''A Phoenix Too Frequent'' is a one-act stage comedy in
blank verse
Blank verse is poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century", and P ...
by
Christopher Fry
Christopher Fry (18 December 1907 – 30 June 2005) was an English poet and playwright. He is best known for his verse dramas, especially ''The Lady's Not for Burning'', which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s.
Biograph ...
, originally produced at the
Mercury Theatre
The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman. The company produced theatrical presentations, radio programs and motion pictures. The Mercury also ...
, London in 1946. It has been adapted for television numerous times, in Britain and other countries, but has been less frequently revived in the theatre.
The play depicts a grieving widow in Ancient Greece gradually finding the attractions of a young soldier outweighing her determination to join her husband in the underworld.
Background and first production
The
Mercury Theatre
The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman. The company produced theatrical presentations, radio programs and motion pictures. The Mercury also ...
, in
Notting Hill Gate
Notting Hill Gate is one of the main thoroughfares of Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically the street was a location for toll gates, from which it derives its modern name.
Location
At Ossington Street/Ke ...
, London, was opened by
Ashley Dukes
Ashley Dukes (29 May 1885 – 4 May 1959) was an English playwright/dramatist, critic, theatre manager.
Biography Personal life
Ashley Dukes was born one of five children in 1885. He was the son of the Congregationalist clergyman, Rev. Edwin J ...
in 1933. Part of its brief was to present new, experimental drama, and before the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
plays by
T. S. Eliot,
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...
,
Christopher Isherwood
Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an Anglo-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist. His best-known works include '' Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), a semi-autobiographical ...
and others were presented there. After the war the Mercury continued to present new plays. In April 1946 the theatre staged a double bill, comprising the first British performance of ''
The Resurrection
Resurrection refers to the coming back to life of the dead.
Resurrection or The Resurrection may also refer to:
Supernatural
* Resurrection of Jesus
* Universal resurrection, often referred to by the term of art "resurrection of the dead", the ...
'' by
W. B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
and the world premiere of Fry's ''A Phoenix Too Frequent''.
["The Mercury: Plays by Poets", ''The Stage'', 2 May 1946, p. 7] Both works have small casts: four performers in the first and three in the second.
[
Fry took as his inspiration ]Jeremy Taylor
Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667) was a cleric in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He is sometimes known as the "Shakespeare of Divines" for his poetic style of expression, and he is fr ...
's retelling of a tale from Petronius
Gaius Petronius Arbiter["Gaius Petronius Arbiter"]
Robert Burton
Robert Burton (8 February 1577 – 25 January 1640) was an English author and fellow of Oxford University, who wrote the encyclopedic tome ''The Anatomy of Melancholy''.
Born in 1577 to a comfortably well-off family of the landed gentry, Burt ...
's translation of lines from an epigram of Martial
Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...
, lamenting his lost love, in comparison with whom "a peacock's undecent, a squirrel's harsh, a phoenix too frequent".
Original cast
*Dynamene – Hermione Hannen
Hermione Hannen (26 January 1913 – 1 October 1983) was an English theatre and film actress. She was born in London, the daughter of Nicholas "Beau" Hannen, who was also an actor on the stage and in film.
Biography
Hermione Hannen was born on ...
*Doto – Eleanor Summerfield
Eleanor Audrey Summerfield (7 March 1921 – 13 July 2001) was an English actress who appeared in many plays, films and television series. She is known for her roles in ''Laughter in Paradise'' (1951), ''Final Appointment'' (1954), ''Odongo'' (1 ...
*Tegeus – Alan Wheatley
Alan Wheatley (19 April 1907 – 30 August 1991) was an English actor. He was a well known stage actor in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, appeared in forty films between 1931 and 1965 and was a frequent broadcaster on radio from the 1930s to the ...
The play was directed by E. Martin Browne.[
]
Plot
The scene is the tomb of the recently-dead Virilius, near Ephesus
Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...
.[Fry, unnumbered introductory page] Dynamene, the grieving widow, has determined to remain in the tomb until she can join Virilius in the underworld. The play opens with the first night of gloomy fast and broken sleep, disturbed at 2 a.m. by Tegeus, a soldier. He has been put on guard over the bodies of six criminals hanged nearby. He is drawn by the light in the tomb and enters. Dynamene, encouraged by her maidservant Doto, gradually finds Tegeus so attractive that she opts for life with him rather than death with Virilius.
They discover that in Tegeus's absence from his post one of the dead bodies has been cut down; this neglect of his duties renders Tegeus liable to court martial. He decides to kill himself rather than face the disgrace. Dynamene suggests that they substitute the body of Virilius. Tegeus is appalled, but she persuades him:
How little you can understand! I loved
His life not his death. And now we can give his death
The power of life. Not horrible: wonderful!
Dynamene, Tegeus and Doto drink a toast to the memory of Virilius as the play ends.
Revivals and adaptations
Revivals
''A Phoenix Too Frequent'' was revived at the Arts Theatre
The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London.
History
It opened on 20 April 1927 as a members-only club for the performance of unlicensed plays, thus avoiding theatre censorship by the Lord Chamberl ...
, London on 20 November 1946. Hannen again played Dynamene, Joan White
Joan White (1909-1999) was a British actress, theatre director and educator who over a career that spanned 65 years became a popular figure on the London stage, appeared in films and television and produced and directed plays on both sides of th ...
played Doto and Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was a British actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the US Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Awards, Academy Award, Emmy Award, Emmy, and Tony Award, Tony for his ...
played Tegeus. The director was Noel Willman
Noel Willman (4 August 1918 – 24 December 1988) was an Irish actor and theatre director. Born in Derry, Ireland, Willman died aged 70 in New York City, United States.
Willman's films included '' The Man Who Knew Too Much'' (1956), '' Across ...
.[ The production ran for 64 performances.][Roy, p. 50] A production directed by John Crockett toured Britain in 1950 and 1951, presenting the play in a double bill with Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
's farce
Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...
'' The Proposal''.
The play was staged at the Fulton Theatre
The Fulton Theatre was a Broadway theatre located at 210 West 46th Street in Manhattan, New York City, that was opened in 1911. It was renamed the Helen Hayes Theatre in 1955. The theatre was demolished in 1982. Since the former Little Theatre be ...
, Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
on 26 April 1950, and closed after five performances. Nina Foch
Nina Foch ( ; born Nina Consuelo Maud Fock; April 20, 1924 – December 5, 2008) was a Dutch-born American actress who later became an instructor. Her career spanned six decades, consisting of over 50 feature films and over 100 television appea ...
played Dynamene, Richard Derr
Richard Derr (June 15, 1917 – May 8, 1992) was an American actor who worked on stage, screen, and television, performing in both starring and supporting roles.
Early years
Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Derr graduated from Norristown High S ...
Tegeus and Vicki Cummings Doto. According to Emil Roy in a 1968 study of Fry, the early withdrawal of the piece was "largely because of faulty acting" and being coupled in a double bill with an unsuitable companion piece.[ A later American production was staged by ]Writers Theatre
Writers Theatre is a non-profit theatre company founded in 1992 and located in Glencoe, Illinois. Michael W. Halberstam, the founder of the company, was artistic director from its inception until 2021. Kathryn M. Lipuma has been executive directo ...
in 2001, directed by Michael W. Halberstam
Michael Halberstam is an American stage actor and director. He co-founded the Writers Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois, and served as its artistic director until 2021. He resigned after years of reported harassment and abuse from artists working at t ...
with Karen Janes Woditsch as Dynamene, Sean Fortunato as Tegeus and Maggie Carney as Doto. A planned 2020 production by American Players Theatre
American Players Theatre is a classical American theatrical troupe and theater complex located near Spring Green, Wisconsin. It has been called the best classical theater company in the United States by the late ''Wall Street Journal'' drama cri ...
was postponed because of the COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
pandemic.
Television adaptations
The first television broadcast was in June 1946 on BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...
, based on the original Mercury stage production, featuring Hannen, Summerfield and Wheatley. There were further BBC television versions in 1951, featuring Jessie Evans, Diana Graves and John Justin
John Justin (24 November 1917 – 29 November 2002) was a British stage and film actor.
Early life
John Justinian de Ledesma was born in Knightsbridge, London, England, the son of a well-off Argentine rancher. Though he grew up on his father' ...
, 1955, featuring George Cole, Jessie Evans and Noelle Middleton
Evelyn Noelle Woodeson (née Middleton; 18 December 1926 – 30 January 2016) was an Irish actress and one of the first BBC television announcers. She was also a leading lady of the 1950s British films.
Middleton received a BAFTA Film Award nom ...
, and 1972, featuring Lynn Farleigh
Marilyn J. "Lynn" Farleigh (born 3 May 1942) is an English actress of stage and screen.
Early life
Farleigh was born in Bath, Somerset on 3 May 1942 to Joseph Sydney Farleigh and his wife Marjorie Norah (née Clark). She attended the Redlan ...
as Dynamene, William Gaunt
William Charles Anthony Gaunt (born 3 April 1937 in Pudsey, West Riding of Yorkshire) is an English actor. He became widely known for television roles such as Richard Barrett in ''The Champions'' (1968–1969), Arthur Crabtree in '' No Place ...
as Tegeus and Julia Sutton as Doto.
In 1955 a version was broadcast on West German television. The cast comprised Sigrid Marquardt, Käte Jaenicke and Günther König. The following year a production was broadcast on Danish television.
A version aired in 1957 on Australian television, on the ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
at a time when Australian drama production was rare. Produced by Paul O'Loughlin, it aired live in Sydney on 24 July 1957, and a recording was later broadcast in Melbourne. The cast comprised Dinah Shearing
Dinah Hilary Shearing (12 February 1926 – 14 June 2021) was an Australian actress, active in all facets of the industry, in particular theatre.
Biography
Dinah Shearing was born in Sydney, New South Wales to English parents she appeared o ...
as Dynamene, James Condon
James Thomas Condon (27 September 1923 – 14 February 2014) was an Australian actor of radio and stage, a scriptwriter and voice over, however best known for his numerous television roles in serials and television movies in Australia, particu ...
as Tegeus and Audrey Teesdale as Doto.
Between 1959 and 1966 adaptations were transmitted by television stations in Switzerland (1959, featuring Ingeborg Luescher, Beatrice Schweizer and Wolfgang Schwarz), Finland (1960), West Germany (1963, featuring Dinah Hinz, Charles Brauer and Angelika Hurwicz), Austria (1966, with Christiane Hörbiger, Carla Hagen and Walter Reyer), and Australia (1966, featuring Lynette Curran
Lynette Curran is an Australian actress known for many roles in Australian television series and films, including the soap opera '' Bellbird'', and the films ''Country Town'' (1971) and ''Bliss'' (1985).
Theatre
She started acting in the th ...
as Dynamene, Sean Scully
Sean Scully (born 30 June 1945) is an Irish-born American-based artist working as a painter, printmaker, sculptor and photographer. His work is held in museum collections worldwide and he has twice been named a Turner Prize nominee. Moving fro ...
as Tegeus and Fay Kelton
Fay Kelton (Born in Tasmania between 1940–41), is an Australian former actress radio, stage and television, she relocated to Melbourne in her teens. She was a regular performer on the ABC radio serial '' Blue Hills'' (1949-1976), and also ap ...
as Doto,
directed by Oscar Whitbread
Oscar Ralph Whitbread (26 November 1929 – 16 May 2016) was an English-Australian producer who worked extensively in television.
He moved to Australia in the late 1940s. Whitbread started his career at the ABC in 1956, where he served as the He ...
).
Radio adaptations
The BBC broadcast adaptations in 1947, featuring the original Mercury cast, and in 1976, featuring Sarah Badel
Sarah M. Badel (born 30 March 1943) is a retired British stage and film actress. She is the daughter of actors Alan Badel and Yvonne Owen.
Life and career
Badel was born in London to actor, Alan Badel and actress, Yvonne Owen. She was educated ...
, Gawn Grainger
Gawn Grainger (born 12 October 1937) is a British actor, playwright and screenwriter.
Early life
Some sources indicate he was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 12 October 1937. He is the son of Charles Neil Grainger and his wife Elizabeth (née Gal ...
and Patsy Rowlands
Patricia Amy Rowlands (19 January 1931 – 22 January 2005) was an English actress who is best remembered for her roles in the ''Carry On'' films series, as Betty Lewis in the ITV Thames sitcom '' Bless This House'', and as Alice Meredit ...
."A Phoenix Too Frequent"
BBC Genome. Retrieved 4 October 2020
Notes, references and sources
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phoenix Too Frequent
Plays by Christopher Fry
Lost BBC episodes
Australian television plays
1946 plays
1955 television films
1955 films
1956 television films
1956 films
1957 television plays
1959 television films
1959 films
1960 television films
1960 films
1963 television films
1963 films
1966 television films
1966 films
British live television shows
Australian live television shows