Identity area
Reference code
Beaton/D/1/9/22
Unique identifier
GB 275 Beaton/D/1/9/22
Title
Letter to Beaton
Date(s)
- 14 July 1952 (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
5p paper
Context area
Name of creator
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The one great quality of Gainsborough Girls is its "period charm". Burton puts the failure of the Brighton production down to three faults: Beaton's dialogue, the miscasting of Angus, and a production that sacrificed everything for the sake of efficiency. Burton approves of the rewritten dialogue which "strikes a happy balance between the 18th century and modern English". He is insistent that Beaton's "personal idiom", be preserved at all cost. A successful period play must convey "Ease, Grace, and Precision". The director must have knowledge of the period to convey a "sense of the past" or else the production will fail.