Ellen Terry with Eileen Page @ TARA Studio, Feb '09.reviewed by Roger Bing (former Arts Editor, Croydon Advertiser)
IT IS quite a daunting challenge to attempt to recreate a theatrical legend. While it may be easy enough, with sufficient research, to tell the story of the life itself, it is much more difficult to strive for the calibre of the person.
In a word, it takes a very good actress to do that. Eileen Page succeeds splendidly in bringing the remarkable story of Ellen Terry to life.
And what a tale there is to tell, of this leading Shakespearean actress who for over 20 years dominated both the English and American theatre in partnership with Henry Irving.
Terry made her stage debut in 1856, at the tender age of eight (in The Winter’s Tale, playing Mammilius), went on to marry three times, also to have a lengthy affair that produced two children (absolutely scandalous for that time), and throughout won acclaim and admiration.
It was her natural gentleness and vivacity that made her excel on stage, especially as Portia and Ophelia, and these are the qualities which Eileen Page has too. The similarities don’t stop there. Like Terry, she had a long association with the Bard through the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as a succession of other West End triumphs.
Her skill at telling the Terry story is beguiling. She makes occasional use of notes
as she outlines the details of the actress’s life, but it is when she breaks from that to give a brief excerpt from one of the major plays that the true performer is shown.
She stands aside from her lectern and once more becomes Portia, or Ophelia, with a delivery that captivates. It is an ideal tribute from one fine actress to another, and for a woman now in her eighth decade it is a remarkable presentation.
Ellen Terry may be to most people merely a name in stage history now, yet with this presentation Page brings her vividly to life again. Somewhere a ghost in the celestial theatre must be nodding in silent, grateful approval.
IT IS quite a daunting challenge to attempt to recreate a theatrical legend. While it may be easy enough, with sufficient research, to tell the story of the life itself, it is much more difficult to strive for the calibre of the person.
In a word, it takes a very good actress to do that. Eileen Page succeeds splendidly in bringing the remarkable story of Ellen Terry to life.
And what a tale there is to tell, of this leading Shakespearean actress who for over 20 years dominated both the English and American theatre in partnership with Henry Irving.
Terry made her stage debut in 1856, at the tender age of eight (in The Winter’s Tale, playing Mammilius), went on to marry three times, also to have a lengthy affair that produced two children (absolutely scandalous for that time), and throughout won acclaim and admiration.
It was her natural gentleness and vivacity that made her excel on stage, especially as Portia and Ophelia, and these are the qualities which Eileen Page has too. The similarities don’t stop there. Like Terry, she had a long association with the Bard through the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as a succession of other West End triumphs.
Her skill at telling the Terry story is beguiling. She makes occasional use of notes
as she outlines the details of the actress’s life, but it is when she breaks from that to give a brief excerpt from one of the major plays that the true performer is shown.
She stands aside from her lectern and once more becomes Portia, or Ophelia, with a delivery that captivates. It is an ideal tribute from one fine actress to another, and for a woman now in her eighth decade it is a remarkable presentation.
Ellen Terry may be to most people merely a name in stage history now, yet with this presentation Page brings her vividly to life again. Somewhere a ghost in the celestial theatre must be nodding in silent, grateful approval.
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