BBC Announces Casting for Decline and Fall

Posted on June 12, 2016 by Jeffrey Manley

The BBC Media Centre has announced final casting arrangements for its upcoming series Decline and Fall, based on Waugh’s first novel, in a release dated today. This confirms the selection of Jack Whitehall to play Paul Pennyfeather and Eva Longoria, Margot Beste-Chetwynde. See earlier post. The BBC also announces the casting of David Suchet as Dr. Fagan and Douglas Hodge as Capt. Grimes. Suchet is best known for his portrayal as Hercule Poirot in ITV’s long running series based on Agatha Christie’s books. Hodge has played in various stage, film and TV roles, most recently as Rex Mayhew, one of the MI6 good guys in the BBC dramatization of John Le Carre’s  The Night Manager. Hodge will have a hard act to follow in the portrayal of Grimes by Leo McKern in the 1960’s film version of the novel. McKern’s performance was the only memorable element of that production. He went on to greater fame in the role of Rumpole of the Bailey.

The BBC Media Centre’s release also included these statements from those involved in the production:

Of his casting as Paul Pennyfeather, Jack Whitehall says: “I am extremely pleased to be a part of this amazing adaptation by James Wood. I’ve been a fan of this book since I read it as a teenager, and I just hope that I can do it justice.”

Shane Allen, Controller of BBC Comedy Commissioning, says: “One of the greatest comic novels of all time, this satirical masterpiece is long overdue a television debut. Waugh deploys comedy and tragedy to point up prevailing institutional corruption and the dehumanising consequences of elitism, very timely and apposite for today. James has done a terrific job of getting to the core of it, and the writing has attracted a fantastic cast.”

Share
Posted in Adaptations, Decline and Fall, Television, Television Programs | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Argentine Press Notes Waugh Anniversary and Complete Works

Posted on June 11, 2016 by Jeffrey Manley

The Buenos Aires Herald carries an article by Felicitas Casillo marking the 50th anniversary of Waugh’s death and explaining the project that will publish the Complete Works of Waugh. The article begins with a summary of Waugh’s achievement as a writer:

One of the most notable features of Waugh’s identity was his sense of humour; sometimes acid, sometimes tenderly childlike, an elegant form that tends to assume the boldest criticism. In many aspects he was a true rebel; a Catholic in an Anglican country, he harshly criticized British society during the first half of the last century…Waugh’s protagonists are closer to suffering rather than corruption. They often suggest uncomfortable and surprising spiritual pursuits in a society where even transgression had taken the form of clichĂ©. Deep down, his characters, like Julia and Sebastian Flyte, in his famous novel Brideshead Revisited (1945), are fragile and wounded. It’s not guilt or evilness that drives their actions, but the radical pursuit of a greater good that would overcome even their own misery.

There is also an interview with Martin Stannard about the Complete Works Project. Here’s an excerpt:

The edition comprises 43 volumes, including all of Waugh’s writings: novels, short fiction, essays, articles, reviews, diaries and letters. 85 percent of his correspondence is still unpublished…The Complete Works project was initiated by Alexander Waugh, Waugh’s grandson, who curates the Evelyn Waugh Archive at his home in Somerset. I’ve worked on this idea with him and Oxford University Press (OUP), the publisher. We aim to publish everything we can find, the unexpurgated diaries, all his artwork and a new bibliography. I am the Principal Investigator for the Arts and Humanities Research Council funding, so the project is based at the University of Leicester…This project represents the biggest single contribution to Waugh studies, and is probably the largest scholarly edition of a modern author. We include cutting-edge digital humanities technology. We also have a dedicated website which allows all our twenty-three editors to share and search archived data, and invites members of the public to contribute their knowledge.

 

Share
Posted in Academia, Alexander Waugh, Anniversaries, Brideshead Revisited, Complete Works | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Argentine Press Notes Waugh Anniversary and Complete Works

Brideshead Reviewed in Brighton (More)

Posted on June 11, 2016 by Jeffrey Manley

Drama critic David Guest has reviewed the Brighton performance of Brideshead Revisited in the Chichester Observer. He found the production to be “undeniably brave but extremely bitty,” and that it might “make the audience feel that they are just mugging up on the novel the night before an exam using study notes.” He goes on to note that

…there are even times when you pinch yourself to check that the cast is not paying tribute to the late Victoria Wood with an impromptu episode of Acorn Antiques. Any page to stage adaptation is going to have to be fierce in its editing and there is nothing wrong per se with Bryony Lavery’s paring of the novel’s complexities. Having the protagonist Charles Ryder directly recount his story and experiences between two world wars to the audience works well as he wistfully narrates his journey alongside the rich, the eccentric, the selfish and the religious.

The downside is that few, if any, characters are really explored in any depth and scenes flash by so fast it can be difficult to keep up. The most effective moment is the climactic deathbed scene of the stately Lord Marchmain (who is seen little during the course of the play) and his return to a religious faith from which he had previously sought to escape, though the significant reactions to it by those involved are all too fleetingly signposted up to that point.

After discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the cast, the direction and the set design, Guest concludes:

The result is a piece that is occasionally innovative and sometimes irritating. Generally, however, on the evidence here, it may well be that on stage at least Brideshead should simply never have been revisited.

Meanwhile, Gay Times has published an extended interview by William J. Connolly of the two principal actors, Brian Ferguson (Charles Ryder) and Christopher Simpson (Sebastian Flyte). This is datelined 8 June during the play’s Brighton run. The interview concludes:

And finally — why do you think a story like this is important to tell in 2016?

Brian: It’s a story of a world in flux where people are searching for the constancy, support and love they so desperately need in order to survive such tumultuous change. Because it’s all too much to deal with alone. I reckon we’ve all probably felt like that at some point in our lives.

Christopher: Our piece takes place in a deceptively nostalgic era which is nonetheless fraught with longing, desire, and a search for meaning. In a way, for all the misdirected antics, affairs and adventure, Charles Ryder’s journey is one towards a life valued not in terms of earthly majesty but something ineffable and inexplicable beyond. Even diehard materialists seek fulfilment.

 

Share
Posted in Adaptations, Articles, Brideshead Revisited, Interviews, Newspapers, Theater | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Brideshead Reviewed in Brighton (More)

British Satire Enjoys Renewed Interest in Sweden

Posted on June 11, 2016 by Jeffrey Manley

The newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reports a renaissance of British satirical novels in Sweden. In an article by Charlotta Lindell, this is attributed largely to the positive reception of the Swedish translations of the works of writers such as Edward St. Aubyn, Zadie Smith and Monica Ali. This new interest has also had a halo effect on earlier writers in this tradition:

In parallel with these contemporary successes, there has been a spate of Swedish reissues of older British social satires in recent years. These include “Brideshead Revisited” by Evelyn Waugh, which came out in an acclaimed new Swedish translation in autumn 2015 (Wahlström & Widstrand). Not much later, Waugh’s “A Handful of Dust” was reissued by Modernista.

This year marks 50 years since Waugh died,  In July, a new comprehensive biography will be published in English: “Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited” by Philip Eade who has gained access to new material through Alexander Waugh, the great author’s grandson.

According to Lindell, the renewed interest in the novels of earlier satirists such as Waugh and Anthony Powell was also aided by the popularity of the TV series Downton Abbey.

The quote  is an edited version of the Google Translate translation of the article.

Share
Posted in A Handful of Dust, Alexander Waugh, Anniversaries, Biographies, Brideshead Revisited, Newspapers, Television Programs | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on British Satire Enjoys Renewed Interest in Sweden

Waugh Works Named in Newspaper Shortlists

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Jeffrey Manley

Two of Waugh’s books feature in recent newspaper shortlists. In the Daily Mail, novelist Charles Cumming names Scoop as his desert island book. Cumming is a writer of spy novels said by some to be the John Le Carre and Len Deighton of his generation. His Thomas Kell spy series that began in 2012 as an intended trilogy with A Foreign Country has reached its third volume with the recent U.K. publication of The Divided Spy and is reported to be in development for a TV series. Here’s what Cumming says about Scoop:

I put off reading Waugh’s comic masterpiece until last year, thinking it wouldn’t be my cup of tea. Big mistake. Scoop is easily the funniest novel I’ve ever read.

An online newspaper called, appropriately, shortlist.com has prepared a list of 13 well known novels that were published under titles different from those originally conceived. Waugh’s example is Brideshead Revisited which he intended to be titled A House of the Faith. Another example they might have considered is Decline and Fall which Waugh originally wanted to call Untoward Incidents. Other entries include Lolita that was  to be The Kingdom by the Sea and The Great Gatsby that was written as Trimalchio in West Egg. Perhaps the best decision to change an original title was the book written as Four and a Half Years of Struggle Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice. That one was ultimately published as Mein Kampf. The original title is probably even worse in German.

 

Share
Posted in Brideshead Revisited, Decline and Fall, Humo(u)r, Newspapers, Scoop | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Waugh Works Named in Newspaper Shortlists

Bloggers Debate WWII Novels

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Jeffrey Manley

Several bloggers are currently debating which are the novels of WWII most worth reading. One began the debate by bemoaning his attempt to read Waugh’s Sword of Honour novels at the same time he was also in the process of reading Anthony Powell’s longer series A Dance to the Music of Time. Within the Dance novels there is also a trilogy of books devoted to WWII. The debate continued on another site, and the most helpful comment was that posted by David Lull, who frequently comments on this site. This was a quote from critic Paul Johnson’s 2012 article entitled “Novelists at Arms” in Standpoint Magazine about the subject of WWII novels. See earlier post. It is worth requoting in full from the posting on Booksinq:

It is a mistake, in my view, to hold a popularity contest between A Dance to the Music of Time and Sword of Honour. They are wonderfully complementary. We are lucky to have both. Waugh did not cover so long a spectrum. But we should see Brideshead Revisited as his verdict on the pre-war period, which in Uncle Tony [Powell’s] account requires six novels. And Put Out More Flagsis a knockabout farce, a comic curtain-raiser to the actual war beginning with Men at Arms,continuing with Officers and Gentlemen, and ending with Unconditional Surrender. All these titles are savagely ironic, the last signalling Waugh’s despairing acceptance that there is nothing he, and any other honourable souls left, can do about the appalling state of the world which has emerged from what began as a just war.

What his tale lacks, and Uncle Tony’s possesses in full measure, is a follow-up on the peacetime chaos. Waugh could have written a superb novel about the idiocies of the Sixties, surely the most foolish decade in English history, which makes the Thirties, that “low, dishonest decade” as Auden called it, seem noble by comparison. But he did not live long enough. All he could manage was his superb personal bout of madness The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold, which serves as an appendix to his wartime trilogy (as Brideshead serves as an introduction), contrasting his own inner devils with the monstrous spirits who had taken over the world.

However, by limiting his trilogy to the actual war, he contrives to achieve an intensity of vision, and feeling, quite lacking in Uncle Tony’s ambling tale.”

Sword of Honour is the ideal war novel. But the [Olivia] Manning trilogies, and A Dance to the Music of Time, are both, each in its own special way, masterpieces of literature. We are fortunate to have three such different fictional but eye-witness accounts of that fearsome war, which arched over my own childhood and youth in a dark rainbow of fascination. There will be no more. Any future treatments will be historical novels.

 

 

Share
Posted in Auctions, Put Out More Flags, Sword of Honour, The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold, World War II | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Bloggers Debate WWII Novels

Waugh Presentation Copies for Sale by Peter Harrington

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Jeffrey Manley

Several of the presentation copies Evelyn Waugh sent to Anthony Powell are now on sale by Peter Harrington Books. These were auctioned last year at Bonham’s. See earlier post. The most interesting are the two copies of Scott-King’s Modern Europe which Waugh first illustrated with a drawing and then sent another copy with an apology for having spoiled the first. Those are on offer for ÂŁ12500. Here’s the description from the catalogue: 

Both presentation copies, inscribed by the author to Anthony Powell. The first, in blue biro, in a scrawling hand: “For Tony, the host of Bats with deep respect from Evelyn” and with a half-page caricature drawing by the author, of a woman with curly hair and a veil and a man (self portrait?) in evening dress. The second copy is inscribed, conservatively and somewhat sheepishly: “Dear Tony, I am conscious of having abused your hospitality by defacing a copy of this story. I accordingly inscribe this with simple esteem & gratitude. Evelyn Easter Tuesday 1955.” Each copy with Powell’s bookplate to the front pastedown. An exceptional association linking two of the great novelists of the twentieth century.

Photos of of the presentation pages of both copies are included in the catalogue. Any of our readers having any thoughts as to what Waugh may be referring to in his mention of “the host of Bats” is invited to comment below.

Five other presentation copies to Powell are also on offer, extending from Remote People to The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold (which Powell deemed to be Waugh’s best novel). Prices range from £4500-7500. These books were among those in an earlier announcement that included other Powell presentation copies from this auction by Jonkers Rare Books in Henley-on-Thames. See earlier post.

Another unrelated but interesting item is a copy of a book by Geraldine Waite entitlted Colleagues and published in 1923 by Chapman and Hall. It has what looks like a near perfect dust jacket designed by Waugh. That one costs £1250.

Share
Posted in Bibliophilia, Items for Sale, Remote People, Scott-King's Modern Europe, The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Waugh Presentation Copies for Sale by Peter Harrington

Brideshead Reviewed in Brighton

Posted on June 8, 2016 by Jeffrey Manley

The Brideshead Revisited stage production opened earlier this week in Brighton and has been reviewed in today’s Brighton Argus. The review is by Neil Vowles who finds that the play falls short of expectations:

Without Oxford, Venice or Brideshead’s grand architecture, and with Sebastian more infantile than precocious, it’s hard to understand what seduces Charles so immersively…What is added by a very noticeable microphone is unclear in most scenes but the bold use of different single block colour backdrops is striking…In the second half the production grows stronger with a clever use of ropes and wheely chairs to recreate a ship in a storm as Julia and Charles are reunited while the staging of Charles’s new art exhibition is beautifully done. In the end the play is a pleasing reminder of the brilliance of Evelyn Waugh and Jeremy Irons and a pleasant introduction to those yet to savour either.

The Argus earlier printed an article in which its reporter Adrian Imms interviewed the play’s director Damian Cruden who explained why it took so long for a stage adaptation to appear:

Cruden puts the lack of stage time to date down to other directors being mindful of taking the wrong approach: “Perhaps it has been a case of worrying that, with such a loved novel, people will be disappointed by the approach taken. So these well-loved pieces require careful handling.”… He says, “Adaptation requires things to go – one can never get everything in. The job is to compress the content into particular moments that carry the bigger meaning. Finding the balance between showing and telling is key. To show what happens is far stronger than just telling the story.”

…He says, “I think this version sees the novel through the prism of our world now. It focuses much more on the discussion around faith and less about homosexuality. Our production is an abstraction, as are all stage plays, so we are much more engaged with the notion of suggestion and imagination in the form of the piece.”

The play continues in Brighton until Saturday after which it moves to Oxford where it opens next week on Tuesday, 14 June at the Oxford Playhouse.

NOTE (9 June 2016): Another review of the Brighton performance appeared in the online theatrical news site theatresoutheast.com. This is by Sammi O’Neill who concluded:

Trying to capture this monumental book in a mere two hours is bound to be a challenge and unfortunately the pacing of the play is disjointed, many of the early scenes are fast paced and don’t allow enough character development. Yet in the second act the production slows right down and conversations are detailed and much more enjoyable. If you can put aside your grand preconceptions, you won’t be disappointed with this slick adaptation of Brideshead Revisited.

 

Share
Posted in Brideshead Revisited, Theater | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Brideshead Reviewed in Brighton

Waugh Biographer to Appear at Bath Event

Posted on June 8, 2016 by Jeffrey Manley

The Theatre Royal, Bath, will host a lunchtime lecture on 3 November at which Philip Eade will talk about his new biography of Evelyn Waugh which will be published next month in the U.K.. The details are provided here. This same venue recently presented a one-week run of the English Touring Theatre’s production of Brideshead Revisited. Eade will also appear at a literary festival in Buxton on 13 July. See earlier post.

Share
Posted in Biographies, Books about Evelyn Waugh, Lectures | Tagged , | Comments Off on Waugh Biographer to Appear at Bath Event

Production to Start on BBC Decline and Fall Series

Posted on June 8, 2016 by Jeffrey Manley

Production will start in Wales next month on the BBC’s three-part TV adaptation of Waugh’s first novel Decline and Fall. Comedian Jack Whitehall has already been signed to play Paul Pennyfeather and negotiations are nearly concluded with actress Eva Longoria to play Margot Beste-Chetwynde, according to Deadline.com, an online entertainment newspaper. Whitehall is best known for his starring role as a naive schoolteacher in BBC-3’s long running comedy series Bad Education. U.S. actress Longoria has appeared in NBC’s  recently cancelled Telenovela series after making a name in the earlier series Desperate Housewives. The BBC series is being adapted by James Wood, directed by Guillem Morales and is produced by Cave Bear and Tiger Aspect. See earlier post.

Share
Posted in Decline and Fall, Television, Television Programs | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Production to Start on BBC Decline and Fall Series