{"id":1399,"date":"2016-12-28T17:54:26","date_gmt":"2016-12-28T17:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/?p=1399"},"modified":"2016-12-28T17:55:26","modified_gmt":"2016-12-28T17:55:26","slug":"12-plays-of-xmas-2-birth-by-tw-robertson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/2016\/12\/12-plays-of-xmas-2-birth-by-tw-robertson.html","title":{"rendered":"12 Plays of Xmas: 2 Birth by TW Robertson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"img_20161228_165516532\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What does reality look like on stage? I\u2019ll tell you what it doesn\u2019t usually look like: a play that sets the finale in ivy-covered ruins on an aristocratic estate. Or a plot of exemplary neatness in which two pairs of brothers and sisters each fall in love with their opposite (heterosexual) number and temporarily repair the rents in the Victorian class system.<\/p>\n

I chose one of TW Robertson\u2019s Victorian comedies for the 12 Plays of Xmas<\/a> series because they are often cited in theatre history even if rarer than a manticore on the modern stage. You are most likely to encounter Robertson today in his fictionalised guise of Tom Wrench, the aspiring playwright in Pinero\u2019s Trelawny of the \u2018Wells\u2019<\/em>. Wrench is exasperated by the antiquated and artificial repertory: \u2018I strive to make my people talk and behave like live people, don’t I,\u2019 he says. \u2018To fashion heroes out of actual, dull, everyday men \u2013 the sort of men you see smoking cheroots in the club windows in St James’s Street; and heroines from simple maidens in muslin frocks.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Daniiel<\/a>

Daniiel Kaluuya as the Robertson-like playwright in Trelawny of the ‘Wells’. Photo: Johan Persson<\/p><\/div>\n

Birth<\/em> (1870) is certainly on nodding terms with its society. It pits aristocrat against industrialist \u2013 the youthful Earl of Eagleclyffe\u2019s failing estate has been bought by the Hewitt family, who have established a works on the land and are about to seal the social change by buying the Eagleclyffes\u2019 castle itself. Sarah Hewitt is as active in the successful family business as her brother, and unusually mechanically-minded for a stage heroine. She and the earl don\u2019t flirt, exactly, but there is a frisson as she takes him through the workings of a new gun (\u2018Do you understand the theory of percussive power?\u2019), boggling him by her familiarity with cartridge, barrel and ramrod.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, she\u2019s also retrograde-catty about the earl\u2019s pretty sister, and squeezed into the double marriage plot in which aristocratic alliance somehow forgives the Hewitts for their economic success. The middle-class entrepreneur may be excused \u2013 the labouring classes are beyond the pale, a booze-driven thuggery always on the verge of becoming a lynch mob until quietened by an invitation to raid the earl\u2019s cellar. If Birth<\/em> registers some of its society\u2019s currents, it refuses to extend sympathies toward others.<\/p>\n

Birth<\/em> was more interesting to read than, I suspect, it might be to see staged. If Robertson\u2019s plays once had a tang of the new, now they also seem musty and acrid. Nicely, though, the comedy does include a would-be playwright who wants to reflect reality. Jack Randall is an odd outsider \u2013 the earl\u2019s schoolfriend, Paul\u2019s best chum, confiding with the ladies and hamming it up for the mob. He spends much of the play lurking beside the burgeoning romances and misunderstandings, scribbling down ideas in shorthand for his own comedy (or, possibly, tragedy, he isn\u2019t sure). \u2018I mean to write raw,\u2019 he says, \u2018from the life.\u2019<\/p>\n

Robertson\u2019s raw isn\u2019t quite ours. And ours, I suppose, may not seem real soon enough.<\/p>\n

Sample stage direction<\/strong> \u2018The double doors open and disclose Paul, and Lady Adeliza in a riding habit. Paul is without his hat, and is supporting her\u2026 Picture. Music piano till end of Act.’<\/em>
\nSample quote<\/strong> Sarah: \u2018The ramrod is abolished, which is a capital thing, because the ramrod is liable to break.\u2019<\/p>\n

12 Plays of Xmas<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0I have, surprise, a lot of books. And I have, surprise, not read them all. As old year ticks into new, I thought I\u2019d spend a couple of weeks reading an unfamiliar play each day. Twelve plays, 12 posts: welcome to 12 Plays of Xmas.
\nOwners by Caryl Churchill<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow David on Twitter: @mrdavidjays<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What does reality look like on stage? I\u2019ll tell you what it doesn\u2019t usually look like: a play that sets the finale in ivy-covered ruins on an aristocratic estate. Or a plot of exemplary neatness in which two pairs of brothers and sisters each fall in love with their opposite (heterosexual) number and temporarily repair […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[402,34],"class_list":{"0":"post-1399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-12-plays-of-xmas","9":"tag-theatre","10":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1399"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1402,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399\/revisions\/1402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}