Where Are the Women Composers?
“You’d pull me in, love me, then despise me and push me away.” Imogen Holtz
“You’re vital. I couldn’t do this without you.” Bejamin Britten
Plays about creation are always interesting but only rarely do they land well. Mark Ravenhill has written successfully about the collaboration between Benjamin Britten and Imogen Holtz. Imogen was the daughter of composer Gustav Holtz of The Planets fame, and worked as a biographer for her famous father. Taking place in 1952, Britten, after the success of his opera Peter Grimes has been tasked with writing a celebration piece for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, to be called Gloriana.
This play is as much about the isolation of composing as it is about the problems of collaboration. We know that Imogen Holtz (Victoria Yeates) is vital to the composition but she can only be accredited as “Musical Assistant”. Benjamin Britten (Samuel Barnett) is in a full blown relationship with singer Peter Pears (said Peers like Tears rather than anything more fruity) but Pears can only help on the parts for his voice.
Gloriana is to be based on the relationship between Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen and her paramour, the Earl of Essex based on the poem The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser a contemporary poet of Elizabeth I. The libretto was composed by William Plowmer, based on Lytton Strachey’s 1928 Elizabeth and Essex – A Tragic History. It was Imogen Holtz who inserted the Courtly Dances for this opera, part of its later success.
There are interesting asides when Britten disses his contemporaries, Kenneth Clarke of the Arts Council and fellow composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams, including this gem about the famous ballet dancer, “There’s more trouble from Ninette de Valois!” Britten was resisting the inclusion of ballet in his opera. Imo and Ben fall out about who should be the conductor for the Royal Operatic Performance.
Britten argues with Imogen; he can be cantankerous and we sense that he has depression which plunges him into darkness and difficulty writing. Imo contributes much to Gloriana in dance having gained expertise in the Gailliard and the Morris Dance. After the success of Peter Grimes, Benjamin Britten feels insecure about composing Gloriana. His music was modern and less easy to understand than earlier music. He plays in a concert with Yehudi Menuhin at Bergen-Belsen, the terrible Concentration Camp in Germany after its liberation. Ben and Imo also have fun when they dance together in “No More Conductors” as much of their relationship is joy in music.
The coronation performance of Gloriana isn’t universally praised in June 1953 but later comes into its own. One of the problems then was the portrayal of Elizabeth as an older and difficult queen.
Erica Whyman, directing here, gets thoroughly satisfying performances from both actors. Samuel Barnett shows Britten’s unkinder edge and Victoria Yeates loyally stays with him rather than developing work of her own. Soutra Gilmour’s set in Britten’s home in Aldeburgh is centred round the piano with piles of music sheets everywhere. There is some music in the production but after seeing you will probably want to listen to more.
Mark Ravenhill has based this play, first shown in Stratford at the Royal Shakespeare Company, on his earlier play for radio and has created a most interesting exploration of the conflict and loneliness of being a composer with artistic deadlines. He also shows how Britten’s homosexual relationship with Peter Pears has to be kept secret, and how Imogen’s affection for Britten and attraction to him is doomed. Ironically a lavender marriage was contemplated for Peter Pears to divert a possible prosecution. More people deserve to see this original and involving two-handed play.
Production Notes
Ben and Imo
Written by Mark Ravenhill
Directed by Erica Whyman
Cast
Starring:
Samuel Barnett
Victoria Yeates
Creatives
Director: Erica Whyman
Set Designer: Soutra Gilmour
Composer: Conor Mitchell
Musical Director and Pianist: Connor Fogel
Sound Designer: Carolyn Downing
Movement Director: Lucy Cullingford
Lighting Designer: Charles Balfour
Composer: Jherek Bischoff
An RSC Production
Information
Running Time: Two hours 20 minutes with an interval
Booking to 17th May 2025
Theatre:
Orange Tree Theatre
Rail/Tube: Richmond
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge
at the Orange Tree
at the matinée on 8th May 2025