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Question of Memory
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Letter from Katherine to Edith
There is no place on earth where I am externally so happy as in a theatre, and there is no excitement possible to me like the excitement of the unlidding of the stage’s eye.
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Edith Cooper diary entry, 1893
This afternoon I dare not go to the theatre — I have such a chill. It is difficult to stay away, I so love rehearsal. It is wonderful to see one’s words growing pictures, movements, persons.
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Edith Cooper diary entry, October 27th 1893
I must go back to Wednesday’s Dress Rehearsal - all went smoothly, except that the battery, the director insisted on using, refused to work at the right moment, and Ferencz’s speech antedated the muskets Also the curtain came down too slowly in Act III.Mrs Morris (very charming) said she would have given her eyes to write such a play and declared Act IV simply inevitable.
De Lange was a trial - his temper and his tongue and brow. After the show was over he actually said across the stalls “It went very well indeed, considering one of the actors did all he was told not to do and nothing he was told to do” I saw what he was aiming at - he does not think Bond will be a success and publicly and ungenerously wishes to clear himself of the responsibility. The insult stuck, but Bond was very quiet in his anger. I said “I understand what you suffer. I am a poet” and we cordially shook hands. He will yet do well.
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5 o’clock. The gas lamps are lighted - the sun is setting…
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