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The script of the acclaimed 150th anniversary play.
Elgar and Alice was first performed at the Swan Theatre, Worcester,
on 5th June 2007 to mark the composer’s 150th anniversary.
The book includes an exclusive interview with Gerald Harper, who
starred as Edward. Press reviews were enthusiastic:
* * *
How did a fanatical cyclist, amateur chemist, incorrigible
joker and son of a piano-tuner marry the daughter of a major-general,
and how did they cope with the tensions between his music and her
ambitions to be a writer? Those are the questions Sutton answers,
along with providing a solution to the true enigma behind the Enigma
Variations.
Hereford Times
When Alice Roberts, daughter of a major-general,
married her piano teacher, her family was horrified to be linked
to a tradesman. That was one reason for the underlying tension in
the marriage of Sir Edward and Lady Elgar. Others explored in this
absorbing new play include his refusal to set her poetry to music
and, most notoriously, his relationships with other women. Sutton
does a skilful job of weaving historic information, and Elgar’s
reflections on his art, into a plausible picture of the Elgars at
home.
Birmingham Post
Sir Edward Elgar is one moment playful, the next
cantankerous. He is as unapproachable as he is engaging. As the
tensions between Elgar and Lady Alice surface, so do the insights
into their marriage. He disregards Alice’s poetry, treats
her, at times, like a child and it’s upsetting to watch. He
repeatedly tells her she doesn’t understand him, never has
and never will, and it’s heartbreaking.
Worcester News
Very neat. It’s neatly done, altogether.
Sutton’s text, equally neat, builds in Elgar's searing awareness
of his humble origin and self-made stature…and her unthinking
snobbery. More fundamental is her pride in her poems, which she
longs for him to recognise. Alice’s hurt at being a second-best
amanuensis flares into jealousy of his succession of friends-patrons-muses.
Oxford Times
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* * *
Peter Sutton has lived on the Malvern Hills for
fifteen years, where he has inevitably developed a love of Elgar’s
music and a curiosity about the composer’s complex character.
Peter’s comedy Mr Punch was shortlisted for the 2005 King’s
Cross New Writing Award, and his play My Son Will was premiered
at the 2006 Yerevan International Shakespeare Festival.
As a mature student, Peter trained to act at Birmingham Theatre
School, and he has appeared for the European Theatre Company, the
Pascal Theatre Company, the Steam Industry and others. He has also
worked for RADA and the Central School of Speech and Drama, and
he has played character parts on television and in short films.
He comments: “Behind Elgar’s public
persona there was huge potential for a play about the tensions of
a long-term relationship. And as for his music, insights developed
as the writing progressed, culminating in the description of his
method of composition given in Act I, and in the solution to the
‘Enigma’ behind the Variations proposed in Act II. I
would like to think that these come close to the truth, for the
play was warmly received by eminent musicians such as Sir Charles
Mackerras and by members of the Elgar family".
"My wife and I were absolutely bowled over
by your play about Elgar. A really marvellous achievement"
Sir Charles Mackerras
"Congratulations for Elgar and Alice"
Hilary Elgar
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