A quick plug I promised to Wynd of the Last Tuesday Society. He’s promoting a play about the life of that decadent hero – or anti-hero – Stephen Tennant.
Mr Tennant was a 1920s Bright Young Thing – i.e. a full-time socialite who at the time was famous for being famous. He appeared in novels by Evelyn Waugh and Nancy Mitford, canoodled with Siegfried Sassoon, then spent the rest of his life in bed. Essentially, if it’s 1920s England, and there’s a camp male character who’s entertaining but doomed, it’s probably based on him.
The Immortal Dropout- A Monologue devised by Hugo Vickers.
Date: 2 & 4 June 2008, at 7pm. Doors open 6.30pm.
Venue: The Cabaret Room at Bistrotheque, 27 Wadeson Street, London E2 9DR – transformed into Stephen Tennant’s bedroom at Wilsford Manor.
Tickets £10 (limited availability) from www.thelasttuesdaysociety.org
A monologue in two short acts. Stephen Tennant, once the brightest of the Bright Young Things, lived at Wilsford Manor all his life. Once a family home, filled with conversation, chatter and laughter, it is now the retreat of its lonely owner, who chooses to spend most of his time in his bedroom, mulling over his life, the people he has known, and his literary endeavours and enjoyments. Stephen Tennant is played by Charles Duff, an international actor, director, author and lecturer, who was raised in Stephen Tennant’s milieu.
The play then transfers to the Jermyn Street Theatre in the West End, from 28 July to 2 August.
Recommended reading: Philip Hoare’s biography Serious Pleasures. Now something of a cult read, I’ve seen it cited as a favourite book by both the bar manager at the Boogaloo and Little Britain’s David Walliams. All of which makes sense.
Just found this review of the Hoare book by film director John Waters, from 1991:
Aubrey Beardsley, Ronald Firbank, Denton Welch — believe me, Stephen Tennant made them all seem butch.
