''The Constant Nymph'' is a play based on the 1924 novel of the same name by

Margaret Kennedy Margaret Davies, Lady Davies (née Kennedy ; 23 April 1896 – 31 July 1967) was an English novelist and playwright. Her most successful work, as a novel and as a play, was '' The Constant Nymph''. She was a productive writer and several of her ...

. The stage version, adapted by Kennedy and the director

Basil Dean Basil Herbert Dean CBE (27 September 1888 – 22 April 1978) was an English actor, writer, producer and director in the theatre and in cinema. He founded the Liverpool Playhouse, Liverpool Repertory Company in 1911 and in the First World War, a ...

, was first performed in London in 1926, starring

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

Edna Best Edna Clara Best (3 March 1900 – 18 September 1974) was a British actress. Early life Born in Hove, Sussex, England, she was educated in Brighton and later studied dramatic acting under Miss Kate Rorke who was the first professor of Drama at ...

and

Cathleen Nesbitt Cathleen Nesbitt (born Kathleen Mary Nesbitt; 24 November 18882 August 1982) was an English actress. Early life and education Kathleen Mary Nesbitt was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, in 1888. She was of Welsh and Irish descent.Before ...

. It portrays the love of two women for a young composer, and the conflicts that arise. The tragic ending has the younger of the two – a teenager – die of heart failure.

Background and premiere

Kennedy's novel, published in 1924, was a critical and popular success. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' described it as "a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, built with rare firmness and economy … a genuine work of art"."New Theatre", ''The Times'', 15 September 1926, p. 10 For the West End premiere of the stage adaptation,

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Britis ...

was cast in the central role of Lewis Dodd, but before rehearsals began, the producer and director,

, found that

– then a bigger star than the young Gielgud – was available, and he demoted Gielgud to the position of understudy. Coward's health gave way three weeks after the premiere, and Gielgud took over the part for the rest of the run. The play opened at the New Theatre (since 2006 retitled the Noël Coward Theatre) on 14 September 1926. Music plays an important part in the play, and Dean commissioned a score by Eugene Goossens. The first night was attended by authors including

Arnold Bennett Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist, who wrote prolifically. Between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaborati ...

John Galsworthy John Galsworthy (; 14 August 1867 – 31 January 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. He is best known for his trilogy of novels collectively called '' The Forsyte Saga'', and two later trilogies, ''A Modern Comedy'' and ''End of th ...

Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

and

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

. The production ran for nearly a year, before going on tour. The original cast was: *Lewis Dodd –

*Linda Cowland –

Mary Clare Mary Clare Absalom (17 July 1892 – 29 August 1970) was a British actress of stage, film and television. Biography Daughter of George Alfred Absalom, Clare was educated at Wood Green secondary school, first worked in an office but a loan ...

*Kate Sanger –

Marie Ney Marie Ney (18 July 1895 — 11 April 1981) was a British character actress who had an acting career spanning five decades, from 1919 to 1969, encompassing both stage and screen. Early life Ney was born in London, and as a young child, went with ...

*Kiril Trigorin –

Aubrey Mather Aubrey Mather (17 December 1885 – 16 January 1958) was an English character actor. Career Mather was born in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, and began his career on the stage in 1905. He debuted in London in ''Brewster's Millions'' in ...

*Teresa Sanger –

*Paulina Sanger – Helen Spencer *Jacob Birnbaum –

Kenneth Kent Kenneth Kent (20 April 1892 – 17 November 1963) was an English actor. He is most notable for his roles as Inspector Hanaud in the film '' At the Villa Rose'' (1940) and as Emperor Napoleon in the film '' Idol of Paris'' (1948). Partial film ...

*Antonia Sanger –

Elissa Landi Elissa Landi (born Elisabeth Marie Christine von Kühnelt; December 6, 1904 – October 21, 1948) was an Austrian-American actress born in Venice, who was popular as a performer in Hollywood, California, Hollywood films of the 1920s and 19 ...

*Roberto – Tony de Lungo *Florence Churchill –

*Charles Churchill –

Cecil Parker Cecil Parker (born Cecil Schwabe; 3 September 1897 – 20 April 1971) was an English actor with a distinctively husky voice, who usually played supporting roles, often characters with a supercilious demeanour, in his 91 films made between 1 ...

*Sir Barthelmy Pugh –

*Peveril Leyburn – Harold Scott *Erda Leyburn – Margaret Steveking *Dr Dawson –

Craighall Sherry Craighall Sherry (April 8, 1869; Glasgow, Scotland, UK - 1943 (age 73); Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK) was a British stage and film actor. Selected filmography * '' The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands'' (1927) * '' Spione'' (1928) * '' Numbe ...

*Lydia Mainwaring – Marjorie Gabain *Major Robert Mainwaring –

David Hawthorne David Hawthorne (born May 14, 1985) is an American former professional American football, football linebacker. He was signed by the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent in 2008. He played college football at Texas Christian University, T ...

*Madame Marxse –

Margaret Yarde Margaret Yarde (2 April 1878 – 11 March 1944) was a British stage and film actress. She often played domestics, landladies and mothers. Biography Yarde was born on 2 April 1878 in Dartmouth, Devon, England. Initially training to be an o ...

Plot

Lewis Dodd is a young composer. His late mentor, Albert Sanger, had several daughters, one of whom, the teenage schoolgirl Teresa, suffers from a heart defect. She is in love with Lewis, but he falls for her cousin, Florence Churchill, who, after Albert's death, comes to look after the anarchic Sanger family. Lewis and Florence marry, but the marriage is full of tensions, and she is well aware, as he is not, until later in the play, of Teresa's feelings for him. Florence's conflict between her concerned instincts towards her cousins and her controlling instincts, possessiveness and snobbery is a key point of the plot. Lewis come to realise his love for Teresa, but she dies of heart failure, leaving him bereft.

Critical reception

''The Times'' thought the adaptation well done, but regretted that turning the novel into a play necessarily removed some of its subtleties and ambiguities. The paper's reviewer found that the anarchic Sangers and Dodd were shown in a more unequivocally favourable light than in the novel and the unkind aspects of Florence's nature portrayed more strongly than her kindnesses. ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. Founded in 1880, ''The Stage'' contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at thos ...

'' thought much less of the novel than did ''The Times'' ("cannot be classed much above … Ethel M. Dell"), and found the dramatisation "episodical in treatment", though the reviewer predicted a popular success."The New", ''The Stage'', 16 September 1926, p. 18 '' The Era'' called the play "one of those rare events in the theatre, a really satisfactory and satisfying dramatisation of a novel … there is not a trace of sentimentality"."The Constant Nymph", ''The Era'', 22 September 1926, p. 1

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources

* *

External links

*Full text of
The Constant Nymph
' at HathiTrust Digital Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Constant Nymph 1926 plays Plays by Margaret Kennedy West End plays