Identity area
Reference code
Beaton/D/1/9/66
Unique identifier
GB 275 Beaton/D/1/9/66
Title
Transcript of review: "Gainsborough's life in drama form entertaining qualities"
Date(s)
- 14 September 1959 (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
2p paper
Context area
Name of creator
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Typescript transcript of a mixed review of Landscape with Figures performed at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin, from the London Times, written in Dublin. Beaton's dialogue is praised, but the "excellent central dramatic theme" - how an artist by his devotion to the ideal brought catastrophe on his family - is lost in subplots. Wolfit played the role of Gainsborough in a "gruff, honest John Bullish way", and Christine Finn's madness was not overdone. The play has "entertaining qualities" and "may appeal to commercial audiences" but "might so easily have succeeded on a higher level".