Eva Elwes
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Eva Elwes (born Gertrude Emma Cannon; 1876–1950) was an English actress and playwright who wrote over 50 plays between 1907 and 1938.


Acting career

Between 1896 and the late 1920s Elwes performed in a variety of plays and variety shows. She regularly performed in her own plays which were often staged by Will H. Glaze’s touring theatre company. She also acted in other touring companies playing mostly in the north of England. In 1922 Will Glaze set up the Alexandra Players at the Alexandra Theatre, South Shields. Elwes's second husband, Ernest Eykyn, became the theatre’s stage manager and artist, and she performed in the Alexandra Players. Elwes became the co-lessee of the theatre with Ethel Hird from 1930–1940. When the theatre closed in 1940, due to the World War II
blackout Blackout(s), black out, or The Blackout may refer to: Loss of lighting or communication * Power outage, a loss of electric power * Blackout (broadcasting), a regulatory or contractual ban on the broadcasting of an event * Blackout (fabric), a t ...
, a newspaper article recalled "some particularly fine performances by that grand dowager of drama Eva Elwes". Elwes and Eykyn both contributed to the Actors’ Benevolent Fund from the production of one her plays ''The Cottage Girl''.


Playwright

Elwes was one of several female writers of melodramas in the early 20th century. She wrote over 50 plays, mostly melodramas but also pantomimes, in the thirty-year period 1907–1938. Forty six plays were submitted to the
Lord Chamberlain The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom, Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Monarchy of the United Ki ...
(the official censor) for licensing, and the scripts and Readers’ Reports are held in the British Library Lord Chamberlain Plays Collection. References to other plays, not submitted for licence, can be found in newspapers of the time. Her first play was a musical drama ''His Sister’s Honour'' which was staged in Fleetwood in January 1907.


World War I themes

Several plays had wartime themes and settings, such as ''Joy, Sister of Mercy,'' ''John Raymond's Daughter'' and ''Billy's Mother.'' German spies and the sinking of a U-boat feature in ''Heaven at the Helm''.


''The Price She Paid''

''The Price She Paid'' dramatised the story of
Edith Cavell Edith Louisa Cavell ( ; 4 December 1865 – 12 October 1915) was a British nurse. She is celebrated for treating wounded soldiers from both sides without discrimination during the First World War and for helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape ...
the British nurse who was shot by the Germans in 1915 after being suspected of spying. In 1925 the Alexandra Theatre in South Shields submitted an application to the Lord Chamberlain for a licence for Elwes's play entitled ''Edith Cavell, Nurse and Martyr''. The Lord Chamberlain would not grant a licence after consultation with Cavell's sisters who did not feel the play was accurate. In 1927 the Alexandra Theatre resubmitted its application. It was initially refused again but when Elwes changed the title to ''The Price She Paid'' and changed the names of the characters of Cavell and her mother a licence was granted. ''The Price She Paid'' was performed at the Alexandra Theatre in 1927.


Tyneside themes

Elwes wrote two plays on local Tyneside identities (''Dolly Peel'' and ''Fifty Fafty'').


''Dolly Peel''

Elwes's play told the story of Dolly Peel, a South Shields fishwife and smuggler, who lived 1782 to 1857. The play was first performed in August 1923 at the Alexandra Theatre with Will Glaze and Elwes in the cast; the scenery was designed and painted by Ernest Eykyn. A handwritten script of ''Dolly Peel'' was discovered during renovations of a building in South Shields in 2004. The play was revived and performed at the
Customs House A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting ...
in 2005 to mark the theatre's 10th anniversary.


''Fifty Fafty''

''Fifty Fafty'' is about an old sailor of
North Shields North Shields ( ) is a town in the borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. The population of North Shields at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom cens ...
. It was performed by the Alexandra Players on their first anniversary in February 1923."Success of Repertory" ''The Era'', 1 March 1923, p. 10 – via British Newspaper Archive


Licensed plays

* ''His Sister's Honour'' (1907) * ''The Royal Mail'' (1908) * ''Salome'' (1910) * ''For her Son'' (1912) * ''Anybody's Wife'' (1912) (co-authored with Kennedy Allen) * ''Love and What Then'' (1913) * ''A White Slave of the Streets'' (1913) (changed to ''A White Slave Victim'') * ''Mary Latimer – Nun'' (1913) * ''Mother Mine'' (1914) * ''Joy, Sister of Mercy'' (1914) * ''His Mother's Rosary'' (1915) * ''The Woman Pays – Back'' (1915) * ''John Raymond's Daughter'' (1915) * ''Pals'' (1915) * ''Should a Woman Forgive?'' (1916) * ''The Sunshine of Paradise Alley'' (1916) * ''Heaven at the Helm'' (1916) * ''The Fishermaid of Old St Malo'' (1916) * ''A Mother's Prayer'' (1916) * ''The Cottage Girl'' (1916) * ''Honour the Man you Wed'' (1917) * ''The Girl Mother'' (1917) * ''His Wife's Good Name'' (1917) * ''Love's Young Dream'' (1918) * ''Billy's Mother'' (1918) * ''Kitty of Kensington'' (1920) * ''The Child who Stood Between'' (1920) * ''The Scandalmongers'' (1920) * ''Not Fit to Marry'' (1922) * ''Fifty Fafty'' (1923) * ''Dolly Peel'' (1923) * ''St Joan of Arc'' (1924) * ''Under Red Rule'' (1925) * ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1925) * ''The Ten Commandments'' (1926) * ''The Price She Paid'' (1927) * ''The Roll of the Drum'' (1928) * ''Charity Children'' (1931) * ''The Bonny Fishwife'' (1932) * ''Jessica's First Prayer'' (1932) * ''The Poor Little Rich Girl'' (1935) * ''Smilin Thru'' (1937) * ''Min and Bill'' (1937) * ''The Silence of Dean Maitland'' (1937) * ''Rudge, Martin and Baker'' (1938)


Personal life

Elwes was cast together with her first husband Henry Charles Gilpin in several productions between 1896 and 1899. Between 1900 and 1918 Elwes and her second husband Ernest Eykyn appeared together in a number of productions. Elwes lived in Walsall from about 1911 to 1921 and then in
South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...
. Elwes died on 16 June 1950 in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire.The Stage, 22 June 1950, no. 3610, p. 11 – via British Newspaper Archive


References


External links

* Documents relating to Elwes can be found in th
Mander and Mitchenson Theatre Collection
at
Bristol University The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...
. * Plays written by Elwes during World War I are listed on th
Great War Theatre
website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Elwes, Eva 20th-century English actresses British women dramatists and playwrights 1876 births 1950 deaths Actors from Frome English women dramatists and playwrights Actresses from Somerset