14 - 20 February 2002
Issue No.573
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 14 - 20 February 2002 Issue No.573 |
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She walks in beauty
Lettice may be one of life's failures, but what a failure. Nehad Selaiha finds inspiration in Peter Shaffer's Lettice and Lovage, recently performed at Al Hanager
The original stage version of Peter Shaffer's Lettice and Lovage, presented at the Theatre Royal Bath then at the Globe Theatre in 1987, ends with the two heroines -- the wildly romantic, whimsical and overflowing, but poignantly vulnerable Lettice Douffet, and the practical, superficially cold and austere, but intensely passionate Lotte Schoen -- conspiring to blow up all the buildings they dislike with a medieval weapon. In the printed version, however, this fantastic ending which, though it caused a lot of mirth in performance, dismissed the play "into improbability" -- as Shaffer himself puts it -- was altered. Instead, the two ladies -- one with experience in the theatre which qualified her as the "most dramatic guide" to historical buildings ever, and the other with long architectural experience and many connections in the tour and travel agencies business -- decide to quit working for the British Preservation Trust or any other company and set up their own firm.
Their original E N D (Eyesore Negation Detachment) Tours Ltd they decide, will be "dedicated to showing people the 50 ugliest new buildings in London," as Lotte says. As she guides her clients round the chosen architectural horrors and monstrosities, Miss Douffet, on the other hand, will deliver her "Devastating Denunciation of Modern Design" and "show how beauty has been murdered -- and by whom. Exactly which architects, builders, engineers and city planners." This new ending seemed to Shaffer "both correct and pleasing," and "in our lunatic world, entirely credible." Shaffer winds up his preface to the printed text with a hope "to see a variant of E N D Tours Ltd advertised in The Sunday Times any day now."
But since 1988, when those words were written, no such variant has materialised in London or any other metropolis. But who knows? May be we shall soon see one in Cairo; with so many disgusting buildings sprouting up every minute and so many disgruntled people it could prove an extremely lucrative business. The irony is that the business sharks who have unconscionably defiled the face of this once beautiful city will most probably be the ones running any such company and licking their lips at the prospect of making yet more money out of their architectural crimes.
Infected with a similar indignation at the criminal architectural obscenities surrounding him and the unbridled devastation of beauty on a daily basis, particularly in the 1970's, Shawqi Fahim rendered Shaffer's play into Arabic the year it was published by way of protest and relief. (He had already given us a beautiful translation of Shaffer's Equus a few years earlier). Curiously, however, no producer or director realised at the time its urgent topical interest or deemed it relevant in any political way to our everyday Egyptian reality. Defending the beauty of one's own city was not considered an important enough issue; the many references to British history in the text, it was thought, would alienate and puzzle the audience, and its brand of humour, subtle, witty, polished and elegant, was regarded as too tame. What is more, there was no love story, no romantic interest, and to make matters worse, both heroines were middle aged.
It was not until last month that this lucid, accurate, intelligent and highly actable translation found its way to the Egyptian stage, and, as is usual in such cases, the venue was the adventurous Al-Hanager. The production was neat and lively, with veteran actress Nagat Ali as Lotte, the youthful, bubbling Hanan Soliman as Lettice, and the exuberant Maher Selim as Mr Bardolph, the lawyer. Director Emil Shawqi, however, cut the play rather severely, which is a great pity. Yet, no amount of cutting could reduce the thrilling suspense of the sudden twist in the plot at the beginning of Act 3, or substantially reduce the charm and magic of Shaffer's two heroines, particularly Lettice. She is one of the most loveable characters ever encountered in drama. Her fervent passion for theatre, for dressing up reality, including history and herself, in imaginary fabrications to make it more beautiful than it really is, her willingness to let fantasy flood in where fact leaves a vacuum, her pathetic but valiant clinging to an elegant way of life fast fading, and her ardent and obstinate belief that one's aim in life should be to "Enlarge! Enliven! Enlighten!" (the three E's, as her mother, an actress who toured the French countryside with her all-female company, acting Shakespeare's histories in her own French translations and winning the applause of French peasants with her performances of Richard III and Falstaff, called them) have completely enthralled me ever since I met her on the page.
Defenceless, ineffectual and haywire as she may seem -- one of the failures of this world -- for me, she has become a lovely, invigorating presence, a source of courage and inspiration. Invoking the spirit of both Shakespeare and Dickens, a combination as heady as her "Quaff" (the Elizabethan brew she has unearthed which acts like a love potion on the ossified Lotte, liberating and humanising her, and releasing her hidden energies), she is simply unforgettable.
In taking on Lettice, Hanan Soliman faced a tremendous challenge; but despite her youth, she managed to capture and transmit something of the character's magic and riveting charm. She was of course lucky to have an experienced actress like Nagat Ali beside her. And though the difference in age between the two actresses invested the relationship with a shade of motherly affection, the sense of warm friendship between two women was strongly present and burst to the surface with exhilarating hilarity in Act 2, under the influence of Lettice's inimitable 'Quaff'. And if you want to try it, watch the play, or read the recipe in the printed text. You will never regret it
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