A Room With A View/Theatre Royal Brighton
A literary memory from my school is a discussion on novelists in which the head master termed E. M Forster a “weak writer”. There was much consternation over this but it discoloured my appreciation of him. I have made various attempts to read A Room With a View with little success and less enjoyment. I found it light, snobbish, dated and a frippery.
It’s always curious to see how a novel, necessarily infinite in imagination and boundary, is adapted to the narrow confines, constraints and borders of the stage and this as much anything else persuaded me to buy a ticket for the production last night. My view did not change after it.
It begins in the Pensione Bartolini in Florence with a group of English Edwardian tourists. One a boisterous cockney Mr Enerson with his son offers to give up their rooms with a view to Charlotte Bartlett (Felicity Kendall) and the young lady she is chaperoning Lucy Hornchurch (Lauren Coe). Charlotte will not accept for fear of being indebted and besides she thinks he may be a socialist. Lucy goes to Rome where she meets and becomes engaged to a Hooray Henry Cecil Vyse (Charlie Anson) but eventually succumbs to the son of Mr Emerson George (Tom Morley). The story reflects the breakdown in Edwardian values with an assertive woman more conscious of her rights of self determination in Lucy and the more “upper” characters clinging to their ideals in the face of change. The problem is that it’s all so dated and the core story line not that intriguing to compensate for it.
As you might expect from her Felicity Kendall delivers an assured animated performance but comparisons must inevitably made with Maggie Smith in the Merchant/Ivory film that won 3 Oscars. Looking at the cast list of her, Helena Bonham Carter, Judi Dench, Denholm Elliot, Simon Callow, Daniel Day Lewis and Rupert Graves you can see why. Simon Jones does well as the overbearing know-all Reverend Beebe but Lauren Coe as Lucy does not make the most of a role that reflects the status of women in social transit. Probably the best aspect of the production is the set. Clever use of back drop of Florence, the Fiesiole Hills and in the second act Surrey addresses and resolves any difficulty in adaptation. After all the play would look rather silly if there was no view.
The theatre was half full and I would be surprised if it makes to the West End. I wrote before of the format of a popular lead and come some competent support but I don’t see enough here to attract a younger audience. Forster’s observation of the upper classes is not nearly as witty or as perceptive as Oscar Wilde. Both were homosexual although Forster came out in his sixth novel Maurice published posthumously. Had he been really daring and written a more homoerotic piece I can see a much bigger audience … especially in Brighton.
