Item 81 - "For the gentleman of Equity" [Written by Beaton]

Statement to Equity, listing Beaton's grievances about Wolfit. Wolfit received the play in June 1959. Although initially halfhearted he became enthusiastic about the idea of playing Gainsborough. It was agreed that after a preliminary tour he would come to London and remain with the play until December 1959. Wolfit never returned the contract. Before the rehearsals started he became worried that Minster had not been able to book a London theatre. Rehearsals had to be delayed as Wolfit received an offer to appear on television. The rest of the cast started rehearsals one week before him, which he was unhappy about. During rehearsals Beaton rewrote a scene at short delay at the request of Wolfit, who wrote two more speeches of his own, disapproved by both author and director but which were kept nonetheless. Wolfit used "virtual blackmail in order to win more and more control of the entire production". During rehearsals he would stop in the middle of a speech to make disparaging comments about the text in front of Beaton. Beaton finally let Wolfit know that he was unhappy about his "embroidery". Wolfit's opening performance at Newcastle was "excessively emotional and histrionic". When Beaton suggested that Act one was too slow because of Wolfit's ad-libbing he stormed away threatening he would get a doctor's certificate and refused to appear. However he omitted the objectionable speeches in his second performance but when Beaton thanked him for it he shouted: "I only wallked through the part, and want to get out as soon as possible". Despite warm reviews Beaton was willing to make some more changes but Wolfit phoned the Daily Telegraph saying he wished to quit the show as soon as possible, which had negative consequences on the box office. The manager of the Royal Theatre in Newcastle said that he had never seen such unprofessional behaviour. Wolfit had no consideration for his fellow actors and the money at stake, and his statement to the press meant they were unable to find an actor to replace him. Beaton thinks that Wolfit "deliberately sabotaged the play chances of success" and so should be "strongly censured by Equity, in order to protect other managements and artists from suffering similar treatment at his hands".