~ E D U C A T I O N P A C K ~

CONTENTS

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EDUCATION PACK PART 1:BACKGROUND

. Page 4 ,The story of The Woman in White - Synopsis: Act One

. Page 6 ,The story of The Woman in White - Synopsis: Act Two

. Page 8 ,Wilkie Collins: The Man

. Page 9 ,Wilkie Collins: The Dramatist

. Page 10 ,Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens

. Page 11 ,Who was the original Woman in White?

EDUCATION PACK PART 2:THE PRODUCTION

. Page 14 ,Interview with Andrew Lloyd Webber (Composer)

. Page 16 ,Woman in White’s steps to the stage - with Charlotte Jones (Book)

. Page 18 ,Interview with William Dudley (Set & Video Designer)

. Page 19 ,Looking at a scene in detail

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Interview with Daniel Kramer (Associate Director). Page 25 ,

Interview with Margie Bailey (Costume Supervisor). Page 27 ,

Interview with Simon Lee (Musical Supervisor)

EDUCATION PACK PART 3:PRACTICAL EXERCISES FOR TEACHERS & STUDENTS

. Page 29 ,

Introduction. Page 30 ,

Before you go. Page 31 ,

After your visit. Page 34 ,

A different perspective for English and History teachers. Page 35 ,

A teacher’s view of The Woman in White

PART 1:BACKGROUND

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THE STORY OFTHE WOMAN IN WHITE

SYNOPSIS: ACT ONE

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A dashing young man, Walter Hartright, is on hisway to take up the post of drawing master atLimmeridge House, Cumberland, when his nighttrain breaks down and he becomes stranded at aremote railway cutting. Waiting to be collected heencounters a mysterious woman dressed in white,desperate to share a chilling secret, but apparentlyunable to trust anyone. On the arrival of hiscarriage the woman disappears.

Walter is greeted on his arrival by the plainlooking Marian Halcombe, one of the nieces ofhis employer Mr Fairlie. She explains that she andher extremely attractive half-sister Laura are veryclose and that as she is the older of the two, feelsvery motherly towards her younger sibling. Onmeeting Laura, Walter is struck by how closely sheresembles the woman he met at the railwaycutting and tells the sisters of his adventure. Theyall agree that they should clear up the mystery ofThe Woman In White.

During the summer of drawing lessons it becomesapparent that both Marian and Laura havedeveloped feelings for Walter and that Walter hasfallen for Laura. As Laura and Walter struggle tokeep their emotion in check, Marian becomesaware of the growing relationship between the twoof them.

Returning from a drawing lesson the three getcaught up in the village’s harvest festivalcelebrations. At the church a young girl tellsWalter that she has seen a ghost in the churchyardand he goes to investigate.

Suddenly the woman in white appears. She tellsWalter that her name is Anne Catherick and thatshe has been severely ill-treated and put in anasylum by a man named Sir Percival Glyde.Taking fright, she disappears and Walter is left,shocked and alone.

Before Walter can tell either Marian and Lauraabout the encounter, Marian upsets Walter furtherby telling him that Laura is engaged to be marriedat the dying request of her father. He is morehorrified to discover that Laura’s fiancé is SirPercival Glyde.

Sir Percival, a charming man, arrives atLimmeridge House the next day and suggests thatthe previously agreed Spring wedding be broughtforward, to Christmas. Laura is reticent to agree,but at the insistence of Marian that Sir Percival isall she could want in a husband, she acquiesces.

Sir Percival’s arrival is swiftly followed by that ofhis friend and best man the charismatic CountFosco, an Italian gentleman of considerable sizeand personality. He is very taken with Marian andat dinner entertains the assembled family andfriends and toasts the happy couple. Suddenly,Walter interrupts the proceedings and accusesGlyde of ill-treating the woman in white, AnneCatherick. Glyde offers an explanation whichFosco and Mr Fairlie applaud, although Walter isnot convinced by Glyde’s story or Fosco andFairlie’s enthusiastic acceptance of the tale .Marian tells him to leave, and that nothing willstop Laura marrying Sir Percival. He agrees to gobut at his departure Laura appears and reaffirmsher love for him, giving him a sketch of herself hehad drawn earlier that Summer.

Laura and Glyde’s wedding at the local church isbriefly interrupted by an anguished scream of awoman, but soon the ceremony is over and thecouple leave for their honeymoon. The woman inwhite appears again and swears that she will savethe new Lady Glyde from her own fate at thehands of her betrayer, she leaves Limmeridge forGlyde’s estate - Blackwater House, Hampshire.

The couple return from their honeymoon to thewaiting Marian and Fosco and it becomes clearthat something is wrong, as Laura runs into thehouse without a word. Marian goes to Laura’sroom where Laura, bitterly angry with Marian foradvising her to marry Glyde, announces that herhusband wants only her money and that he beatsher.

Marian is devastated and struggles to come toterms with what has happened. She walks into thewoods and is greeted by Anne Catherick, thewoman in white. Anne tells Marian she will helpher save Laura, by revealing the secret she has, ifthey both meet at the same place the next day.

The following day, Sir Percival Glyde, in front ofFosco and Marian, threatens Laura with violence,when she refuses to sign an unknown document.Fosco persuades Glyde to leave Laura alone for awhile, but Marian and Laura are now very worriedby the situation they appear to be in.

Marian takes Laura to the meeting with AnneCatherick and Laura is amazed by their likeness.As they all begin to trust that they will be able to

change the situation together they are interruptedby the sound of men and dogs. The woman inwhite is terrified, believing the sisters havebetrayed her and though she tries to escape she iscaptured. Count Fosco and Glyde appear and asFosco sedates her, he tells the sisters that it is forAnne’s own good that she is returned to theasylum from which she escaped. Not believinganything they have been told the sisters becomedetermined to right this terrible wrong.

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Jill Paice as Laura Fairlie, Oliver Darley as Sir Percival Glyde and Michael Crawford as Count Fosco. Original production photography by Manual Harlan

THE STORY OFTHE WOMAN IN WHITE

SYNOPSIS: ACT TWO

Laura is distraught and Marian unable to bear hersister’s unhappiness leaves her alone in her roomto try and find out what Glyde and Fosco areplanning. Knowing that they are in the upstairsLibrary Marian creeps along the outside balconiesto the library windows and eavesdrops on theirconversation. A storm begins and Marian onlyhears portions of the plan to get Laura’s moneyand discovers only that Fosco has documentsabout Anne Catherick’s incarceration which hepromises to keep safe at his London home.

Shivering with wet and cold Marian returns to herown room but her presence is heard by Foscowho goes to her rooms to check on her. Findingher shivering (having been caught outside in therain whilst walking) her prescribes a sleepingdraught. Marian falls asleep but has a terribledream, in which all the events of the past yeartorment her. When she wakes, she senses all is notwell. Confirming her fears, Count Fosco entersand tells her that Laura, while sleep-walking, fellfrom an open window to her death. Mariancollapses. As Fosco helps her to recover heconfirms he is leaving for London and her givesher a card should she ever need him.

Laura’s funeral is held at Limmeridge Church. SirPercival Glyde appearing grief-stricken is ignoredby Marian and asks Mr Fairlie if papers can besigned immediately. Horrified at the idea MrFairlie makes Glyde agree to wait until June.Marian, at the graveside promises that she willfind Walter to help her get justice.

Walter is in London and down on his luck. Hetakes the sketch of Laura from his bag and it isclear he is still in love with her. Yet to survive, heis forced to pawn the picture,deciding that theywere never meant to be.

Marian arrives in London and is quiteoverwhelmed by her surroundings. Askingaround for Walter Hartright, she falls victim to aconman and is robbed of most of her belongings.Degraded and alone, she wanders the streets.Suddenly she sees Laura’s portrait in the windowof the pawnbroker’s. For the price of her coat and

bag she redeems the picture, and goes in search ofthe artist. Finding his rooms, she sinks down indespair as Walter arrives home, drunk. He is notpleased to see her, he has heard the news of LadyGlyde’s death and wants to just drown hissorrows.

Marian asks if he can forgive her for her mistrustof his motives and begs that he help her findprove Glyde’s guilt in Laura’s death. Moved byher pleading he agrees to help her, suggesting thatit is the woman in white who holds the key toGlyde’s guilt. Marian explains that Count Foscohas documents about Anne and that she knowsFosco would be pleased to see here at his Londonhome.

Meanwhile, Sir Percival is already gambling withLaura’s money. At a Casino, Fosco and Glydeargue about money due and owed. Angry atFosco, Glyde uses his winnings to pay him off,making it clear that their relationship is at an end.Fosco takes the money and leaves.

Accompanied by Walter, Marian dressed veryseductively, goes to Fosco’s chambers,determined to use her feminine wiles to trick theCount into revealing Anne’s whereabouts.

Fosco is at his lodgings packing for his departure.He is pleasantly surprised when Marian isannounced, and responds to her advances withenthusiasm. Asking him to shave before she kisseshim, Marian takes advantage of his absence fromthe room to search for any clues. She finds thedocument she needs, but fails to replace it beforehe re-enters. Fosco becomes suspicious, as shetries to make her excuses to leave. He realiseswhat has happened and asks her to return thedocument. She does so in fear for her safety, butFosco , lets her go. He continues to pack and thenleaves for the Continent.

Now knowing that Anne is held at an asylum inCumberland, Walter and Marian head north.They gain access to the asylum, pretending to berepresentatives of Sir Percival. Buoyed by theirsuccess and their closer relationship Marian is

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about to tell Walter of her feelings when theNurse appears to take them to Anne Catherick.Marian approaches the woman but it is not Anne.It is Laura. The sisters fall into each other’s arms,and Walter sees his love is still alive. Together theyrealise what Glyde and Fosco have done. Theyagree that they must go to neighbouringLimmeridge House and make Mr Fairlie revealwhat he knows about the story.

When they get there, Sir Percival Glyde has justleft with the signed documents giving him Laura’smoney. When Walter and Marian enter, and

demand answers to the puzzle of the woman inwhite, he at first refuses to help. When Laura isrevealed to him he tells them what he knows butthat they will never catch Glyde. Laura thencomes up with a plan to make Glyde reveal thetruth. They catch him at the railway cuttingwhere, playing the woman in white, Laura makesGlyde tell his story. It is Walter’s appearance thatforces Glyde to run into the train tunnel whichcauses his death. Laura and Walter reunite, withMarian giving thanks that the mystery of thewoman in white has been solved and justiceserved.

Maria Friedman as Marian, Jill Paice as Laura and Martin Crewes as Walter Hartwright. Original production photography by Manual Harlan

Wilkie Collins camefrom a family ofpainters and wasexpected to becomeone too. He grew upin Bayswater andHampstead wherehis parents had acottage not far fromConstable’s. Hisfather, WilliamCollins RA, wasalready a popularpainter oflandscapes andseascapes and hadalready sold one ofthem to the PrinceRegent (it hangs inSt James’s Palace tothis day). At thetime his friendConstable was stillhaving difficultyselling The Cornfield,now to be seen inthe NationalGallery.

Wilkie’s younger brother Charles followed hisfather, becoming an artist and a close friend of thePre-Raphaelites. Not so Wilkie. After five years inthe tea-trade where, as he said later, he began totry his hand at “tragedies, comedies, epic poemsand the usual literary rubbish”, he was called tothe Bar. The scribbling went on, however, and,just before his father died, he had the pleasure ofreading to him part of what was to be his firstpublished novel.

By his own determination he had broken free. Itwas a character trait that was a feature of Collinsthe man. In his private life and in his relationswith others he made no attempt to conform. Notthat he wanted to make a point; simply that hewas always content with his own decisions. Andthose decisions were often at odds with socialconvention.

His romantic attachments were conducted in thesame vein. He had two mistresses, Caroline

Graves and MarthaRudd. He is said tohave met Caroline innorth London inc i r c u m s t a n c e suncannily similar tothe beginning of hisnovel The Woman inWhite. He met Marthain Norfolk when hewas preparing hisnovel Armadale.

At the peak of hissuccess as a writerCaroline was livingwith him, with herdaughter Harriet, inGloucester Place,while Martha was in ahouse with their ownthree children almostround the corner. Thetwo mistresses nevermet and his friendswere simply left torespond to thesituation. Their wiveswould invite him to

dinner but would not enter Gloucester Place; andtheir husbands would gladly dine with Carolineand Wilkie without their wives. Charles Dickensput it succinctly: “we never speak of the femaleskeleton in that house”.

Martha, who was fifteen years younger thanCaroline, was always treated differently. When hewas with her Wilkie became William Dawson,barrister at law, and she became Mrs Dawson, thename no doubt taken from Dr Dawson in TheWoman in White. He always spoke of her as his“morganatic wife”. While she never visitedGloucester Place, their children William Charles,Constance Harriet and Marian (another namefrom The Woman in White) were often there.

Wilkie Collins and Martha have two great grandchildren alive today, Faith Clarke (nee Dawson)and Anthony West.

WILKIE COLLINS:THE MAN

Author: William Clarke

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Wilkie Collins

Wilkie Collins was a novelist who simply lovedthe theatre. Its attraction for him began in Paris asa youth when he rarely overlooked the latestplays. His active involvement, however, grew outof amateur theatricals at a friend’s house, wherehe took on the role of stage manager. Not longafterwards, through their mutual friend AugustusEgg the artist, he met Charles Dickens who wassearching for someone to fill a small part inanother amateur production. Collins took thepart and was soon dragooned into furtherchildren’s productions (once billed as ‘WilkiniCollini’). Only a few months later, thanks toDickens’ enthusiasm and pulling power, they wereboth on the stage together in a private fund-raising performance at Devonshire House in thepresence of Queen Victoria. It raised over £1000.

Collins had written no more than a biography ofhis father and his first novel Antonina when hefirst tried his hand at translating a French play. Hefollowed this by writing The Lighthouse – “aregular old style melodrama” as Dickens put it. Ithad only a modest success but was eventually puton at the Olympic Theatre, which was to see anumber of his later successes. Not long after heand Dickens collaborated again in writing TheFrozen Deep which was eventually put on at thesame theatre.

Some of Collins’s further writing for the theatreinvolved adapting some of his best known novelsfor the stage : No Name, Miss Gwilt (adapted fromArmadale), The Moonstone and, of course his owndramatic version of The Woman in White. In thecase of two plays, – Man and Wife and The New

Magdalen – he actually began the other wayround, starting the stage versions before thenovels.

Like all playwrights, Collins had his ups anddowns. His worst theatrical experience was at thefirst night of Rank and Riches when early in theplay some awkwardly phrased expressionprompted a few titters, which then provokedunrestrained laughter to such a degree that themain actor, George Anson, came in front of thecurtain at the interval and harangued theaudience. The cast never recovered for the rest ofthe play and were severely hooted at the end.

He had his successes too. On one occasion he hadtwo of his plays running in the West Endsimultaneously. Three of his plays found their wayto Broadway – No Name, The New Magdalen andThe Woman in White, two of which he attended inperson. At one of them he was greeted withacclaim at the end of the third act with shouts of‘Collins !, Collins !’. He was forced onto the stagewhere he thanked the New York audiencegracefully and politely reminded them that theyhad a further act to see.

It was a reception he experienced in London too.On the first night of The New Magdalen, he laterreported to a friend “the audience actually forcedme to appear in front of the curtains before theplay was half finished. I don’t think I ever sawsuch enthusiasm in a theatre before”.

Author: William Clarke

WILKIE COLLINS:THE DRAMATIST

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Wilkie Collins metCharles Dickens whenDickens was already ahousehold name andCollins a buddingwriter. They first got to know each otherwhen Dickens offeredCollins a small part in an amateurproduction he wasputting together. Itprospered and wasfollowed by others.Not long afterwardsDickens, who hadbeen a journalistbefore his success as anovelist and wasediting a literaryweekly HouseholdWords, enticed Collinsto contribute regularlyand before longWilkie was part of theeditorial staff.

It was, however,outside the office thattheir companionshipblossomed. Dickensbegan to invite Collinsto his holiday home in Boulogne, France and laterto a family apartment in Paris. And it was a shortstep from such family invitations to a muchlonger trip to Italy, a trois, with Augustus Egg, thepainter who had introduced them to each other inthe first place. On some of these foreign venturesDickens and Collins would take literary work withthem; on others the emphasis was on play. And,as Dickens’s marriage began to totter, his need fordiversions grew. Collins proved the rightcompanion.

They were quite open with each other. On oneoccasion Dickens dropped a line to Wilkie fromBoulogne, indicating that he would be in Londonfor a couple of days which he proposed “to passin a career of amiable dissipation and unbounded

licence in themetropolis. If youwill come andbreakfast with meabout midnight –anywhere – any day,and go to bed nomore until we fly tothese pastoralretreats, I shall bedelighted”.

On another occasion,just as he hadfinished writing LittleDorrit, he sent a noteto Wilkie: “I havefinished. On Sundaylast I wrote the twolittle words of threeletters each. Any madproposal you pleasewill find a wildlyinsane response in --yours ever”. Twoweeks later he waseven more insistent:“On Wednesday, Sir– on Wednesday – ifthe mind can deviseanything sufficientlyin the style of sybarite

Rome in the days of its culminatingvoluptuousness, I am your man………. I don’tcare what it is. I give (for that night only) to theWinds”. The rest is left to the imagination.

In later life their companionship grew moredistant, partly perhaps as Dickens’ protégée wasproving a little too successful and independent,but more likely it owed something to the wayDickens disapproved of his daughter Kate’smarriage to Collins’ younger brother Charles.Collins was thus torn between loyalty to hisbrother and the reaction of one of his closestfriends. His love for his brother would alwayscome first.

Author: William Clarke

WILKIE COLLINSAND

CHARLES DICKENS

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Charles Dickens

Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White caused asensation when it was published. But itsinspiration remained a mystery for nearly 70years.

“There, in the middle of the broad, bright highroad – there as if it had that moment sprung outof the earth or dropped from the heaven – stoodthe figure of a solitary woman, dressed from headto foot in white garments.”

This is the dramatic first appearance of theWoman in White, in Wilkie Collins’s best-lovedtale. From that moment, at the end of 1859, in thefirst week’s serialisation of the novel in CharlesDickens’s weekly publication, All the Year Round,Victorian London was in the grip of a mystery ithad rarely before encountered.

As the weeks went by it became a major talkingpoint all over town. Circulation soared. Soonthere were Women in White cloaks and bonnets,a Woman in White perfume and a Woman inWhite waltzes. And so it has gone on. There areeight different editions of the novel available inLondon today. North American audiences havebeen entertained by two film versions of thebook. And the largest single edition in theNineties has been a Russian edition of half amillion in Moscow.

Little wonder that Dickens regarded the firstappearance of the Woman in White as one of thetwo most dramatic moments in English literature.The true identity of the ghostly figure in the novelintrigued the nation. And so, ever since, has thereal identity of the girl on whom Collins based hisnovel.

Two women in particular vie for the title of theoriginal Woman in White. One is CarolineGraves, one of the novelist’s two mistresses,whom he met as a young widow in her earlytwenties. She lived with him in London, inGloucester Place, and elsewhere, and is buriedwith him in Kensal Green cemetery. The other isan obscure French widow, an account of whosetormented life Collins found in an 18th centuryFrench book picked up on a second-handbookstall on one of his Parisian jaunts with

Dickens. One of these two women provided astartling episode, which Collins plainlyembroidered, in the novel; the other providedone of the major keys to the plot.

Whether the actual meeting with Caroline (theonly known photograph of whom I discovered 10years ago in a bottom drawer at the home of oneof her descendants, in Streatham, South London)was exactly as portrayed in the novel is still opento conjecture. It is dependent on the story Collinshimself told his friends and on their owninterpretation many years later. The reported storycertainly improved with the telling, stretchingover a period of close on 70 years.

The real episode took place in the mid–1850swhen Collins and his brother Charles werewalking John Millais, the Pre-Raphaelite artist,back to his lodgings in Gower Street from theirmother’s house in Hanover Terrace, overlookingRegent’s Park. It was a moonlit summer’s evening.Suddenly, it is said, they heard a piercing screamfrom the garden of a nearby villa and from it camethe figure of “a young and very beautiful womandressed in flowing white robes that shone in themoonlight”. She ran past them and, while Millaissimply exclaimed “what a beautiful woman”,Collins dashed after her, saying, “I must see whoshe is and what is the matter”.

The odd thing is that none of the companionsspoke openly about the episode at the time.Collins himself never referred to it. Nor did hisbrother or Millais. What we know about theencounter comes from two people related to twoof the participants: Millais’s son, John Guille, andDickens’s youngest daughter, Kate, who latermarried Wilkie’s brother, Charles. John Guillefirst mentioned it 40 years after the event; Katekept quiet until nearly 70 years after it hadhappened.

John Guille simply reported that his father hadtold him that Collins disappeared with themysterious girl and when he met them next daytold them that the girl, who was of good birth andposition, had been held prisoner against her will.Tantalisingly, he gave no further explanation.It was left to Kate finally confirm that Collins

WHO WAS THE ORIGINALWOMAN IN WHITE?

William Clarke

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“had a mistress called Caroline, a young womanof gentle birth and the origin of the Woman inWhite”. Yet far from being the daughter of aCaptain Graves and of gentle birth, as she (andCollins) claimed, she came from a poorcarpenter’s family in a small village nearCheltenham and, when Collins met her, was ayoung widow with a small child.

That Collins would have her on his mind whilewriting The Woman in White, however, is hardlysurprising. She and her daughter were with him ashe struggled away at the story in asmall cottage, Church HillCottage, on the Ramsgate Roadoutside Broadstairs. Caroline wasalso with him later, no doubtpresiding in her usual décolletéwhite silk gown, at his celebratorypublishing party for his closestmale companions.

And the other widow? In this casewe have Collins’s own words. “Iwas in Paris”, he later reminisced,“wandering about the streets withCharles Dickens, amusingourselves by looking into theshops. We came to an oldbookstall – half shop and halfstore – and I found somedilapidated volumes of records ofFrench crimes, a sort of FrenchNewgate Calendar. I said toDickens, “Here is a prize.” So itturned out to be. In them I foundsome of my best plots. TheWoman in White was one.”We now know that the book wasRecueil des Causes Célèbres byMaurice Méjan and that the casethat intrigued him concernedMadame de Douhault, a widowwrongly imprisoned by herfamily. All the elements ofCollins’s novel (without revealingthe plot) occur: inheritance;incarceration; drugging; and evena white dress.

Which widow can claim thegreater influence on Collins’sgreatest novel? Both in his privatelife and in the novel Caroline

provided some of the mystery he encouraged. Yetmy moment goes on the unfortunate Madame deDouhault. She unwittingly provided him with thekey to his plot and one of its prime characters,and no one can deny that for him the plot was thekernel of every novel he wrote. He said to himself.“The first step in the Méthode Collins,” heexplained to a critic, “is to find a central idea. Thesecond is to find the characters.” The Frenchwidow did not fail him.

This article first appeared in The Daily Telegraph.

Caroline Graves

PART 2:THE PRODUCTION

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Andrew Lloyd Webber explained to Jeremy Austin in2004 why he still holds out hope for original musicals andhow he coped with the weight of expectation.

You would think having a show open in the WestEnd imminently and a self-financed multi-milliondollar movie close to wrapping would be enoughto keep a person occupied.

Not so Andrew Lloyd Webber, TheWoman in White opened inSeptember 2004 and The Phantom ofthe Opera movie in December 2004.

As the musicians sort themselvesout, he retires to the upstairs roomof the plush recording studios inIslington and becomes the perfecthost, making cups of coffee andtalking, passionately and geniallyabout new work, old work andMadonna.

The Woman In White is LloydWebber’s first composition since TheBeautiful Game, the musical written with Ben Eltonthat centred around a football match betweenCatholics and Protestant in Ireland and failed toignite critical or public passion. In fact, his showprior to that, Whistle Down the Wind, also had adisappointingly short run by Lloyd Webber’sstandards, running for 3 years. Does that mean thatthe pressure is on for The Woman in White to be ahit?

The success of Cats was the sort of thing that onlyhappens once and to only a handful of creativepeople. Except Lloyd Webber, to whom ithappened twice. The Phantom of the Opera has nowmade more money worldwide than any otherartistic enterprise, including the biggest blockbustermovie. Lloyd Webber is, however, realistic enoughnot to expect it a third time.

“There will never be another Phantom of the Opera inmy career because everything that happened with itis so prodigious and the statistics are mindblowing,so you can’t really think about them. I neverthought when I wrote Phantom that it would endup the way that it has,” he says.

“I remember when I wrote Cats I thought, ‘well

that’s that, there is never going to be another Cats’and then to have the luck of having two of them Ithink ‘thank you very much’, because you are luckyif you get that at all.”

With that in mind, Lloyd Webber hadconcentrated on pleasing himself first and foremostby trying to expand his vocabulary as a composer

during the creation of the Woman InWhite – a journey he attempted withThe Beautiful Game.

He explains: “I tried with TheBeautiful Game and I failed butcertainly I want The Woman in Whiteto inhabit its own musical languageand its own textures. In the firstthree minutes I have to get peopleinto its own world or I have lost. Theorchestration is very important.”

For the plot, Lloyd Webber hasmerged the start of Wilkie Collins’story with that of The Signalman – aCharles Dickens short story in the

Gothic horror mould that the composer onceoffered to turn into a piece for the EnglishNational Opera.

“I think the Dickens story gives me a wonderfuladvantage in it makes the whole thing so spooky. Ifyou think about those Victorian telegraph wiresthat used to be said they were singing in the windbecause they used to hum. So we start with a seriesof humming sounds. The theatre goes dark, we arein a railway cutting and all around the theatre willbe the humming of the wires. It is a musicalconceit,” he says.

“But the great joy for me is not being the producerso I can do things like orchestrations. I loveproducing. I had great fun producing BombayDreams and hopefully being an advisor to [itscomposer] AR Rahman but I really am a composerat the end of the day and I never get involved if Ican with the business – it is one thing I don’t enjoydoing. I am at the moment feeling free now in away that I haven’t before.”

This article appears with kind permission from The Stage Newspaper. August 2004

INTERVIEW WITHANDREW LLOYD WEBBER

Composer, The Woman in White

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Maria Friedman as Marian HalcombeEdward Petherbridge as Mr Fairlie

The ensemble. Original production photography by Manual Harlan

As the new musical prepared for preview in 2004,Charlotte Jones, its writer, opened her diary to revealevery detail of rehearsals.

THE call came through my agent. The producerSonia Friedman was eager for me to meet AndrewLloyd Webber to discuss a musical version ofWilkie Collins’s The Woman in White. I thought:“Will I really have to read another PenguinClassic?” Since completing my English degree Ihave had an aversion to anything longer than 400pages that comes with an introduction. So it waswith some trepidation that I came to read thenovel two days before I was to meet Andrew.

I needn’t have worried. An international bestsellerat the time of publication at 1860, it still makes athrilling and breathless read. It works as a murdermystery, a psychological thriller, a detective noveland a domestic love story. I told Andrew: “Youknow, I’ve no idea how to write the book to amusical.” He said not to worry. When he, DonBlack and Christopher Hampton were writingSunset Boulevard he had three houses in the Southof France; each had a house to himself and theywould meet up for lunch. I thought, “Thatdoesn’t sound too bad.”

WEEK ONEEighteen months later after various “working”trips to Andrew’s homes in New York, Ireland andMajorca, and a lot of very nice lunches, the scriptand the score of The Woman in White exist and it istime to hand it over to the actors.

The principals and creative team meet at theJerwood Space, near Waterloo. I’m told thatmusical theatre actors are a different breed.“Twirlies” they call them. On first impressionthey all just look slightly slimmer, prettier and cansing as well as act. Some things aren’t fair in thislife. I have just discovered that I am pregnant. Iam suffering much worse nausea than I did withmy son. It’s all very bad timing. I am exhausted.I’ve already put on half a stone and suddenly I amliving in the land of the sylph.

The Woman in White is played by an Americanactress, Angela Christian. She is whippet-thinwith freckles and fierce red hair. She moves like athoroughbred horse who might kick at any point.Perfect for our “is she mad or isn’t she?” heroine.Our “juve lead” Laura (Jill Paice) looks like MegRyan, except taller and more attractive. The hero,Walter Hartright, a drawing master, is played byAustralian hunk Martin Crewes. He smouldersquietly in a corner of the room.

There have already been two workshopperformances and Trevor Nunn, the director, hasdelivered a talk that encompasses the novelist andhis relationship with Charles Dickens (friendly),his love life (bigamous) and the differencesbetween our adaptation and the novel (fairlyextensive).

At the end, Trevor asks David [Zippel, the lyricist]and me if we have anything to add. David pleadsthat he is on New York time. I glance at thecompany who all look, well, hungry, and tellTrevor that he has it all pretty well covered.

After lunch, the cast read the script as if it were aplay. The story begins in a remote railway cuttingin Cumbria in 1870. A mysterious woman dressedin white appears “out of the night” and accostsyoung Hartright, as he is on his way to givelessons to two sisters. She tells him that she has asecret and then runs away.

WEEK TWOWe have the meet-and-greet with hundreds ofpeople in the room. Big musicals are machines.We go around introducing ourselves. Andrewfinishes with: “I’m Andrew and I’m thecomposer.” Everyone laughs. He sits on thenearest possible chair, which resembles a throne.Bill Dudley reveals his set design. He has usedvideo projections before but never on this scale.It’s like being in the IMAX. On one scene wemove from a country house to a formal garden, towilder countryside, to a waterfall in a Cumbrianvillage.

WOMAN IN WHITE’SSTEPS TO THE STAGE

CHARLOTTE JONES’ DIARY

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WEEK THREEMichael Crawford is charming and giggly. Heplays the scheming Count Fosco exactly aswritten by Collins: immensely fat, with apenchant for bonbons and white mice. In theshow he will wear a fat suit. But such is hisphysical dexterity as an actor that within a weekyou see him piling on metaphorical weight, hisjowls descending, his gait slowing.

He and Maria Friedman are rehearsing theseduction scene that we invented for them. Mariaplays Marian Halcombe. Marian is THE PART.She is clever, funny, resourceful, brave,misguided, vulnerable. Michael and Maria areOlympic gold artists. The scene is going to be ahighlight.

WEEK FOURWe move to Alford House in Kennington as theroom at Jerwood is not big enough toaccommodate our stage. We have a revolve for thefirst time. The show has six stage managers andthey are working their socks off. Every night afterrehearsals there is a dry technical run at thetheatre. By the time we are open, the show willhave had eight weeks of technical rehearsals, sodemanding and ground-breaking is the set.

I find an ally in our associate director, DanielKramer. His incisive comments about The Womanin White’s secret lead to rewrites. He is clever andfunny.

After rehearsals, we have a script meeting todiscuss rewrites. It gets a bit edgy. I am remindedthat I am working with two of the titans ofmusical theatre. Andrew has been for the mostpart a courteous and sweet collaborator andTrevor Nunn is a wonderful dramaturg anddiplomacy itself. But as experienced as they are,the heat is getting to them.

WEEK FIVESonia Friedman is making her presence felt. Wecall her Sonia Jessica Parker, in homage to herenviable sense of style. She is the most glamorousproducer on the West End, and one of the mostpowerful. She has the requisite Jekyll and Hydepersonality of the producer – lovely one moment,tough and uncompromising the next.

She appears to never eat or indeed sleep. She tellsme that Rigby and Peller are making her a corsetfor the first night on 15 September. I am jealous.I will be 18 weeks pregnant and at that “is shepregnant or simply fat?” stage. It will be my firstreal red carpet event.

Trevor, who is another workaholic, in rehearsals isextraordinary to watch. He very much shapes theaction, doesn’t leave the actors much space whilegiving them the impression that they are makingtheir own decisions. Actors, like toddlers, needtheir boundaries. He knows his stuff.

We have our final run-through. Michael Crawforduses a rat and a mouse for the first time – he sings,pirouettes and makes the rat travel up and downhis outreached arms. He is a class act.

The piece really seems to work as both a thrillerand romance. The score is clever and varied: lush,melodic one minute, dark and edgy the next. Twowomen who work in marketing have come towatch it and are in tears by the end. Theatmosphere is buzzy and up. All this before weput the actors in costume and the orchestra takesover from the rehearsal room piano.

If I can only find a slimming and glamorouskaftan for the opening night, things are lookinggood.

This piece appears courtesy of The Independentnewspaper.

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. 17 ,

Julia Potts met with Bill Dudley inearly 2005 to discuss the innovative,complex and imaginative processeswhich went into designing TheWoman in White’s award-winningset and video material. In a roompacked full of computers, books andpictures, Bill explained how the designhad evolved, and what went intorealising it on stage.

DESIGNINGTHE SET ANDVIDEOWhat was you brief for this show?

Well, first of all, I wasn’t allowed to read thenovel! I did dip in but they wanted me to see thescript in its own right and of course, the flavourwas all there. Everyone I knew knew more aboutit than I did!

How did this process evolve and why was it chosen forThe Woman In White?

Three years ago Trevor Nunn asked me to designTom Stoppard’s trilogy, The Coast of Utopia. Tom(Stoppard) said he’d written it like a movie, andmade no apology for that fact. He didn’t want ablack box set either, but a strong sense of locationand time and space. I had had an interest in 3Dsoftware, such as they use on films like Toy Story,for a while, and I perceived that they went beyondthe banality of games. I thought it had fine artapplications. I animated one of the scenes and

projected it on to the model. Youcould project it on to a curvedscreen which makes it 3D – andthat persuades the eye that this is‘real’. Anyway, they loved it andthat’s how I designed The Coast ofUtopia.

Andrew Lloyd Webber saw thatproduction and decided to do TheWoman in White like that. It’s veryatmospheric, and can changescene rapidly, so it really appealedto him for this show. In theinterim, I had used the techniqueworking with Roman Polanski,and again on Terry Johnson’s

Hitchcock Blonde. I don’t think anyone else is usingthis technique just yet, judging by all the talks I’mbeing asked to give in different countries!

We are currently working on the New Yorkproduction, and changing the London one, so it’sstill very alive for me. We’re hoping to make iteven darker and scarier.

We have 8 projectors. The angle is very steep, butit won’t distort because the computer works it allout in advance. We’re at a point where anyone canwork with it.

As an example of the time it takes, I’m workingon a composite image of an attic littered with oldtoys and artifacts which will open the show. So farI’ve spent two weeks on it. The ideas areintroduced to actors as big print outs put upagainst the model box.

By the third preview we realised the show waslacking a final cathartic moment, and that’s whenwe introduced the train crash as a big visualmoment.

The story of the software is interesting. Itoriginated with NASA, which had to offer someway for the great American public to visualizewhere the Voyager expeditions were going tojustify the enormous amount of tax payer’smoney that was being spent on it! It was thentaken on by the military, and then by Hollywood.Three great American industries!

INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM DUDLEYSet and Video Designer

The set model

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The church was made from plans from theChurch Commissioners. It’s a winter wedding, Iwanted you to be able to imagine you could seeeveryone’s breath.

The scene: what we needed to achieve was abridge between two distinct phases in the play.

The end of the summer idyll, marked by theharvest and the arrival of Sir Percival Glyde, andthe beginning of the nightmare. The cameratracks down the valley and into the church, andthe golden light starts to fade into somethingcolder and more foreboding.

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What is the practical process involved?

We had a team of 9 on this show; hardwarepeople, video editors, technical draftsmen andprogrammers.

The wonderful thing is that you can slice imagesand line up projectors to project at the samescreen perfectly – because it’s all digital.

There were enormous pressures of time. Westarted working on it in May 2003, but I wasinvolved other projects in the Autumn of thatyear, and then we had from January – September2004. The pure logistics were huge. Trevor Nunnwas largely responsible for making dynamic senseof it all; there really were lots of parallels to themovies, like storyboards etc. The music hadlargely not been written when we started work, sowe were making huge assumptions about thetimings needed. It was like post-production in themovies, but in production time! Rehearsal noteschange things every day and it was really, reallyhard. We were finding our way with the mediumwhilst all the usual changes were emerging.

One crucial point was that our actors, beinghuman beings, are a fixed size! So when youswing through a landscape, you have to re-scaleeverything accordingly. You can’t zoom in onsomeone’s face for a headshot like you do in themovies!

How did you research your period?

Well, it’s absolutely Pre-Raphaelite. And we had areal stroke of luck. I went to meet Andrew (Lloyd-Webber), and happened to take along two bookson Atkinson Grimshaw, a relatively unknownartist. Happily, Andrew turned out to be one ofthe major collectors of his work! It meant we wereon the same wavelength. The quality of thesepaintings is amazing; the sense of landscape, thesense of space, the sense of what light should bedoing were all marvellous. It was a much smokieratmosphere, and Grimshaw captures that socompletely.

COSTUMESThere are really three great periods of theVictorian age when it comes to costumes – andit’s always the crinolines that get cheap laughs!They can be kind of ludicrous. The novel is, Ibelieve, set slightly earlier, but we decided to shiftit to the late 1860s, when the dresses werebeautiful, and allowed greater freedom ofmovement. Drawings of the pre-Raphaelites showhow they encouraged the women to dress‘rationally’, so the clothes didn’t force the figure.These women in our story were much more free;they have the run of their house, which isdominated by their spirit, not Mr Fairlie’s. ThePre-Raphaelites were easy within theirhouseholds, good to their servants, and wanted toepitomise ‘responsible wealth’.

An aerial view of the village Limmeridge

Designing headstones for the graveyard

Painting by Atkinson Grimshaw

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It was also the period of annilene dyes, whichreally was a revolution in colour (and which alsomeant less patterning, of course). The Pre-Raphaelites have explosions of colour in theirwork, so we knew this production mustn’t bemonochromatic. Men’s clothes were good too;it’s before the over-mannering of tailoringcharacteristic of the late nineteenth century, andstill throws back to the Regency period.

I had been worrying about Count Fosco, andfrankly, putting off doing him, but one day I justsat down at the computer and drew him! He’s anamalgam of Caruso and someone out of The

Godfather, a Donfrom Sicily! Hedresses very likethe early operastars, and his hat (ahigh domedfedora), is crucialbecause it’s totallyindicative of anItalian. We hadgreat fun withMichael andFosco. We hadhim laser-scannedand measured, andmodeled the ‘fat’to him. The fat suitactually has ratruns in it and isw a t e r p r o o f e d

against mouse pee! Michael, in some ways,actually worked out some of his scenes in thefitting room as he got used to the way things felt.We also gave him dancing pumps, whichemphasises his foreignness. Fosco is a confidentfat man. In the 1860s, fat was good, a sign ofstature of wealth, which is hard to appreciate inthis day and age. Fosco was a philanderer, a finefigure of a man!

We had costumes made all over the place –somesuits in Hong Kong, shoes fromCzechoslovakia…

What themes were paramount for you?

A sense of immersion in the space. The audienceis more with them because they know what’sbeyond the fourth wall. Things are done to thesewomen; the world moves around them bothliterally and metaphorically. They become quarryfor the hunters in one scene, which sums up somuch about the story. We get a much bettercontrol of atmosphere through this design, Ithink.

I think this style of design for a piece of theatrecan really work for younger people in particular.They understand film and games, so are veryvisually literate, but possibly less informed aboutthe wider world. They have less awareness of anypart of society that’s not their exact same agegroup. I really fear the segregation of ages that weseem to have now.

Original sketch of Count Fosco

. 21 ,William Dudley design of the interior of Limmeridge church

Kids are familiar with navigating space. Somearcade games have three screens which really givesthe 3D impression, but the game’s intention issimply to win a race. But what it’s really about istraversing a space, and discovering people in it –and that’s what cinema is about too. It’s also whattheatre used to do. For hundreds of years, all thetechnical minds in theatre had been trying topush what technology they had to get the besteffects they can. Then in the middle of thetwentieth century, the ‘just bare boards andpassion’ argument won through. But this seems tome to go against what the audience want – theywant visual treats. Why do we always precede theword ‘spectacle’ with ‘mere’?! But the audience isvoting with their feet – and surely that’s a truereflection?

PERSONAL HISTORYAt art school I was also involved in a greatamateur theatre company in Islington, whichinvolved people of all ages. It was really takenseriously. It helped me through that transitionfrom a teenager to an adult.

After my Fine Art degree I did a postgrad inTheatre Design. My first job was designing Hamletwith Alan Bates and Celia Johnson for theNottingham Playhouse, and which thentransferred to the West End - which a was prettywonderful start, I grant you! I then went on to bethe resident designer at the Royal Court. I’veworked on and off at the National Theatre since1971, and I’ve now designed getting on for 60shows.

Scenes from London

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Please could you outline your role in this production, itsmain responsibilities and creative inputs?

My role as Associate Director was primarily toassist Trevor Nunn in any capacity he needed –from the stereotypical coffee runs tocommunicating to his designers and actors, myjob was to help Trevor however he needed. Agreat deal of this was filtering what informationcame before Trevor; his job is extremely stressfulwith every decision ultimately on his shoulders.My job was to filter what ideas and questions heheard and when; and as I began to learn fromTrevor, with such stress all about, timing iseverything. If someone asked Trevor a questionin a moment when he clearlyhad another priority, theirquestion had a small chance ofbeing heard let alone answered.This in turn meant that my jobwas also to help the variousother department heads such asthe Producer, the Designers andStage and Company Managers.Recognizing they all neededessential information fromTrevor more often than anydirector might like, my job wasto hear their questions and findevery key opportunity tocommunicate with Trevorefficiently and effectively. Mycreative input was always onoffer but only stated whenasked. From Trevor to Sonia tothe writers and designers, I always had an opinion,but my opinion was kept to myself unless asked.I was not an equal creative force and nor shouldan associate be. I’m a go-between to helpeliminate stress for Trevor and his collaborators.

At what stage did you come on board?

I was hired about one month before rehearsalsbegan so I missed all prep for the show, reallyentering into the process on day one of rehearsals.As I had just assited Trevor on his Hamlet at theOld Vic however, I did have a nice 3 monthworking relationship with him under my belt.

How did you and Trevor approach the rehearsalprocess? How did the rehearsals work practically, andwhat techniques did you employ which may be specific tothis show?

Trevor’s approach exists before and independentof me. He employed a similar process on thisshow as on Hamlet. He begins with the history ofthe author’s world and the material on day one.He then drives through the entire show, putting alose but simple and crystal clear blockingstructure on the show, answering all of the actorsquestions and exploring their ideas whileidentifying each relationship and story pointalong the way which the story must have to be

clear for the audience. At theend of this… say 2 weeks, hethen immediately worksthrough the show again, top tofinish. In this second workthrough, the actors are mostlyoff book and struggling moreintimately with the characters,their emotional lives andrelationships and their ownimpulses. Trevor hones hisblocking in even more,streamlining the movementand story that the audience willsoon follow. After these twoslow workthroughs of the show,the company have their firstrun – usually on a Saturday.From here, Trevor sees whatessentials he must address in

the final, third workthrough which seems tohappen in one quick, focused week. The nextSaturday is the first run for the production teamand followed by few days of working and runningto imprint the show’s arc in the actor’s emotionaland physical bodies. Technicals being the nextlayer. I wouldn’t say the show required anyunusual techniques specific to the show. Thestory and style are somewhat melodramatic, butTrevor allowed the actors to find this via themusic really, no specific work was done on thestyle.

INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL KRAMERAssociate Director

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How did you help the acting company get used to thevery complex and innovative design behind thisproduction?

I continually told them how good they lookedonstage!!! Seriously, the best thing I was able todo was to keep everyone’s confidence and moraleup. Technicals bring out many insecurities foractors; there not much I can do except be therefor them when they have a problem and ensurethem the note has been taken and will be dealtwith – and constantly reinforce how wonderfulthey look and are!

Which themes are paramount for you in the production?

The illusion of truth.

What, do you think, is the most important role playedby an Associate Director?

Filtering and prioritising the information flow toand from the director.

What day-to-day involvement do you now have withthe show?

I watch the show once a week to ensure quality.When covers are on or need extra work orreplacements are put in, I am at those rehearsalswith the Resident Director to ensure Trevor’svision is upheld as are the Producer’s standards.Moreover, it’s important that the ensemblecontinue to feel held by Trevor via me. Theyknow they can turn to someone if artisticproblems develop.

What, for you, makes The Woman in White special?

Getting to be a part of the world premiere of anAndrew Lloyd Webber musical, directed byTrevor Nunn that’s as exciting as it gets at age 27I feel.

If you were able to talk to a student coming to see thisproduction for the first time, what would you advisethem to really look or listen out for?

The way in which Andew’s music expressesemotion and story through melody. It’s such arare quality to find in musical theatre. Heventures deeply into this territory and succeedstriumphantly.

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Can you take us through the key elements of the role of acostume supervisor please, focusing especially on therelationship with the designer?

I’ve worked with Bill (Dudley, Set Designer) forabout 7 years, so our working relationship on thisshow was built on a knowledge of each other. Myrole is to facilitate his designs, and to realise them.I purchase fabrics, and then employ the bestmakers for each particular costume or style.

Bill involves his Costume Supervisors very earlyon – a few months in advance usually. He wantedThe Woman in White to be entirely pre-Raphaelite.Luckily he has an extensive library, so lots of ideascame from there. We were also blessed with accessto Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s own collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, which is one of the best inthe world. Otherwise I would normally go to anexhibition or gallery for research. Bath CostumeMuseum is always a wonderful place to delve intoas well.

For this show I had in the region of 30 differentmakers. Bill has specific makers he likes to use; it’svery important to find makers who areempathetic. There were about 4 core makers, butwith a much larger team covering the full range ofrequirements. Over 400 costumes needed to bemade for this show, once you include all theunderstudy and crew costumes as well.

There were 5 weeks of rehearsal, during which wehave to organise and complete all the fittings. Thefabrics and designs are all ready at Week 1, but thefitting process is more complicated, and has towork around all the other demands on the actors’time.

How much influence do the actors have over theircostumes?

Quite a lot. Bill enjoys putting them in costumesthey feel comfortable in. In terms of this period,we went for the ‘Pre-Raphaelite’ look, the‘Victorian thinking woman’, the age ofenlightenment, which meant no crinolines, hairdown not up. This was very significant in terms oftheir movement because there are no confinedcostumes. Bill’s sympathies certainly lie with the actors!

What is the process?

I start by making a costume plot for the entireshow, which basically states who is on in whichscene and what they need to be wearing. Thesereally come into their own with the weddingscene, for example, where we had to changeLaura’s costume on stage. These sorts of thingscan be done, if they are done carefully – and youdon’t always need to resort to Velcro! Having theright amount of dressers is crucial (people whomanage the costume changes and quick changeson stage). They are managed by the WardrobeMistress, who works directly from the costumeplot.

Could we focus on one actor, say Maria Friedman(Marian Halcombe) and could you tell us in detailabout her costumes?

We had great fun with Maria! We talked a lotbefore rehearsals started. She was very happyabout the Pre-Raphaelite style. We discussedcolours, and brought a fabric chart to the initialmeeting. We also had to make her resemblesomething from the book (although Bill had beenasked not to read it!). We wanted to give theimpression of a highly intelligent woman, acultured thinker, and therefore her clothes neededto be unfussy, and quite plain. We had great funfitting her up – fittings could go on for two tothree hours sometimes! You have to achieve abalance with these frocks and make the actressfeel like a real woman, not a trussed up doll.Maria gave lots of feedback as well, such as thefact that she wasn’t keen on hats, so we looked atdifferent types of head-wear, such as the snoodshe wears in London. The fabrics we chose in theend were wools and silks.Hair-wise, we spent quite a long time discussingher wigs. In the book, Marian is very dark-haired,but this would have swamped her. We found abrilliant wig maker who got it just right, andadded to the youthfulness of the character. Mariawas thrilled when it all came together.

INTERVIEW WITH MARGIE BAILEYCostume Supervisor

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COUNT FOSCOIt was very refreshing that Michael (Crawford,Count Fosco) wanted to go the whole way withno limitations. We had a long telephoneconversation on fat people whom he mightresemble. Trevor (Nunn, Director) wanted Foscoto be attractive. We developed the idea throughdifferent fittings. We got the size right, then Billdrew the grey suit image. Fosco isunconventional, but smart, colourful andrespectable.

There were several fittings with the fat suit itself.Bill felt that a fat man of that period would havecorseted himself, not as a form of disguise, but togive that proud pigeon chest effect. He wouldhave been a vain man, who would quite happilyhave gone to that extent.

The fat suit is comprised of a ‘ribcage’, then foamrubber, then pieces of solid padding. It gets veryhot, so we’ve even put pockets for ice in it to coolit down. The fat suit tends to get about 10lbsheavier after a performance! Of course the suit iscomplemented by prosthetic chins, which weremade by the same person who made the fat suit.We had Michael’s head carved and digitallyimaged. It was a very complicated process.

WIGSAll the ladies have wigs, and all the men havesome form of facial hair. Glyde has a wig; it wasfun getting that repressed look! They are all realhair wigs, which are hand knotted. Really, they areobjects of art because it’s such an intricate processto model it to the head shape and get the hair lineright.

SHOESThe shoes generally speaking came from atheatrical shoemaker. We looked to Italy, butessentially we needed someone nearby.

My role now the show has opened is to attendunderstudy rehearsals, and replicate all theprincipals’ costumes as we need them. I getinvolved in the transitions, the making of newcostumes, and drop in and do spot checks. Theteam manage beautifully, but sometimes it’shelpful to have another pair of eyes on the show!

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Michael Crawford as Count Fosco. Original production photography by Manual Harlan

Let’s start with the basics! Whatdoes the role of a Musical;Supervisor involve?

The Musical Supervisor is theconduit between the composerand all aspects musical –everyone else essentially! I haveultimate responsibility for thesound of the show, along withthe Sound Designer. It works ontwo levels; one, as another pairof expert ears, an objectivelistener, and the other is ‘in thetrenches’, working the materialwith the team. This aspect isespecially important on a newshow. It’s very much to do withthe development of the music.

At what stage did you start workingwith Andrew Lloyd-Webber?

We had two workshops of The Woman in Whiteinitially. The first was fifteen months before theshow was produced. Then there were manymeetings. I was involved in finding all themusicians, of whom there are 14. Some are‘doubles’, meaning they play several instruments,usually similar ones. For example the flute playerplays several types of flute.

How much did the orchestration change throughout therehearsal and production periods?

It was in a constant state of flux until openingnight! It’s a very busy time – but I like it! Stress ismy motor, I think.

This musical is almost sung through. Can you elaborateon what this means, and its musical implications?

Sung through musicals don’t break up intonumbers. There are ‘set pieces’ but often spokenthings are a heightened form of recitative. The earhas to adjust but, importantly, it keeps you in thesame world. It’s much more demanding for theactors, especially for the characters of Marian andLaura, although the Palace Theatre is a propermusical house, with wonderful acoustics.

Can you tell us about the auditionprocess?

It took place, on and off, forabout 3 months. You see a lotof people, especially for a newshow. You’re 90% sure of whatyou want. Andrew LloydWebber is very good atadapting to the performer. Re-casting is very different, ofcourse, because vocalobligations exist. And there’salways the dynamic of whoplays opposite someone – thedynamics of height, and look,and rapport.

What’s your day-to-day role in theshow now?

I suppose it’s one of hands-offsupervision. I note the show,

rehearse people where necessary, and do re-casting or work on new productions, for examplethe one we’ll be taking to the States later this year.

If a young person wanted to be one of the musicians inthe pit, what advice would you give him or her?

Work very hard! There are some of the bestmusicians in the world here. They’ve come fromgreat orchestras – you have to be the best! Theprincipal horn player for The Woman in White usedto be at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden,for example. Music, like any aspect of theperforming arts, is over-subscribed, and it’s hardto make a living! The musicians are not B-list byany means.

What makes this musical special musically?

It’s a great piece. It’s what Andrew Lloyd-Webberdoes best – Victorian, gothic melodrama. Thestory gives him a palette to write what he doesbest – atmospheric, evocative music.

INTERVIEW WITH SIMON LEEMusical Supervisor

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PART 3:PRACTICAL EXERCISES

FOR TEACHERS & STUDENTS

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INTRODUCTION:

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This section is aimed to offer a selection ofexercises and discussion points to help shapeclassroom work associated with a visit to see TheWoman in White.

It is aimed primarily at those studying GCSEDrama or Theatre Studies, GCSE Music, and A1and A2 Drama or Theatre Studies.

The information here does not attempt to tellteachers how to teach, but instead offers stimulifor both teachers and students based on our in-depth knowledge of the production and its keyfeatures.

It is hoped that the ideas in Section 3 willencourage attentive and engaged viewing andlistening from students seeing The Woman inWhite, and provoke informed debate in classafterwards.

A visit to see The Woman in White will beparticularly relevant to exploring the following:

GCSE Drama (Edexcel)

‘The elements of drama’

Action/plot/contentFormsClimax.anti-climaxRhythm/pace/tempoContextCharacterisationConventionsSymbols

‘The Drama Medium’

The use of costumes, mask and make-upThe use of sound and/or musicThe use of lightingThe use of space and/or levelsThe use of set/and or propsThe use of movement, mime and gestureThe use of voiceThe use of spoken language

and ‘Evaluation of a live performance of anyplay’

‘…the evaluation should reflect the students’understanding and appreciation of how others areusing the elements of drama. In the evaluation,students should recognize the significance of thesocial, cultural and/or historical influences on theplay and/or the performance…’.

GCSE Music (Edexcel)

In particular:

Area of Study 2 – New Directions in WesternClassical Music 1900 – Present Day

Area of Study 3 – Popular Song in Context(Songs from musicals)

and developing listening skills.

A visit to The Woman in White would also supporttwo of the three the key objectives for GCSEMusic of ‘developing a life-long interest in music’and ‘progress to further study of music or pursuea music-related career, where appropriate’.

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BEFORE YOU GO:Before a visit to see The Woman in White, you maywish to introduce the following:

The Context

The Woman in White is the latest musical fromcomposer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Your studentsmay be familiar with his previous work, forexample Cats, The Phantom of the Opera or JesusChrist Superstar.

The writer, Charlotte Jones, wrote the muchacclaimed play Humble Boy, which won severalawards in 2001.

It is directed by Trevor Nunn, one of Britain’smost famous and accomplished directors. From1997-2003 he was Director of The NationalTheatre, and students may know his work if theyhave seen Les Miserables or the recent productionof Hamlet at The Old Vic.

The Period

The Woman in White is set in 1860 and its design isvery strongly influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites.You may wish to introduce some of these artists,for example William Holman Hunt, DanteGabriel Rossetti and the less well known AtkinsonGrimshaw, to the students, in particular thosewho are studying theatre design. This will givethem a flavour of the show, and an understandingthat it is not ‘Victorian crinoline’ in style.

It uses a pioneering approach to theatre design,which students may well not have seen before.This involves extensive use of video design ratherthan conventional scenery.

The Themes

The Woman in White deals especially, but notexclusively, with these themes:

The place of women in this society, how men treatthem, and their lack of power and influenceThe nature of love, both requited and unrequitedVictorian melodrama and ghost storiesThe nature of Personal MoralityThe way we judge people, then and now

The Music and Libretto

The Woman in White is almost completely ‘sungthrough’. This means that there is very littledialogue and most of the story is told through themusic, and the actors’ singing.

Students may wish to consider what thismeans for:

The partnership between composer, lyricist andwriter

The audience

The lead actors

The way in which important moments areconveyed to the audience

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AFTER YOUR VISIT:

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After a visit to the show, you may wish to usesome of the following suggestions as the basis forclass discussion or practical work.

The Story:

How was the story of The Woman in White told?

Was there a narrator?

Who did you sympathise with in Act One, andwhose version of the story did you trust? Why?

What was the effect of most of the story beingsung?

The Characters:

Marian Halcombe

Marian introduces herself to Walter Hartright inthis way:

Very soon you’ll meet my sisterWell, she’s tech’nic’ly my halfBut she’s my whole world – my sisterIs the wheat and I’m the chaffShe’s kind and generous and funMuch younger, and the pretty one!

What do you notice from the lyrics aboutMarian’s opinion of herself, of Laura, and herattitude to life?

Laura

Laura has been introduced to us by Marian, andwe get to know both sisters through the long hotsummer of drawing lessons. Laura reveals herfeelings for Walter in this way:

I’m trying not to notice himYet I return each glanceA thousand contradictionsAre stirring in my soulThey seem to grow in meOverflow in me

What does her choice of language tell us aboutLaura?

Sir Percival Glyde

In the book to The Woman in White (the storyCharlotte Jones wrote which forms the basis for

the musical), Sir Percival Glyde is described on hisentrance as:

… a handsome, aristrocratic, elegant man in hisearly to middle thirties. His manner is easy andcharming.’

What was your first opinion of him? Explain whyyou formed this opinion.

Sir Percival Glyde changes considerably as thestory develops. What clues is the audience givento make us aware of what’s happening? Thinkabout

His appearanceWhat he saysWhat he’s doingHis tone of voiceThe music

Mr Fairlie (Marian and Laura’s Uncle)

Once Sir Percival Glyde has arrived, Mr Fairliepresents his views very forcefully to everyone else:

There’s nothing to decide.My niece will marry GlydeA Christmas weddingIs where we’re headingAnd Marian will goAnd live with them, no fearThe instant she becomes his spouseThey both will exit Limm’ridge HouseWhich will be quiet as a mouseAt last I’ll like it here!

What does this tell you about his agenda?

Count Fosco

Count Fosco only appears halfway through ActOne, and exits the story halfway through ActTwo, but he is one of the musical’s mostdominant characters.

Consider what makes him so memorable, andexplain what effect each element has on thecharacters in the story AND on the audience:

His appearanceHis propsHis songsHis foreignness

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Exercise

At the end of Act One, Marian has to face the factthat she has misjudged Sir Percival Glyde, andsent away the one man who truly loved Laura,much to her beloved sister’s detriment. Invite astudent to be Marian at this point in the story,and to take the ‘hot-seat’. The remainder of thegroup question her on her feelings at this stage inthe story.

Then ask people to take the roles of:

LauraSir Percival GlydeWalter HartrightCount Fosco

all at the same point – the end of Act One, whenLaura has married Glyde, they are back from theirhoneymoon, and Marian has realised the awfultruth.

The Woman in White

The character of The Woman in White herselfplays a very important role in the story. She hassomething important to tell yet cannot be heardthrough conventional means. She is unable tocommunicate normally and, crucially, to bebelieved because of her circumstances.

Exercise

Working in small groups, ask the students todevise a scene whereby one person is excludedfrom the mainstream. The setting can be modernor Victorian. That person needs to find a way in.What options does he/she have? How willing isthe group to change its behaviour, or to trust thestranger?

The Set

As discussed throughout the pack, the set andvideo design for The Woman in White is very newand very different. Key points for discussions maybe:

How did you adjust to the very different style ofdesign? Did you find it strange?

Did it remind you of any other art-form?

What did it do better than a conventional, solid3-D set?

What did it not do as well as a conventional, solid3-D set? Which scenes did you like the most andwhy?

Do you think this sort of technically complicateddesign is a good idea for theatre?

How else might you be able to use videoprojection in performance?

Exercise

Make a costume drawing of your own for one ofthe main characters:

MarianLauraThe Woman in WhiteSir Percival GlydeCount Fosco

Annotate the drawing with brief notes explainingwhy you have chosen each element.

The Music

The Woman in White is almost completely sung-through. How did you find this?

What do you think this is like for the lead actors?

Which songs do you remember and why?

Did you look into the Orchestra pit and see themusicians? Were there more or less than youthought?

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Adaptation

The Woman in White was originally a novel byWilkie Collins. In its new form as a drama andmusical, whole new elements have been addedand some have been lost. Consider what theadvantages and disadvantages of this may be forthe following elements:

The plotThe way the story is toldThe suspense and melodramaThe characterisationThe atmosphereThe visual aspect (location, costumes etc)

Exercise

Forum Theatre

Invite some students to take the roles of Marian,Laura, Walter Hartright, Mr Fairlie, Sir PercivalGlyde and Count Fosco. The scene is atLimmeridge House, just after Glyde’s arrival,when Walter Hartright publicly challenges himover the accusations made by the mysteriousWoman in White. Glyde offers his own version,which seems to satisfy everyone except Hartright.

The students improvise a scene around this aspectof the plot and perform it once. Then it isperformed a second time, when the rest of thegroup have license to interrupt and makesuggestions to each character to change theirbehaviour.

Analyse the difference once the group hasfinished. Why do we think the characters in TheWoman in White behave as they do?

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A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE FORENGLISH AND HISTORY TEACHERS

Many of the aspects covered already in thissection will be as relevant to students studyingEnglish or even History, rather than Drama. Theexercises mentioned still offer valuable pointers tohelp them get the most out of a visit to the show.The Woman in White can provide a fascinatingtheatre visit for students of English and History,and the following are some suggestions to helpfocus discussion of the production in ways whichare relevant to these respective syllabuses.

ENGLISH

The Woman in White is a free adaptation from thehugely popular Victorian novel by Wilkie Collins.Please see Section 1 for background informationon the novel and the author. Students of EnglishLanguage and Literature at GCSE may want toaddress:

The process of adaptation – how haveCharlotte Jones and David Zippel condensedthe story to fit into 2 and a half hours ofstage time?

The characterisation – are the characters yousee on stage like the ones you meet on thebook? How are their characteristics conveyedtheatrically as opposed to through prose?

Exploring Genre – what do you learn aboutthe characteristics of melodrama from seeingthis production? How well do they translateto the stage?

Discussing similarities and differences withother literary works of the period eg CharlesDicken’s The Signalman and CharlotteBronte’s Jane Eyre.

HISTORY

Student studying Modern European or BritishHistory, for example, the Edexcel GCSE inHistory A (Modern European and World History)or B (British Social and Economic History orAQA GCSE British Economic and Social History1700 – 1900 will find this production relevant andstimulating. In particular, it can aide discussionon:

The position of women in Victorian societyand the subsequent emancipation of women(Marian’s, Laura’s and Anne’s lack of powerand vulnerability at the hands of the malecharacters).

Poor Law and Reform – how were peoplelike Anne Catherick treated in Victoriansociety?

Public Health – the asylum system, andchanges that were made in the nineteenthcentury. The difference between thetreatment of the rich and the poor.

The Pre-Raphaelite movement – the designof the show is heavily based on this artisticmovement of the mid nineteenth century,and thus provides a wonderful ‘living’ insightin to the style, fabrics and fashions of thisperiod.

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A TEACHER’S VIEW OFTHE WOMAN IN WHITE:

For all its origins as a classic and much-adaptedVictorian novel, Trevor Nunn’s production of TheWoman in White provides audiences withastonishing new theatrical sensations thanks toProduction Designer William Dudley’s computer-generated scenic world.

If the opportunity arises, it could be a revealingexercise for students to compare this new musicalwith the same director’s staging of another 19th-century epic, Les Misérables, or indeed withAndrew Lloyd Webber’s own Phantom of the Opera.The original productions of Les Mis and Phantomare still playing in the West End, and given that allthree shows offer their audiences soaringmelodies, rich emotions and sweeping periodfrescoes, there is plentiful scope for students tocompare and contrast their respective visuallanguages.

One analytical task for drama students might beto examine the director’s organisation of hisactors on the large Palace stage. Trevor Nunn is amaster of stage disposition whose experience ofmarshalling large forces to advance the drama andplease the eye is unrivalled. You might try thesetasks:

For The Woman in White, with only a minimalamount of solid-state décor to supplementthe CGI projections, pick out half a dozenexamples of striking compositions anddecide how they enhance the audience’sperception of a scene. (Examples mightinclude the picnic, the music room, thewedding etc).

Consider how Nunn and his cast solve theproblems that arise when performers cannotinteract with props or furnishings. In severalextended sections of The Woman in White,Nunn’s stage is completely bare apart fromthe projections (e.g. the railway, thegraveyard, the boathouse). How do thecharacters avoid aimlessness and convince usthat they are engaged with theirenvironment? (Contrast this stagecraft withthe tactile worlds of the barricades and operahouse in those other shows.)

Focus on stage energy and pace whenwatching The Woman in White. To what extentare the production’s dynamics dictated bythe music’s tempo markings? How far are

directors and actors in through-composedmusicals hampered by the fact that theycannot set their own tempo-rhythms for theproduction? What alternative avenues arethere for conveying mood and emotion?

Music students might look beyond a mereappreciation of the show’s melodic richness andconsider the theatrical aspects of Andrew LloydWebber’s score. The creation of dramatic musicaltheatre is a complex, specialised art form, andmodern theatregoers demand far greatersophistication from a musical than the audiencesof, say, fifty years ago. Bernstein set the standardwith West Side Story, while shows like Sondheim’sSweeney Todd and Lloyd Webber’s own SunsetBoulevard have raised the bar.

For The Woman in White, music students mightconsider the following questions:

Why do you think Andrew Lloyd Webbershuns the traditional overture in favour of aprologue that is more Benjamin Britten thanIrving Berlin? (The atmosphere of WalterHartwright’s encounter with the Signalmanwould not be out of place in an opera likeThe Turn of the Screw!)

What are the musical reasons for portrayingthe villainous Count Fosco of WilkieCollins’s original as a darkly comic figure?(There are parallels with Schönberg &Boublil’s take on the evil Thénardiers ofVictor Hugo’s Les Misérables.)

How does the show’s musical structure helppropel us through the 600 pages of WilkieCollins’s novel in 2 hours? (Leitmotif andrecurring melodies are quicker and oftenmore powerful than words for conveyingemotion and inner moods.)

The role of the chorus in The Woman in Whiteis less central to its drama than in somemusicals where big company scenesfrequently carry the action. However, theircontribution to certain passages is musicallyand dramatically crucial. How does thechorus enrich such scenes as the harvest(Lammastide), the wedding, the streets ofLondon and the asylum?

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Teachers of English might approach theproduction from a different angle altogether. The19th Century novel has been a staple of the stagemusical for over forty-five years. From Oliver! toJekyll & Hyde, no other literary era has been soheavily explored by the writers of modern musicaltheatre. Students might usefully consider why thisshould be.

The Woman in White is a classic Victorianmelodrama whose atmosphere, if not itsplot, is strongly redolent of Dickens andHardy. What are the elements that make thisparticular novel so suitable for adaptationinto a romantic musical? (The tale’scolourful, uncomplicated characters; itsheightened romance; the emotionalrollercoaster and quickening pace as themelodrama unfolds…)

The task of filleting Wilkie Collins’s complexnovel and shaping it for the stage has beenshared by the Charlotte Jones and DavidZippel, who provide respectively the book(i.e. the dramatic scenario) and lyrics. Havethey been helped or limited by the show’s

ever-present musical score? (Focus, forexample, on the early number ParlourGames, in which Marian Halcombe and MrFairlie welcome Walter Hartwright toLimmeridge House. This section has to carryan extraordinary amount of vital exposition.Even the most masterly of non-musicalplaywrights would struggle to convey this toan audience with the economy and claritythat Zippel achieves in four minutes ofmemorable material where bright, wittyrhymes hold the attention throughout.)

An educational group theatre visit need not bepreceded by a vast shopping list of things to lookout for. Teachers can trust students to enjoy theexperience on its own merits – there is plenty ofeducational value in that alone. However, it cansometimes pay dividends to provide youngtheatregoers with a few markers to look out forduring the performance, and these ideas areoffered in that spirit.

Mark ValenciaHead of Drama and Theatre StudiesSouthend High School for Boys, Essex

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Angela Christian as Anne Catherick, the woman in white. Original production photography by Manual Harlan