Coming soon to Drayton Arms Theatre, Susie Lindeman’s one-woman show SARAH Quand Même about the French actress Sarah Bernhardt has been described as a “mesmerising performance, not to be missed”.
Where: Drayton Arms Theatre
When: 20 Feb-2 Mar (not Sun or Mon)
Ticket link: http://www.draytonarmstheatre.co.uk/sarah
Susie tells us more about Sarah and the inspiration behind the show.
Sarah Bernhardt is a legendary theatre performer from the late 19th century and turn of the 20th. Why tell her story now?
Somehow, as a living legend in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the name Sarah Bernhardt remains famous. So, in this, the centenary year of her death, her legend continues into the 21st century.
The show premiered in Paris, where the Petit Palais had an exquisite and extensive exhibition of everything Sarah, showing her personal and professional persona in astonishing detail.
But in the world of stage and screen (as she was the first film star) she fascinates and inspires anew- as revealed by Barbra Streisand’s frequent tributes to her in her new autobiography.
The press today still herald her as the world’s first superstar, creating ‘celebrity, inspiring Monroe, Madonna, and Lady Gaga. But for me, there was something more to explore and express.
In recent years it seems that female characters, when presented as strong woman, are often depicted as demonstrating masculine principles of physical and mental strength, asserting power in a muscular way.
Yet, I became interested in another power that I believe should not be lost, and can be greater.
Sarah was small, spirited, and for this was often dismissed, yet her determination and daring to be true to herself, her feminine wiles and will onstage and off, her instinct and emotional depths took her far beyond the heights in a man’s world.
She and her spirit should be celebrated and discovered as being ahead of her time.
As writer and performer, how easy has it been to inhabit Sarah’s personality, and how much of the story is invention?
I think writing the play from the inside of the character made inhabiting Sarah very personal. It is like she has been guiding the story and myself.
I’ve been very fortunate in working with wonderful French actors, agent and writers, including Yasmina Reza and Jean-Claude Carrière, so the French aspect was fine to slip into.
Yet, I did hesitate on the best direction of play’s narrative, until a breakthrough revealed the key would be to have 2 characters.
Entwining Sarah and Lysiane (her little granddaughter) throughout inspired the drama to come alive in the present and for what happens to be unexpected to each other, and therefore to an audience.
Like Sarah herself, this is an experience of the spirit and heart, and the drama is felt rather than simply witnessed.
I wanted the action to move, change and surprise each character. I did create an artistic premise, bringing dramatic license to true-life situations, yet most of the action and dialogue is taken from real life through Sarah’s own words, or those of Lysiane.
Everything aligns with research, but there is a new note to what is generally known of Sarah’s family, but actions and consequences chime with Sarah’s inner truth.
SARAH Quand Même is an 80 minute one act play. How did you choose what to include and what to leave out?
Good question! Sarah herself had a myriad of facets, but I wanted to reveal something rarely discussed, so I was interested in dramatising Sarah’s internal story, in relation to all she was seen to be, and to highlight an aspect that is rarely considered.
More than being the first superstar and inventing celebrity as the concept we are immersed in today, Sarah reveals her need for humanity.
I have a brilliant director for this, Wayne Harrison, who is also one the best dramaturges in the world, and so encouraged and guided me to create a visceral play, always avoiding straight exposition.
Through rehearsals, the script’s evolution continued, and anything that is not emotionally potent to Sarah or Lysiane, or not connecting internally, it is not included.
Several events and years of Sarah’s life are referenced, rather than dramatised in detail because it is not in the lens of my focus, which is that the dynamic of the play flows towards an untold truth.
I do explore her arc through her first to final performances, but within I follow a thread infused throughout.
This leads to an unexpected denouement and ending, which seemed to write itself. I didn’t know the true heart of the piece until it was finished. Even Sarah is surprised.
You’re at the Drayton Arms, one of London tiniest and most intimate theatres. Do you enjoy performing in these kind of spaces?
Yes, I enjoy performing in intimate spaces as an audience is closer to the detail within a character and therefore more richly moved.
When on West End stages or a large stage, such as at the Sydney Opera House, the distance can dilute poignancy and nuance.
However, although the Drayton Arms Theatre is small, it does have a lovely depth of stage that particularly works for SARAH Quand Meme.
Also, The Drayton Arms Theatre is long established and iconic, being part of a 19th century establishment already connected with Sarah’s era and close to the French area, and where she resided when in London.
The entrance walls are hung with portraits of English theatrical legends, Ellen Terry and Henry Irving, who are part of Sarah’s story in the play.
This theatre is like a jewel box, wherein Wayne, along with lighting designer Martin Kinnane and production designer Justin Nardella, will create magic in a striking production.
What would you like audiences to take away from Sarah’s story in SARAH Quand Même?
Oh, I’d like them to feel, and find some inspiration or insight that resonates in their own lives. It’s not so much what happened to Sarah, but how she happened in the world that counts.
I hope that audiences discover something new and feel that Sarah’s spirit is as modern today as it was in her time.
Some have only heard of her name, and some haven’t heard of her at all- but experiencing Sarah’s story here, offers a wonderful chance to discover and decide why and how she matters today.
Sarah really affected millions emotionally, and public treated her passing as we did Princess Diana’s.
So, ‘La Divine’, as Sarah was called, makes us wonder who next might reach legendary status to last over centuries.