The twins' birthday

[colne-dsr.livejournal.com]

Further to discussions of birthdays: in "Ready-Made Family", Nicola describes her previous birthday outing as "Nicola had borne the visit to the Chichester Festival Theatre last year. Not, as it happened, that she hadn't enjoyed it more than she'd thought she would - after all, you couldn't not enjoy Lawrence (sic) Olivier, even when he was blotted out behind a black face, looking, so Ma had said, exactly like Patrice Lumumba in the cart at the end".

Olivier played Othello (which I presume is the part he blacked-up for) at the Chichester Festival theatre (he was a director from 1952-65) from Tuesday 21st July 1964 to Saturday 29th August 1964. RMF was published in 1967, so allowing a year or two for final polishing and publishing time, I think it's conclusive that that was the play they saw. (Will anyone give me odds that AF was there as well? :-) ) Which all ties in with what we already knew.

It was only in typing Olivier's name just now that I noticed the spelling mistake - he's Laurence. My edition of RMF is the Faber Fanfare - page 171, 10 pages after the start of Chapter 12 - do the hardback or the GGB edition have the same spelling?

[Edit for spelling - would you believe "theater"?]

Comments

[liadnan]

He also filmed Othello blacked-up in 1964 with Maggie Smith, Joyce Redman and Derek Jacobi and played it at the National in the 60s (all effectively the same production I guess?): makeup took two and a half hours and included dying his tongue red and using drops to whiten his eyes. Variously hailed as one of the great Othello's of the century and an appalling caricature it was much discussed at the time. From his autobiography (quoted from elsewhere on the interweb):

""Black all over my body, Max Factor 2880, then a lighter brown ...
[etc.] .... Then the great trick: that glorious half-yard of chiffon
with which I polished myself all over until I shone ... The lips
blueberry, the tight curled wig, the white of the eyes,, whiter than
ever and the black, black sheen that covered my flesh and bones,
glistening in the dressing room lights...I am, I ... I am Othello ...
but Olivier is in charge. the actor is in control. The actor breathes
into the nostrils of the character and the character comes to life. For
this moment in my time, Othello is my character - he's mine. He belongs
to no-one else; he belongs to me."

Also for Khartoum in 1967. He must have gone through a hell of a lot of that Max Factor in the 60s.

[forester48.livejournal.com]

My Faber hardback copy of RMF also has Lawrence. And is also on p171, 10 pages after the beginning of chapter 12.

And I would be easily convinced that AF was at the Chichester festival. Chichester's pretty close to Bournemouth, isn't it? I'm sure a Shakespeare fan like her wouldn't pass up an opportunity to see any decent production.

I wonder if any AF fans were also there.