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Posts Tagged ‘Vita and Virginia’

Join @LitCamb students to see Vita and Virginia Aug. 6

Posted in events, play, Vita and Virginia, Vita Sackville-West, tagged , on Saturday 20 July 2024| Leave a Comment »

NKP Theatre Company’s production of a 60-minute abridged adaptation of Eileen Atkins’ play  Vita & Virginia will be on stage for one more performance this summer, this one in Cambridge in August.

Students in this summer’s Literature Cambridge course on Virginia Woolf and Childhood will view it for free, but some tickets are available to the general public.

About the play

Title of event: Vita and Virginia (abridged by NKP Theatre Company). 60 minutes. No interval.
Brief description: Virginia Woolf meets fellow author Vita Sackville-West in London in the 1920s. They embark on a 20-year relationship that inspires one of Virginia’s most famous novels, Orlando. Abridged by the cast from the original play by Eileen Atkins, Vita and Virginia consists entirely of words spoken or written by Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf during their 20-year friendship. The production deftly brings to life the real letters and diaries of the two women, revealing deep friendship, wit and passion between the literary genius and the aristocratic yet middle-brow poet.

Credits: Vita Sackville-West: Emma Francis; Virginia Woolf: Ruth Cattell; directed and produced by Richard Delahaye.

Cambridge performance details

Date: Tuesday 6 August
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Robinson College Chapel, Cambridge CB3 9AN
Ticket Price and how to book: Free to members of the Literature Cambridge “Woolf and Childhood: summer course. A few tickets at £15 are for sale to those not attending the summer course. Book here.

What the reviews say

  • “A beautifully sensitive portrayal of a remarkable love story” – Claire Nicholson, chair of the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain
  • “An astonishing piece of theatre” – FRINGE REVIEW
  • “Emma Francis and Ruth Cattell smash it!” – EDINBURGH REVIEWS
  • “A wondrous exploration of the epistolary side of their near-romance”. -BROADWAY WORLD

Background

Four performances of the play were held February through April. An earlier performance was held in November at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham.

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Four more of “Vita & Virginia” by @NKPTheatre

Posted in events, play, Virginia Woolf, Vita and Virginia, Vita Sackville-West, tagged , on Sunday 28 January 2024| 1 Comment »

NKP Theatre Company’s production of a 50-minute abridged adaptation of Eileen Atkins’ play  Vita & Virginia will be on stage for four more performances February through April.

An earlier performance was held in November at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham.

Dates and locations

Date: Saturday, Feb. 17
Times: 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Location: The Coach House Theatre, Malvern

Date: Wednesday April 3
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: The Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham

Date: Thursday, April 4
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Katie Fitzgerald’s, Stourbridge

About the play

This is a 50-minute abridged version of the play by Eileen Atkins, created for an intimate setting by NKP Theatre Company. In it, Virginia Woolf meets fellow author Vita Sackville-West in London in the 1920s. They embark on a 20-year relationship that inspires one of Virginia’s most famous novels, Orlando.

Abridged from the original play by Eileen Atkins, Vita and Virginia deftly brings to life the real letters and diaries of the two women, revealing deep friendship, wit and passion between the literary genius and the aristocratic yet middle-brow poet.

Ticket prices and how to book

Prices vary but are around £15.
Book here.

Emma Francis and Ruth Cattell smash it. Each gives incredible, powerful, provocative yet heart-felt, down-to-earth performances. – Edinburgh Review

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“Vita & Virginia” adaptation at The Mac Nov. 11

Posted in events, play, Vita and Virginia, Vita Sackville-West, tagged , , on Monday 30 October 2023| 2 Comments »

NKP Theatre Company’s production of a 50-minute adaptation of Eileen Atkins’ play Vita & Virginia will be on stage at the Midlands Arts Center (The Mac) in Birmingham for one performance only at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 11.

The play was  recently staged at the Edinburgh Fringe in August and for members of the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain.

Here’s a quote from Andrew Girdwood in the Edinburgh Reviews:

Emma Francis and Ruth Cattell smash it. Each gives incredible, powerful, provocative yet heart-felt, down-to-earth performances.

About the show

Ticket price: From £11.50
Booking: Book here.
Location: The Midlands Arts Center (The Mac), Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, B12 9QH
Get more information.

About the play

This abridged version was created for an intimate setting by NKP Theatre Company.  In it, Virginia Woolf meets fellow author Vita Sackville-West in London in the 1920s. The two embark on a 20-year relationship that inspires one of Virginia’s most famous novels, Orlando. Abridged from the original play by Eileen Atkins, Vita and Virginia deftly brings to life the real letters and diaries of the two women, revealing deep friendship, wit and passion between the literary genius and the aristocratic yet middle-brow poet.

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Spend Valentine’s Day reading Bloomsbury Group love letters aloud

Posted in Bloomsbury, Virginia Woolf, tagged , , , on Monday 8 February 2021| Leave a Comment »

Members of the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain will spend Valentine’s Day with Virginia Woolf reading love letters between members of the Bloomsbury Group aloud.

Letters will include those between Woolf and Vita Sackville-West.

The meeting and reading of romantic letters will take place via Zoom on Sunday, Feb. 14, at 8 p.m. GMT or 3 p.m. EST. Members of the VWSGB can register by emailing Marielle O’Neill at onlinevwsgb@gmail.com.

If you are not a member of the group, find out how you can join.

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Vita and Virginia: Seeing the film in London

Posted in films, Virginia Woolf, Vita Sackville-West, tagged , , , on Friday 12 July 2019| 1 Comment »

“Vita and Virginia,” the much-anticipated Chanya Button film about the love affair between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West is playing in London, and I saw it yesterday.

It has opened to mixed reviews. But if you are a fan of Virginia Woolf — as I obviously am — it is a must-see.

Scenery, sets, and superb fashion

As Sarah Hall put it in a message to VWoolf ListServ, “In films or plays about real people you get used to the departures from reality, so I made a determined effort to ignore these and enjoyed the scenery and the costumes and, frankly, the well-recreated sets (all except Knole, which is gloriously real).”

I agree. The sets look wonderfully authentic. The scenes that take place at Charleston look like Charleston, down to the painted doorways and decorated mantelpieces. The room where the Hogarth Press was housed looks just as I imagined it — although Stuart Clarke of the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain said a press such as the Woolfs owned would not have sounded like the one in the film. But film needs sound, so the producers added the clanking of machinery as the pages of Jacob’s Room (1922) are shown coming off the press.

The costumes are fabulous — although I did wonder if Vita’s actual wardrobe was as glamorous as the film portrayed. But movies are expected to be a treat for the eyes, and this one succeeded at that, with the sets, the scenery, and the costumes.

The words don’t fail but the pacing plods

Since it was based on the eponymous play by Eileen Atkins, which was based on the letters that Vita and Virginia wrote each other, I also appreciated hearing the words of those two writers as much of the film’s dialogue.

But where the words succeed, the pacing plods. Even for a Woolf lover, the film is slow.

And there are a number of scenes — from the party scene where one first encounters Virginia to the love scenes in Vita’s bed — where I shook my head in disbelief. No, Virginia would not have danced around like a Grateful Dead groupie at any party, I thought. And no, I thought, Virginia never experienced sexual fulfillment via Vita. Did she?

Sarah Hall also had this criticism, “What didn’t make dramatic sense is to have Vita’s mother in residence at Knole instead of her father (who doesn’t appear and isn’t even mentioned). If Lionel is meant to be prematurely deceased, why hasn’t Knole been bestowed on a male heir?”

The casting is questionable

However, the casting may be my main complaint. After two casting changes for the role of Virginia, the film stars Gemma Arterton as Vita and Elizabeth Debicki as Virginia. Neither really works. In my opinion, Arterton is too cute and feminine to play the outdoorsy Vita. Debicki is absolutely too tall; she towers over the petite Arterton in too many scenes, which put me off.

Peter Ferdinando works well as Leonard and portrays him as a sympathetic character, which suits me. But Adam Gilles is wrong on every count as Duncan Grant. I had to wonder why they didn’t cast the beautiful James Norton, who made the perfect Duncan in Life in Squares.

Despite complaints, I recommend the film to anyone who cares about Virginia Woolf, Vita, and the Bloomsbury group. Apparently, many agree. On its opening weekend, July 4-7, the film made £49,223 showing in 63 cinemas.

The film opens in the U.S. in October.

 

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