Easy Virtue (play)
Encyclopedia
Easy Virtue is a three-act play by Noël Coward
. He wrote it in 1924 when he was 25 years old, and it is his 16th play. The play had a successful first run in New York in 1925 and then opened in London in 1926. It has been revived several times since and made into a film twice - in 1928 and 2008.
In tone and style, Easy Virtue is essentially a drawing room melodrama
, with flourishes of the signature wit which would later be identified with him. The central characters of the play are John Whittaker and Larita, the American divorcée he has just married to his mother's great disapproval.
had been a controversial sensation on both sides of the Atlantic with veiled references to homosexuality and drug taking. In his autobiography, Present Indicative, Coward says that his object in writing the play was to present a comedy in the structure of a tragedy "to compare the déclassée woman of to-day with the more flamboyant demi-mondaine of the 1890's," - one in which he deliberately attacked the "smug attitude of Larita's in-laws."
The play was first produced in U.S. at the Broad Theatre, Newark, New Jersey
. It moved to New York in December 1925 and ran for 147 performances, with Jane Cowl
starring as Larita and Joyce Carey
as Sarah. Broadway
audiences appreciated Larita as someone who depicted the rise of the individual in society, and the rights of a woman to lead her own life out of the constraints of her husband's opinion. In 1926, Easy Virtue opened at the Duke of York's Theatre
in London's West End
.
In 1988, the play was revived at the King's Head Theatre and then at the Garrick Theatre
with Jane How
, Zena Walker
and Ronnie Stevens
. Greta Scacchi
played Larita in a 1999 revival at the Festival Theatre
in Chichester
.
An upper middle-class drawing room with three French windows reveals a tennis court; it is early spring - but raining. Mrs Whittaker has "the stern repression of any sexual emotions; all her life has brought her to middle age with a faulty digestion which doesn't so much sour her temper as spread it." Her clothes are "rather mannish". She is with her religiously zealous daughter Marion and her husband, Colonel Whittaker, "A grey haired man of about fifty - his expression is generally resigned." The Colonel and his wife have achieved some sort of 'truce' - in which he lobs the occasional shot over his wife's battlement, while she is blatantly bitter about his past affairs and indiscretions.
The younger daughter, Hilda, enters ("nineteen and completely commonplace,") with news that their only son John Whittaker has married while holidaying in the south of France - he and his new bride will arrive soon. Mrs Whittaker is thrown into despair over the news, while the Colonel is sanguine; "He had to marry someone, she's probably a very interesting woman." To which she retorts, "I've no doubt you'll find her so." Plans need to be rearranged, as John's former girlfriend and neighbour Sarah Hurst is coming to dinner with her friend Charles Burleigh.
John soon arrives with his new wife, Larita, "She is tall, exquisitely made-up and very beautiful. Her clothes, because of their simplicity, are obviously violently expensive." Larita remains calm in the face of her new mother-in-law's disdain - even admitting to being divorced. John is not perturbed by his sister's shock; "He was an absolute Devil." While Larita and John freshen up for lunch, Sarah arrives with her friend Charles. Sarah is disappointed John has married, but welcomes Larita warmly as they all go in to lunch.
Act II
Three months later. It is now the height of summer. Larita is reading Proust's on the sofa. Everyone is very concerned that she doesn't want to play tennis. She is bored and miserable. Her only sympathetic friend is the Colonel, who kindly plays bezique
, a card game, with her. He also reveals that he speaks French. Into this scene comes Mrs Whittaker, and later Marion - preparing for a party Mrs Whittaker is throwing that evening. Much consideration is being put into the display of 'Japanese Lanterns'. Larita and the Colonel exit. Marion and Mrs Whittaker are both shocked by Larita's choice of reading material. Marion offers to have a 'straight talk' with Larita, but Mrs Whittaker advises against it. She feels that John will soon tire of his wife and the marriage will end in divorce.
Sarah has come to play tennis along with her brother Philip, on whom Hilda has a crush. Philip, however, is infatuated with Larita - something which Hilda misunderstands. In a fit of jealous pique, she accuses Larita of making 'sheep's eyes' at Philip. John's affection for Larita seems to be waning as he bemoans his wife's shortcomings to Sarah who in return defends her new friend. Larita arrives at the end of the conversation as Sarah leaves to prepare for the evening's festivities. John attempts to talk to his wife, but his impatience and immaturity only cause them both irritation. Larita mentions her ex-husband and John's jealousy flares. A secondary argument ensues about the nature of love and trust. John resolves the argument by declaring that he 'trusts Larita absolutely' and then exits to 'freshen up' after tennis.
Marion chooses this moment to have her 'straight talk' with Larita - the subject of which veers around the topics of Larita's friendship with the Colonel; Marion's missing fiancé Edgar; religion and hypocrisy. Marion leaves, and Philip arrives to ask Larita to reserve a dance for him - a request which is picked up on by an increasingly jealous Hilda. At afternoon tea (John is not present), Hilda delivers a newspaper cutting revealing the seedier details of Larita's divorce.
It seems that Larita once posed for a portrait. Her ex-husband, a jealous man, accused her of having an affair with the painter. She denied it, but the artist - tormented by unrequited love - committed suicide. This was presented as proof of infidelity at the divorce proceedings. Larita denies the accusation, and the Colonel takes her side, but Mrs Whittaker is not mollified. She sends Larita to her room, telling her not to come to the party. Hilda instantly recognizes that she has been malicious, but it's too late to undo the damage she has done. Larita throws her book in frustration, accidentally (and unregrettably) breaking a plaster copy of the Venus de Milo in the process.
Act III
At the party, gossip about the family fight and Larita's past has spread. There is an air of titillated excitement, but Mrs Whittaker has told everyone that her daughter-in-law has a migraine, and will not be down. However, that's not the case as Larita makes a spectacular entrance wearing a striking white dress along with diamonds and rubies. John is annoyed by her outlandish costume, and won't dance with her. She dances with Philip instead. Mrs Whittaker takes this as a personal affront - as it may well have been intended.
Sarah has arrived with her friend Charles. They discuss Larita and guess at what has gone on. Larita has a moment with Charles, and explains why she married John: "I thought that any other relationship would be cheapening and squalid - I can't imagine how I could have been such a fool." She also tells Sarah privately that she is leaving - and apologizes for having interrupted her relationship with John. She hopes that Sarah will forgive her, and take John back.
John, blissfully unaware of the fight in the afternoon or the reasons for the divorce, asks his wife to dance with him. She tells him to dance with Sarah - and when he does - she quietly leaves. The only person to see her off is Furber, the family butler.
Against this is Larita, whose reputation as a woman of "easy virtue" is belied, as she maintains a dignified loyalty to her husband throughout the story. Sarah also displays great integrity and emotional generosity. The Colonel is a sardonic and detached individual - who plainly rises to the challenge of Larita's intelligence and wit. The numerous mentions of his affairs, and his age and stated rank in the play all indicate that he would have taken part in the First World War.
John, as the product of both Mrs Whittaker and the Colonel is necessarily weak and unformed. He is described by Charles Burleigh at one point as being "a young, healthy animal," and in some respects, that is all he is.
. Ironically for Coward, known for verbal byplay and wit, it is a silent film. The only remaining piece of dialogue from the play is a card on which Mrs Whittaker says: "Have you had as many lovers as they say?" and Larita replies, "Of course not. Hardly any of them actually loved me." The film shows Hitchcock's technical and narrative skill, for example, in how he creates suspense while the audience waits to hear whether or not Larita will take John's hand in marriage. The film appeared to have been lost until the late 1970s when a print emerged in Austria. It was shown for the first time in fifty years as part of a Hitchcock retrospective. At the time, David Robinson said of the black-and-white movie: "It is Hitchcock in the making (and perhaps, into the bargain, Coward unmade), but as a period curiosity the National Film Archive and the Österreichische Filmmuseum [*who found the copy] deserve gratitude for its resurrection."
Another film was made eighty years later by Ealing Studios
, with co-writer Stephan Elliott
directing, starring Jessica Biel
, Ben Barnes
, Colin Firth
and Kristin Scott Thomas
. This version follows the story more directly, and uses much of Coward's dialogue, although it has been fashioned more directly into the type of comedy that Coward was subsequently famous for. It differs from the play in that the character of Charles Burleigh is removed and amalgamated into the characters of Philip Hurst and Major Whittaker (who had been a captain that led his entire company to death); Larita's husband did not divorce her, but instead died after she euthanised
him with poison to accelerate his lingering death from cancer; and the structure is rearranged so that the fight with John's family occurs at the end of the movie, after John refuses to dance with his wife. When Larita leaves, Major Whittaker goes with her.
Both films struggled with Larita's backstory, as revealed in the denouement by Hilda, with Hitchcock dedicating half of his movie to John and Larita's relationship in Cannes, and Elliott offering a twist on the painter / suicide theme.
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
. He wrote it in 1924 when he was 25 years old, and it is his 16th play. The play had a successful first run in New York in 1925 and then opened in London in 1926. It has been revived several times since and made into a film twice - in 1928 and 2008.
In tone and style, Easy Virtue is essentially a drawing room melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
, with flourishes of the signature wit which would later be identified with him. The central characters of the play are John Whittaker and Larita, the American divorcée he has just married to his mother's great disapproval.
Background
Easy Virtue was produced at a time when Coward was riding a wave of success. The VortexThe Vortex
The Vortex is a play by the English writer and actor Noël Coward. The story focuses on sexual vanity and drug abuse among the upper classes. The play was Coward's first great commercial success....
had been a controversial sensation on both sides of the Atlantic with veiled references to homosexuality and drug taking. In his autobiography, Present Indicative, Coward says that his object in writing the play was to present a comedy in the structure of a tragedy "to compare the déclassée woman of to-day with the more flamboyant demi-mondaine of the 1890's," - one in which he deliberately attacked the "smug attitude of Larita's in-laws."
The play was first produced in U.S. at the Broad Theatre, Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
. It moved to New York in December 1925 and ran for 147 performances, with Jane Cowl
Jane Cowl
Jane Cowl was an American film and stage actress and playwright "notorious for playing lacrymose parts". Actress Jane Russell was named in Cowl's honor.-Biography:...
starring as Larita and Joyce Carey
Joyce Carey
Joyce Carey, OBE was a British actress, best known for her long professional and personal relationship with Noël Coward. Her stage career lasted from 1916 until 1984, and she was performing on television in her nineties. Though never a star, she was a familiar face both on stage and screen...
as Sarah. Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
audiences appreciated Larita as someone who depicted the rise of the individual in society, and the rights of a woman to lead her own life out of the constraints of her husband's opinion. In 1926, Easy Virtue opened at the Duke of York's Theatre
Duke of York's Theatre
The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End Theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre, until her death in 1935. It opened on 10 September 1892 as the Trafalgar Square Theatre, with Wedding...
in London's West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
.
In 1988, the play was revived at the King's Head Theatre and then at the Garrick Theatre
Garrick Theatre
The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster. It opened on 24 April 1889 with The Profligate, a play by Arthur Wing Pinero. In its early years, it appears to have specialised in the performance of melodrama, and today the theatre is a...
with Jane How
Jane How
Jane Onslow How is an English actress with a range of television,film and stage credits. In 1977 she married actor Mark Burns and had a son Jack in 1981...
, Zena Walker
Zena Walker
Zena Walker was an English actress in film, theatre, and television.Walker was born in Birmingham, the daughter of George Walker, a grocer, and his wife Elizabeth Louise . She attended St. Martin's School in 1960 and then went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She starred in an...
and Ronnie Stevens
Ronnie Stevens (actor)
Ronald Stevens was a London-born English actor known as Ronnie Stevens.He appeared in many television comedy series in regular roles, including May to December, Goodnight Sweetheart and A J Wentworth, BA. He also appeared as the "Minister of Pollution", in The Goodies pollution episode...
. Greta Scacchi
Greta Scacchi
Greta Scacchi is an Italian-Australian actor.-Early life:Scacchi was born Greta Gracco in Milan, Italy, on 18 February 1960, the daughter of Luca Scacchi Gracco, an Italian art dealer and painter, and Pamela Carsaniga, an English dancer and antiques dealer...
played Larita in a 1999 revival at the Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....
in Chichester
Chichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
.
Plot
Act IAn upper middle-class drawing room with three French windows reveals a tennis court; it is early spring - but raining. Mrs Whittaker has "the stern repression of any sexual emotions; all her life has brought her to middle age with a faulty digestion which doesn't so much sour her temper as spread it." Her clothes are "rather mannish". She is with her religiously zealous daughter Marion and her husband, Colonel Whittaker, "A grey haired man of about fifty - his expression is generally resigned." The Colonel and his wife have achieved some sort of 'truce' - in which he lobs the occasional shot over his wife's battlement, while she is blatantly bitter about his past affairs and indiscretions.
The younger daughter, Hilda, enters ("nineteen and completely commonplace,") with news that their only son John Whittaker has married while holidaying in the south of France - he and his new bride will arrive soon. Mrs Whittaker is thrown into despair over the news, while the Colonel is sanguine; "He had to marry someone, she's probably a very interesting woman." To which she retorts, "I've no doubt you'll find her so." Plans need to be rearranged, as John's former girlfriend and neighbour Sarah Hurst is coming to dinner with her friend Charles Burleigh.
John soon arrives with his new wife, Larita, "She is tall, exquisitely made-up and very beautiful. Her clothes, because of their simplicity, are obviously violently expensive." Larita remains calm in the face of her new mother-in-law's disdain - even admitting to being divorced. John is not perturbed by his sister's shock; "He was an absolute Devil." While Larita and John freshen up for lunch, Sarah arrives with her friend Charles. Sarah is disappointed John has married, but welcomes Larita warmly as they all go in to lunch.
Act II
Three months later. It is now the height of summer. Larita is reading Proust's on the sofa. Everyone is very concerned that she doesn't want to play tennis. She is bored and miserable. Her only sympathetic friend is the Colonel, who kindly plays bezique
Bezique
Bezique is a 19th-century French melding and trick-taking card game for two players derived from Marriage via Briscan by the addition of more scoring features, notably the peculiar liaison of Q and J, under the names Bésigue, Binokel, Pinochle, etc., according to the country.-History:Bezique was...
, a card game, with her. He also reveals that he speaks French. Into this scene comes Mrs Whittaker, and later Marion - preparing for a party Mrs Whittaker is throwing that evening. Much consideration is being put into the display of 'Japanese Lanterns'. Larita and the Colonel exit. Marion and Mrs Whittaker are both shocked by Larita's choice of reading material. Marion offers to have a 'straight talk' with Larita, but Mrs Whittaker advises against it. She feels that John will soon tire of his wife and the marriage will end in divorce.
Sarah has come to play tennis along with her brother Philip, on whom Hilda has a crush. Philip, however, is infatuated with Larita - something which Hilda misunderstands. In a fit of jealous pique, she accuses Larita of making 'sheep's eyes' at Philip. John's affection for Larita seems to be waning as he bemoans his wife's shortcomings to Sarah who in return defends her new friend. Larita arrives at the end of the conversation as Sarah leaves to prepare for the evening's festivities. John attempts to talk to his wife, but his impatience and immaturity only cause them both irritation. Larita mentions her ex-husband and John's jealousy flares. A secondary argument ensues about the nature of love and trust. John resolves the argument by declaring that he 'trusts Larita absolutely' and then exits to 'freshen up' after tennis.
Marion chooses this moment to have her 'straight talk' with Larita - the subject of which veers around the topics of Larita's friendship with the Colonel; Marion's missing fiancé Edgar; religion and hypocrisy. Marion leaves, and Philip arrives to ask Larita to reserve a dance for him - a request which is picked up on by an increasingly jealous Hilda. At afternoon tea (John is not present), Hilda delivers a newspaper cutting revealing the seedier details of Larita's divorce.
It seems that Larita once posed for a portrait. Her ex-husband, a jealous man, accused her of having an affair with the painter. She denied it, but the artist - tormented by unrequited love - committed suicide. This was presented as proof of infidelity at the divorce proceedings. Larita denies the accusation, and the Colonel takes her side, but Mrs Whittaker is not mollified. She sends Larita to her room, telling her not to come to the party. Hilda instantly recognizes that she has been malicious, but it's too late to undo the damage she has done. Larita throws her book in frustration, accidentally (and unregrettably) breaking a plaster copy of the Venus de Milo in the process.
Act III
At the party, gossip about the family fight and Larita's past has spread. There is an air of titillated excitement, but Mrs Whittaker has told everyone that her daughter-in-law has a migraine, and will not be down. However, that's not the case as Larita makes a spectacular entrance wearing a striking white dress along with diamonds and rubies. John is annoyed by her outlandish costume, and won't dance with her. She dances with Philip instead. Mrs Whittaker takes this as a personal affront - as it may well have been intended.
Sarah has arrived with her friend Charles. They discuss Larita and guess at what has gone on. Larita has a moment with Charles, and explains why she married John: "I thought that any other relationship would be cheapening and squalid - I can't imagine how I could have been such a fool." She also tells Sarah privately that she is leaving - and apologizes for having interrupted her relationship with John. She hopes that Sarah will forgive her, and take John back.
John, blissfully unaware of the fight in the afternoon or the reasons for the divorce, asks his wife to dance with him. She tells him to dance with Sarah - and when he does - she quietly leaves. The only person to see her off is Furber, the family butler.
Themes
The play deals primarily with hypocrisy. This is most evident in Mrs Whittaker, who declares herself to be a bastion of morality but contrives from the beginning to ruin her son's marriage. It is also reflected in Marion, who has an absent fiancé (Edgar), yet judges her brother and Larita through the lens of religious fanaticism.Against this is Larita, whose reputation as a woman of "easy virtue" is belied, as she maintains a dignified loyalty to her husband throughout the story. Sarah also displays great integrity and emotional generosity. The Colonel is a sardonic and detached individual - who plainly rises to the challenge of Larita's intelligence and wit. The numerous mentions of his affairs, and his age and stated rank in the play all indicate that he would have taken part in the First World War.
John, as the product of both Mrs Whittaker and the Colonel is necessarily weak and unformed. He is described by Charles Burleigh at one point as being "a young, healthy animal," and in some respects, that is all he is.
Film versions
Easy Virtue was made into a film in 1928 by Alfred HitchcockAlfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
. Ironically for Coward, known for verbal byplay and wit, it is a silent film. The only remaining piece of dialogue from the play is a card on which Mrs Whittaker says: "Have you had as many lovers as they say?" and Larita replies, "Of course not. Hardly any of them actually loved me." The film shows Hitchcock's technical and narrative skill, for example, in how he creates suspense while the audience waits to hear whether or not Larita will take John's hand in marriage. The film appeared to have been lost until the late 1970s when a print emerged in Austria. It was shown for the first time in fifty years as part of a Hitchcock retrospective. At the time, David Robinson said of the black-and-white movie: "It is Hitchcock in the making (and perhaps, into the bargain, Coward unmade), but as a period curiosity the National Film Archive and the Österreichische Filmmuseum [*who found the copy] deserve gratitude for its resurrection."
Another film was made eighty years later by Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since...
, with co-writer Stephan Elliott
Stephan Elliott
Stephan Elliott is an Australian film director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Elliott began his career as an assistant director working in the boom of the Australian film industry of the 1980s....
directing, starring Jessica Biel
Jessica Biel
Jessica Claire Biel is an American actress, model, and occasional singer. Biel is known for her television role as Mary Camden in the long-running family-drama series 7th Heaven...
, Ben Barnes
Ben Barnes (actor)
Benjamin Thomas "Ben" Barnes is an English actor, best known for his portrayal of Caspian X in The Chronicles of Narnia films Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.-Early life and education:...
, Colin Firth
Colin Firth
SirColin Andrew Firth, CBE is a British film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...
and Kristin Scott Thomas
Kristin Scott Thomas
Kristin A. Scott Thomas, OBE is an English actress who has also acquired French nationality. She gained international recognition in the 1990s for her roles in Bitter Moon, Four Weddings and a Funeral and The English Patient....
. This version follows the story more directly, and uses much of Coward's dialogue, although it has been fashioned more directly into the type of comedy that Coward was subsequently famous for. It differs from the play in that the character of Charles Burleigh is removed and amalgamated into the characters of Philip Hurst and Major Whittaker (who had been a captain that led his entire company to death); Larita's husband did not divorce her, but instead died after she euthanised
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
him with poison to accelerate his lingering death from cancer; and the structure is rearranged so that the fight with John's family occurs at the end of the movie, after John refuses to dance with his wife. When Larita leaves, Major Whittaker goes with her.
Both films struggled with Larita's backstory, as revealed in the denouement by Hilda, with Hitchcock dedicating half of his movie to John and Larita's relationship in Cannes, and Elliott offering a twist on the painter / suicide theme.