Writer: Gordon Meredith
Director: Richard Avery
Frederick Elwell (1870-1958) was an eminent artist, born in Beverley and based there for much of his career. His wife, Mary (1874-1952), was an equally distinguished artist. As part of the town’s recent revival of interest in them, Gordon Meredith has put together a most effective biographical play which gives due space to their paintings.
The opening suggests a more experimental approach than, in fact, proves to be the case. The stage is dominated by two large picture frames covered in sheeting. When the sheets are removed, Fred and Mary are revealed, reproducing the poses of their portraits – full marks to Michael Kinsey and Hannah Levy for stillness! Shortly, after a brief sojourn at Lincoln, Fred is off to Antwerp and Paris, both presented in a mania of welcoming local femininity. Soon, though, except for a wild party at their Beverley home, we settle to a more sedate rhythm – and all the better for it.
Laura Peterson is cast as the presenter of a talk about the Elwells which gives every opportunity for biographical information, though her appearance as the housekeeper can confuse at first. The Elwells’ marriage comes about when Fred is commissioned by Mary’s then husband, Alfred Holmes, to paint a portrait of his wife – very neatly shown, developing stage by stage, on a screen at the back of the stage. Fred becomes close friends of the Holmeses and, when Alfred dies, marries Mary.
After the time of the wild parties (Fred, apparently, conspicuously sober) and a brief reference to the war, Mary succumbs to a stroke and the last scenes have an elegiac feel to them: the choristers of St. Mary’s singing Abide with Me, a noticeably older Fred addressing the Beverley Artists Association on the subject of his wife, Fred reminiscing with his housekeeper. Interestingly, he makes the point that his are “nice paintings”, a choice he made because nice paintings sell.
In Richard Avery’s tasteful production Michael Kinsey invests Fred Elwell with a quiet dignity, an admirably unshowy performance, whereas Hannah Levy’s Mary, sparkier and full of life, suggests the socialite with her rather “cut glass” delivery. Laura Peterson and Gordon Meredith play some 20 parts between them, he especially moving as Alfred Holmes, both at times comical in their quick-change routines.
Gordon Meredith uses the term “Folk Theatre” to describe his work as he tells real stories about real people. In this case his subjects have left their own testimony in their paintings, many of them projected onto the screen, and he will no doubt treat it as proof of his success if audience members, like your reviewer, visit the Beverley Art Gallery to see for themselves.
Repeated at Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, on April 22nd 2022
