when it's finished. Best get back to work, then...

Of ballet, blades, and bloodthirsty walking dead

In which our Diva has busy and talented friends

Once again, I find myself with several friends' shows I really want to see nearing the end of their runs. Gotta figure out how to slide them in around auditions, singing, and other friends' weddings...

n.u.f.a.n. ensemble's world premiere of Caliban, Dancing reunites Mary Czerwinski and Adam Krause (our Mina and Jonathan in GreenMan's Dracula) in a story of relationships woven around two of my favorite things, ballet (Giselle, even, my all-time favorite!) and Shakespeare. I didn't even realize until just now that it's directed by Jim Heatherly, whom I'll love forever for seeing Jekyll & Hyde the same way I do, and undoing some of the tweaks that should never have happened between out-of-town and Broadway. And, just for the home run, it's running at Chicago Actors Studio, where I train when I can commit to the consecutive weeks of a session.

Caliban, Dancing runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 3 pm, through May 24.

It's not exaggerating to say that Babes With Blades are one of the reasons I moved to Chicago, and working with them in Horror Academy was every bit a dream come true. The stars weren't aligned for a repeat with their current all-female production of Macbeth, but I'm determined to be there in the audience. The Babes are deservedly getting ever-increasing notice for bringing the dramatic goods, and still delivering the action that made their reputation. This show also sees them in partnership with The Viola Project, a fantastic workshop program building girls into powerful women through the vehicle of Shakespeare. (Of which one of the cofounders is a dear friend of an old friend from Columbus. I love this town!)

Macbeth runs Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 3 pm, through May 30.

Last but far from least, WildClaw Theatre is getting raves all over the place for their Midwest premiere of The Revenants. Their tagline, "A relationship drama -- with zombies" pretty much says it all. Aaron Christensen (or, as he's known in Chicago horror-fan circles, Dr. AC) served as fight choreographer on this one, and he and his WildClaw colleagues are at the forefront of what seems to be a burgeoning horror theatre scene. It's smart stuff (last fall's stage adaptation of Lovecraft's The Dreams in the Witch House was not to be missed), and if the momentum keeps up, it'll be right up there in visibility with the physical theatre that's exploded in the last few years (at companies like the House and Lookingglass). Chicago has great improv, but there's a LOT of other stuff going on here! Did I mention that I love this town?

The Revenants runs Thursdays - Saturday at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 3 pm, through May 24.

And another horror classic heard from...

In which our Diva continues to approve of Chicago theatre getting into the Halloween spirit nice and early

Just got an email on this one... Chicago peeps? If I can figure it out around Dracula and opera schedules, this one might have to be a group outing. What say you?

Will Act For Food is frighteningly pleased to announce our upcoming
fall production, Clive Barker's Frankenstein in Love.

Just in time for the Halloween season, Will Act For Food is thrilled and, yes, a little terrified to be bringing this play to Chicago.

Revolution and chaos.
Monsters and mutants.
Good and evil.
Life and death.
Blood and guts.

A heart-wrenching love story.
Literally.

Want the gory details?

Frankenstein in Love by Clive Barker
A Will Act For Food production
Directed by Gregory Gerhard
At Chemically Imbalanced Theater, 1420 W. Irving Park
September 25- November 1
Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30PM
$18 general admission
$15 with nonperishable food donation (you won't have much of an appetite
anyway)
$10 Students/Seniors

For reservations, please call 773-327-9725 or visit http://www.willactforfood.com/
All food raised will benefit Lakeview Pantry, Will Act For Food's partner in community service.

Don't be scared. Come see us.

Dracula Does Chicagoland (now in at least four flavors!)

In which our Diva flies her fang-geek flag

Not that they don't spring up like mushrooms this time every year, but (a) the variety of adaptations on the local theatre scene this year seems unusual, though that may be simply because (b) I have connections to three out of the four I know about.

• The Building Stage (9/18 - 10/18) opens first, and is also the only one to which I have no connection. Original adaptation. I'm always skeptical of the Drac-as-misunderstood-hero angle, but the multimedia approach sounds promising. I've been curious about it since I saw the audition notice a couple months back -- this seems to be another group joining the burgeoning physicality-heavy theatre scene, which has been rapidly gaining traction with the success of companies like the House and Lookingglass. I've been watching the trend with no little interest, and it would not displease me in the least to see it become as identified with Chicago as improv is.
  
• Theatre-Hikes (9/27 - 10/26) is where I did Shrew this summer. It's TheGodawfulHamiltonDeanePlay, but I have faith in Frank's ability to make something watchable out of it, and actually suspect that the hike format will ameliorate some of my structural gripes with that script. Also, there is no such thing as a bad reason to spend a couple hours in the amazingly gorgeous Morton Arboretum.
  
• First Folio Shakespeare Festival (10/1 - 11/2) has opted for The Passion of Dracula, a tongue-in-cheek take that premiered in the late 70s. I've read it once, years ago, but never seen it produced. Tricky script -- either too much camp or too much seriousness will smash it flat. I haven't actually seen anything Alison Vesely has directed, but I've heard good things about how she handles Shakespeare comedy, which implies she knows how to trust the text. So it should be fun. Plus their Mina is a friend of mine from a couple past shows, and they're about ten minutes from Office of Doom (in the opposite direction from the next one on the list).
  
• Last but of course not least, GreenMan Theatre (10/17 - 11/2) takes on Steven Dietz's 1995 adaptation, which I like more every time I read it. And you'll all be sick of hearing about my Fun With Trying To Eat Jonathan Harker soon enough, so I'll leave it there. *g*