Woolf, Virginia (1882-1941) Freshwater, Broadside Signed by Writer/Performers, and Three Editions of the Play.
Espace Theatral - Compagnie Simone Benmussa Presenta Freshwater, Spoleto: Arti Grafiche Panetto & Petrelli, [1984]. Broadside for the 27th Festival dei Due Mondi performance of the French version of Freshwater translated by Elisabeth Janvier and directed by Ottorino Neri; text printed in green and black on white, signed in ink by Nathalie Sarraute, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Guy Dumur, Florence Delay, Eugène Ionesco, Rodica Ionesco, Jean-Paul Aron, Raffaello de Banfield, Catherine Robbe-Grillet, who acted in the play, along with stage manager Dominique Ehlinger (poster and signatures somewhat faded, mounted on board); 27 ½ x 13 1/2 in.
[Together with] Freshwater. Traduit de l'Anglais et Preface par Elisabeth Janvier, Paris: Editions des Femmes, 1981, octavo, illustrated, softcover, signed by cast members of New York University Playhouse performance on the 20th of October 1981.Freshwater, a Comedy, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976, stated first American edition, octavo, illustrated by Edward Gorey, bound in publisher's cloth with dust jacket; [and] a softcover reprint with Gorey's illustrations from 1985.
In 1982, French director Simone Benmussa organized a production of Virginia Woolf's 1935 play for her centenary celebration at the Pompidou Center in Paris. The performance featured renowned French authors and artists and garnered widespread critical and public acclaim. The following year, the production moved to New York's University Playhouse for two performances.
"Virginia Woolf would've loved NYU's 'Freshwater.' Queen Victoria, floating onstage on a jaunty white rocking horse, is played by a distinguished (male) French sociologist wearing a wig and layers of black lace. A porpoise dressed in tie and tails obligingly swallows the wedding ring of a young actress who decides to leave her husband. The English poet Alfred Tennyson adoringly reads his own works, in French, to anyone who will listen. He is wearing a long Santa Claus beard and is played by - believe it or not - one of the founders of the theater of the absurd himself, Eugene Ionesco. All the jovial, incongruous absurdity that went into the New York University production of ''Freshwater'' (two nights only, Oct. 20 and 21) would have undoubtedly delighted its author, Virginia Woolf. The very fact of the production itself would probably have surprised her even more. (The production will be offered in Paris on Nov. 7)." (Quoted from Kristin Helmore and Grace D. Polk's review in the Christian Science Monitor, November 1, 1983. https://www.csmonitor.com/1983/1101/110136.html)
