Several newspapers like
The Washington Post or
The Oregonian report the death of the American playwright William Luce (1931-2019). He was mainly known for his one-person plays like
The Belle of Amherst (1976) on Emily Dickinson or
Barrymore (1997) on John Barrymore.
The Belle of Amherst was played by Julie Harris for whom he also wrote, the same year, another one-woman-show about Charlotte Brontë (The Washington Post mistakenly says Emily). In 1976,
Currer Bell, Esq. (the name of the play in those days) was conceived as a radio drama. In 1979 it was broadcasted as a part of the
Masterpiece Radio Theatre series. Later on, the play was adapted for the stage with the name
Brontë. A Solo Portrait of Charlotte Brontë and even
filmed for television in 1983 directed by Delbert Mann.
William Luce wrote Brontë first as a radio play for actress Julie Harris to perform on Masterpiece Radio Theatre, Elinor Stout directing. Entitled Currer Bell, Esq. (Charlotte Brontë's nom de plume), this production won three prestigious broadcasting awards - the Peabody Award, the Ohio State Award and Columbia University's Armstrong Award.
Miss Harris next performed Currer Bell, Esq. as a Caedmon Records production directed by Ward Botsford. With the new title of Brontë, the play's third presentation became Irish Television's movie version filmed on location in the green moor country of County Wicklow and directed by Delbert Mann. The film premiered in New York's Lincoln Center, followed by public television airings in North America and the UK.
Brontë's final incarnation was Luce's current stage version, with Julie Harris being directed by Kristoffer Tabori, and subsequently by Charles Nelson Reilly. Brontë has had theater productions throughout the United States, Canada, Scandinavia, South America, Europe and Japan. (Source)
In 2012 the piece was revived in New York by the Alloy Theater Company with Maxine Linehan in the title role.
Here you can read
contemporary reviews of the play.
EDIT: Both
The New York Times and
Broadway World publish obituaries of playwright William Luce.
Several newspapers like The Washington Post or The Oregonian report the death of the American playwright William Luce (1931-2019). He was mainly known for his one-person plays like The Belle of Amherst (1976) on Emily Dickinson or Barrymore (1997) on John Barrymore.
The Belle of Amherst was played by Julie Harris for whom he also wrote, the same year, another one-woman-show about Charlotte Brontë (The Washington Post mistakenly says Emily). In 1976, Currer Bell, Esq. (the name of the play in those days) was conceived as a radio drama. In 1979 it was broadcasted as a part of the Masterpiece Radio Theatre series. Later on, the play was adapted for the stage with the name Brontë. A Solo Portrait of Charlotte Brontë and even filmed for television in 1983 directed by Delbert Mann.
Thank you for bringing this to your readers' attention. Bill was a wonderful writer and human being, and while I grew up loving 'The Belle of Amherst', I often told him it was 'Bronte' that most touched me. I think it was the same for him.
ReplyDeleteAs a postscript, may I add I inherited from Bill all his materials related to the writing of the play 'Bronte', including photos he took of Julie Harris during filming of the play for Irish television, and am happy to share.
ReplyDelete