Land's End (play)
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''Land's End'' is a stage thriller in three acts set in
Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
in the mid 1930s, by British playwright
F. L. Lucas Frank Laurence Lucas (28 December 1894 – 1 June 1967) was an English classical scholar, literary critic, poet, novelist, playwright, political polemicist, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and intelligence officer at Bletchley Park during ...
. First produced in
Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
in 1935, it was premiered in London in 1938.


Characters (and actors in first London production)

*Mrs Newsome — Deirdre Doyle *Valentine Galbraith — Mary MacOwan *Vernon, her brother — George Astley *Judith, her mother — Cathleen Nesbitt *Hugh Gifford —
Alan Napier Alan William Napier-Clavering (7 January 1903 – 8 August 1988), better known as Alan Napier, was an English actor. After a decade in West End theatre, he had a long film career in Britain and later, in Hollywood. Napier is best remembered for ...
*Hector Galbraith —
Cecil Trouncer Cecil Stallard Trouncer (5 April 1898 – 15 December 1953) was an English actor. His daughter Ruth Trouncer also took up acting. Early life Cecil Trouncer was born in Southport on 5 April 1898 and was educated at Clifton College. During the Firs ...
*a fisherman


Plot summary

Land's End, Cornwall. A remote old cliff-top house, rocked by equinoctial gales. It belongs to explorer and hunter, Hector Galbraith, who is away in Africa. His charwoman, the macabre Mrs Newsome, warns her favourite, Hector's daughter Valentine, 20, a student home from Oxford, that her mother Judith (who has been out shooting) is having an affair with her visitor, the writer Hugh Gifford. Valentine, a hard virginal individualist, devoted to her father and hostile to Gifford, is indignant. Her brother Vernon, 19, a student home from Cambridge, is indifferent to bourgeois morality; he is a Communist, dislikes his father, and finds Hugh charming. Judith has grown estranged from her husband since he pressured their elder son, Ivor, into an Amazon expedition, in which Ivor died. Relations between mother and daughter are also strained. Now Mrs Newsome confides in Valentine: she has written to the absent master, and the latter has just returned secretly to England to surprise the adulterous pair. He is on his way to Cornwall. She persuades Valentine not to tell the others. (End of Act One.) That evening, while Valentine and Vernon are in
Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...
at a dance and the two lovers are alone in the gale-buffeted house (the scene never changes from this cluttered claustrophobic drawing-room), Galbraith walks in. After amusing himself by toying with the trapped lovers, he takes control of his house, downing brandy, throwing open the windows, brandishing a revolver, telling Judith she is starting for Africa with him (a plane is standing by at
Lympne aerodrome Lympne Airport , was a military and later civil airfield , at Lympne, Kent, United Kingdom, which operated from 1916 to 1984. During the First World War RFC Lympne was originally an acceptance point for aircraft being delivered to, and returni ...
), and giving Gifford five minutes to get out. Judith and Hugh refuse to separate. Galbraith locks Judith out of the room, tosses a second revolver at Hugh, and reminds him of the rules of duelling. If Hugh is killed, he is told, his petrol-drenched motor will be rolled off the cliff road with his body inside. Galbraith counts to three. Hugh, a veteran of the Western Front, fires well wide, in the honourable Turgenev tradition. Galbraith levels his revolver for the kill. A shotgun barrel is seen at the window. Judith blasts Galbraith.A change introduced, with the playwright's approval, in the 1938 West-End production. In the text, Judith bursts in though another door and shoots Hector. The shaken lovers hurriedly discuss their options, and decide that, as no one is likely to have seen Hector arrive, they should dispose of him as he had planned to dispose of Hugh. They drag his body out. (End of Act Two.) An hour and a half later the pair return from the deed, to clean up bloodstains. Just in time: Valentine and Vernon come back early from the dance, full of news: a car has gone over the cliff and is still burning in the cove! Vernon tells how he clambered down and managed to poke some burnt luggage out of the wreck. The luggage is examined: it contains an African death-mask. The distraught Valentine now realises who the victim of the "accident" was, and confesses she knew her father was coming home. Judith and Hugh feign shock. By ill luck, Valentine sees in the grate a tell-tale Russian cigarette stub, discarded by Hector before the duel – and recognises its significance. She confronts her mother. Judith, finding evasion impossible, confesses to killing her husband in defence of Hugh. Valentine, near-hysterical, decides she must call the police. Judith and Hugh try to dissuade her, as does Vernon. All three argue that concealment is possible, but that confession will be catastrophic. Valentine is anguished and torn. At that moment Mrs Newsome and a grizzled fisherman arrive, to ask if everyone is all right (the latter had seen the fire and gone straight to the Galbraiths' housekeeper). Valentine, sickened by Mrs Newsome's meddling, sends her packing, and picks up the telephone to call the police. To the end, we do not know what she will tell them.


Productions and publication

''Land's End'' was first staged by the
People's Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne The People's Theatre is an amateur theatre in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Originally located in the city centre, the People's Theatre moved to its current site, adjacent to the Coast Road in Heaton, in 1962. It shows approximately 13 producti ...
, from 4 – 11 May 1935, with
Cecil McGivern Cecil McGivern CBE (22 May 1907, in Newcastle, England – 30 January 1963, in Buckinghamshire, England) was a British broadcasting executive, who initially worked for BBC Radio before transferring to BBC Television in the late 1940s. From 1950 ...
as Hector Galbraith.Lucas, F. L., ''Four Plays'' (Cambridge, 1935) The text was published by the University Press, Cambridge, and by the Macmillan Company, New York, in Lucas's ''Four Plays'', in October 1935. (
Christabel Marshall Christabel Gertrude Marshall (aka Christopher Marie St John) (24 October 1871 – 20 October 1960) was a British campaigner for women's suffrage, a playwright and author. Marshall lived in a ménage à trois with the artist Clare Atwood and ...
, who had not seen the plays performed, declared them "very good reading".) Anmer Hall and Leon M. Lion directed an amended textLucas, F. L., ''Journal Under the Terror, 1938'' (London, 1939), p.89-90, 94-95, 97-98 in a West End production at the
Westminster Theatre The Westminster Theatre was a theatre in London, on Palace Street in Westminster. History The structure on the site was originally built as the Charlotte Chapel in 1766, by William Dodd with money from his wife Mary Perkins. Through Peter Ri ...
, 23 February to March 1938 (29 performances), with Cathleen Nesbitt,
Cecil Trouncer Cecil Stallard Trouncer (5 April 1898 – 15 December 1953) was an English actor. His daughter Ruth Trouncer also took up acting. Early life Cecil Trouncer was born in Southport on 5 April 1898 and was educated at Clifton College. During the Firs ...
and
Alan Napier Alan William Napier-Clavering (7 January 1903 – 8 August 1988), better known as Alan Napier, was an English actor. After a decade in West End theatre, he had a long film career in Britain and later, in Hollywood. Napier is best remembered for ...
among the cast, and with decor by
Peter Goffin Peter Goffin F.R.S.A. (28 February 1906 - 22 March 1974), was an English set and costume designer and stage manager, known for his work with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Biography Goffin was born in Plymouth, England, the son of Willam Earl Go ...
. An account of rehearsals is contained in Lucas's ''Journal Under the Terror, 1938'' (1939). On the first night at the Westminster, "the author was much called for at the close, but failed to appear".''
The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
'', 3 March 1938; p.10
Alan Napier in his autobiography recalled one stage mishap. The pool of blood was managed by a piece of wet red cloth on the floor. In one performance, when Cathleen Nesbitt wrung her hands and asked "What are we to do about the blood?", her long skirt caught the edge of the cloth and as she walked on "rolled it up into a neat little sausage" – to the delight of the balcony and the puzzlement of the groundlings, who couldn't see what had happened. One of Paul Scofield's earliest roles was in the Birmingham Rep's revival of the play in 1945 (13 March – 14 April), with Gwen Nelson and Scott Sunderland among the cast.


Reception

''Land's End'', the most successful of Lucas's six plays, received mixed reviews. ''
The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
'' declared it "as full of drama as an egg is full of meat", after, however, a first act "the reverse of exhilarating". "It is the first act that drags, and needs tightening up", agreed the ''
London Mercury ''The London Mercury'' was the name of several periodicals published in London from the 17th to the 20th centuries. The earliest was a newspaper that appeared during the Exclusion Bill crisis; it lasted only 56 issues (1682). (Earlier periodicals ...
''.
Una Ellis-Fermor Una Mary Ellis-Fermor (20 December 1894 – 24 March 1958), who also used the pseudonym Christopher Turnley, was an English literary critic, author and Hildred Carlile Professor of English at Bedford College, London (1947–1958). In recognition o ...
was more positive. "At its best," she wrote, "Mr Lucas's dialogue convinces us that it is the talk of people of high intelligence when all their faculties are working at top pressure: wise, incisive, and sometimes memorable." But she had reservations about Lucas's method (a reversal of Ibsen's) of airing family ghosts at the ''start'' rather than end. The reviewers of the London production found Cecil Trouncer's Hector Galbraith "truly terrifying", Cathleen Nesbitt's Mrs Galbraith "magnificent", and Alan Napier's Hugh Gifford "that rare person on the stage, a writer of quick intelligence".A. V. Cookman in the ''London Mercury'', 1938, p.634 George Astley's Vernon was memorable, "fluttering through the story as a Communistic young flower of University life". A. V. Cookman, theatre-critic of the ''
London Mercury ''The London Mercury'' was the name of several periodicals published in London from the 17th to the 20th centuries. The earliest was a newspaper that appeared during the Exclusion Bill crisis; it lasted only 56 issues (1682). (Earlier periodicals ...
'', thought it "a bad play" because melodramatic, but nevertheless "full of interesting talk and subtle psychological cross-lights". Elizabeth Bowen in the ''
New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'' agreed: "Mr Lucas has attempted to rush the barrier that divides the discursive from the melodramatic play", to combine "ideas not his own but dramatically plausible, and ideas his own but not dramatic". Still, "There are moments of fine theatre – for instance, Mrs Galbraith's languorous, intimate greeting, as she lies on the sofa with her back to the door, to someone she takes to be her lover back from the post, who is in fact her husband back, for blood, from Africa... The quickness and tension of the third act, when everyone's future hangs on the girl Valentine, an Electra with a green conscience, lasts to the final curtain."Elizabeth Bowen, 'Island Life', in ''The New Statesman and Nation'', 1938, reprinted in her ''Collected Impressions'' (London, 1950), p.206-209


Background

Lucas's first play, ''
The Bear Dances ''The Bear Dances: A Play in Three Acts'' is a political drama about the Soviet Union set in 1930, written by British playwright F. L. Lucas in 1931, and first staged in 1932. It was his first play; he went on to write five more. Characters (and ...
'' (1932), also directed by Leon M. Lion, had been criticised for its discursiveness and lack of action. The melodramatic ''Land's End'' was the playwright's reply, as was his Cowardesque romantic comedy, ''Surrender to Discretion'', first produced by the
People's Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne The People's Theatre is an amateur theatre in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Originally located in the city centre, the People's Theatre moved to its current site, adjacent to the Coast Road in Heaton, in 1962. It shows approximately 13 producti ...
, from 18 – 25 November 1933.'Community Drama', ''Timaru Herald'', Vol.137, Issue 19685, 30 December 1933, p.12
/ref> Another in-joke in ''Land's End'' is the black-hatted,
Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a liter ...
-reading Hugh Gifford, a self-portrait: :VERNON: Hugh? Oh, he's charming. Complete fossil, of course, intellectually and politically – about as up to date as
Shaw Shaw may refer to: Places Australia *Shaw, Queensland Canada *Shaw Street, a street in Toronto England *Shaw, Berkshire, a village *Shaw, Greater Manchester, a location in the parish of Shaw and Crompton *Shaw, Swindon, a List of United Kingdom ...
. But who expects a man to have ideas at forty-five? ''Ruined'' by a public-school classical education – but charming – like some ironical French essayist, from the days before essays went hopelessly out of date. Yet fought in the War – God ''only'' knows why – and isn't ashamed of it, even now. But – apart from that excursion into militarism – you know the sort of thing: comfortable scepticism, psychological armchair – lie back, light a cigarette and let this tiresome world rip, while you manicure your polished little ego. Still, he ''has'' polished his. He's rather charming. I like him. (''Hugh Gifford enters, a tall, slim figure in blue tweed coat and grey trousers, with greying hair and hawk-like face.'') The Cambridge University Press, however, advertised ''Land's End'' as a
tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
(Valentine's).Lucas, F. L., ''Four Plays'' (Cambridge, 1935), dust-jacket


Notes


References

{{F. L. Lucas 1935 plays British plays Thriller plays Plays set in England Plays set in the 1930s West End plays Cambridge University Press books