Joan and the Baron by Mark Burgess

Joan and the Baron by Mark Burgess. Dir. David Blount. Perf. Eleanor Bron, Michael Jayston. BBC Radio 4, 2013. BBC Radio 4 Extra, 13 Oct. 2017. Another play with its roots in history. “Joan” is the theatre director Joan Littlewood, who after the death of Gerry Raffles, she is touring France with little aim about what to do next, as Gerry was her right-hand person in everything to do with Theatre Workshop. “The Baron” is Baron Rothschild, a notorious womanizer who lost his second wife a decade previously and has been picking up and putting down women ever since. The play dramatizes their relationship which remained platonic throughout. The play explores the phenomenon that opposites attract. As portrayed by Bron, Joan Littlewood did not have much to life for, but came to the Baron’s house on a whim. As portrayed by Jayston, the Baron began by hoping for sexual success but discovered as he went on that friendship was far more lasting. The two of them shared interests in wine, in establishing good relationships with the staff on the Rothschild estate, and in talking about their individual lives. We learned a good deal about Littlewood’s past, as well as her trust in Gerry Raffles, who was equipped with the power to solve any problem. The Baron could never replace him in her life, but he nonetheless encouraged her to stop looking back at the past and try something for the future – in this case, writing. He thought she was writing her autobiography, but when he looked at the manuscript, he saw that she had written his own autobiography. Littlewood was always concerned to protect herself, and hence kept most of her writing to herself (she eventually published an autobiography in 1994), some fifteen years after encountering the Baron for the first time. This play was just made for two actors who, while not impersonating the historical characters directly, included sufficient vocal mannerisms to suggest them. The dialogue was a mixture of cut, thrust and parry, with the Baron breaking down Joan’s resistance, getting her to write, only to realize that she had had the last laugh. Laurence Raw 19 Oct. 2017