In September, I picked up once more the story of Henry Savile Clarke of Guisborough & Lewis Carroll's Alice.
I mentioned in the piece Clare Imholtz' fascinating article on the child actress Phoebe Carlo. She played Alice in the original production of Henry Savile Clarke's adaptation of the books for the musical stage.
Clare gave a talk at the Lewis Carroll Society of North America's (virtual) meeting in Autumn 2021. It's entitled 'Alice Takes to the Stage: Carroll’s Letters to Henry Savile Clarke' and that link will take you to the talk on youtube.
It's a real treat and I enjoyed it so much.
Poor Henry Savile Clarke! I hadn't realised that writing the drama and collaborating with the composer was only the beginning of his labours. He was caught between the power of the theatre managers and Lewis Carroll's rather demanding – increasingly demanding! – requirements. No easy task.
