Tag Archives: theatre setting

Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham – The 1937 Club

Posted on by

I was having a tough time finding a 1937 book to read that I hadn’t already read, until I realised that I had a copy of Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham in a Far and Wide omnibus edition. I really liked it, he was such a good writer. The 1937 week is hosted by Simon at Stuck in a Book and Karen at Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings.

In Theatre, Maugham, as a successful playwright was writing about a subject that he knew well. Julia and Michael are married and have become a celebrity couple over the years, with Michael concentrating on the business side of things as he realised that he didn’t have the talent to become a successful actor, unlike Julia.  Michael is supposedly the best looking man in the country, which is what drew Julia to him in the first place, but they weren’t married long before Julia realised that he was a tight-fisted, narcissistic bore.

Julia is never off the stage, she’s always acting out her emotions, or the emotions that she thinks correct for the occasion, she’s completely artificial but seems to fool everyone, or so she thinks. It comes as a shock to her in her middle-age that others have been judging her, and she has been found to be wanting.

There’s obviously a lot more to the book than I’ve said, if you get the chance you should give it a go. I’m already planning to read another by Maugham soon.

Curtain Up by Noel Streatfeild

Posted on by
Curtain Up cover

Curtain Up by Noel Streatfeild was first published way back in 1944. The island of Guernsey had been home for the three Forbes children Sorrel, Mark and Holly. Their father had retired from the Navy when their mother had died, but when war was declared their father had immediately re-joined the Navy and the children moved into their eccentric grandfather’s home. He is a clergyman who is far more interested in writing a book about the animals that appear in the bible than he is about the existence of his grandchildren.

When a telegram arrives saying that their father was ‘missing’ they live in hope that he has been taken prisoner and hasn’t drowned. But then grandfather dies and the children are sent to live in London with their mother’s family who are strangers to them. They’re devastated to be leaving their schools, the one stable thing in their lives.

Things get even worse when they discover that their mother had been part of a large family of well-known actors and actresses, and it’s assumed that the children will go to an acting/dancing school. The children had no idea that their mother had been from an entertainments background and they’re not exactly thrilled by the idea.

This was quite an entertaining read which follows the main rule of children’s books – get rid of those annoying parents as quickly as possible. I can imagine that many of the original 1944 child readers would have been enthralled by the storyline which has the children eventually auditioning for BBC radio.

As you would expect – all’s well that ends well.