Plays by David Farn

Synopsis

We first meet Gertrude on one of her Alpine adventures, fearlessly climbing a mountain in a storm. She pauses to address the audience and describe the course of her career: her privileged childhood in Yorkshire at the family estate at Rounton Grange; her grandfather, Sir Isaac, knighted for his industrial achievements; her beloved father and her French stepmother.

Gertrude charts her academic career at Oxford, and her frustration with Victorian society, which eventually drove her abroad and to develop a lifelong fascination with the landscape and the peoples of the Middle East. She goes on to describe her unhappy love life, and the solace she took in garden design and her work for the Red Cross in the Great War.

Time and again, Gertrude returns to her love of travel, languages and archaeology. She becomes a trusted friend to the Arabs; assists T E Lawrence (of Arabia) in inspiring a revolt against the Turks; and plays an important part as a diplomat in the formation of the new state of Iraq.

The Characters

Gertrude Bell

Gertrude was born in 1868 to one of the richest and most influential families in the country. Despite being intelligent, courageous, adventurous and fiercely independent, the conventions of the time excluded her from the family business. Worse still, she felt stifled by a Victorian society that seemed to offer her no role other than that of ornamental addition to a husband.

The Man

During the play, this versatile actor – with the help of token costume changes, and sometimes only with a change of voice – becomes whatever character Gertrude requires in the telling of her story. Seamlessly, he changes from being Alpine Guide Ulrich, to Maurice (Gertrude’s little brother); then Grandfather Bell; her stepmother, Florence; her father Hugh; a pompous Oxford don; her first love Henry Cadogan; Tavish the gardener; Fattuh, her faithful companion abroad; her great love, Charles Doughty-Wylie; and, among assorted others, T E Lawrence and Winston Churchill.

Part of the charm of the play is that a single actor, sometimes under pressure from the pace of the action, performs all of these roles. But, of course, it is also possible to divide the roles between several actors.

The Setting

The time is circa 1910, though time is fluid in the play and lighting changes convey changes of scene.

Previous Performance

The Desert Queen was produced by Hands On NE and first performed at Washington Arts Centre, Tyne & Wear on July 26th 2018 (see British Theater Guide).

Hands On NE also produced a longer tour of the play, in 2019, which took in much of North Yorkshire, including Rounton Village Hall, which was built by Gertrude’s own grandfather; and the Newcastle Literary & Philosophical Society, where Gertrude lectured on the Middle-East.

Reviews

‘A great success … fine performances.’

David Whetstone, Newcastle Lit & Phil Magazine