Fascinating and well paced dual biography of Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse. I learned so much about both of them, about the development of acting, and about early cults of celebrity. I have talked more about this book with random friends than most things I can remember reading over the last couple of years -- both because I didn't know Eleanora Duse existed, despite my theater background, and because I didn't realize how much styles of acting have changed over time. The book itself is well balanced, fairly exhaustive, and very carefully centered on their rivalry, which I think works well when you are covering two such large and documented personalities.

Advanced reader's copy provided by Edelweiss. ( )

Initial thoughts: “I originally requested the Peter Rader nonfiction novel because my grandfather used to call me Sarah Bernhardt whenever he felt I was being overly dramatic – which was pretty much all the time in his opinion. I started reading because I wanted to learn more about her. I kept reading because I was drawn into these two women’s stories. It is a fascinating glimpse into the beginnings of what we would consider modern theater. Moreover, I can now appreciate my grandfather’s reference – even if I do not consider it in nearly the same negative light as he meant it to be.”

Now: Yes, it is an odd reason to read a book, but I seriously heard my mother and my grandfather call me Sarah almost my entire childhood. Am I dramatic? Probably. Is it the epithet he meant it to be? What I learned in Playing to the Gods is that it is not. The woman died one of the most famous women of all time. Most people even today have at least heard of her even if they do not know why. She was wealthy. She was powerful. I mean, she owned and ran her own theater company and called the shots on every production in which she appeared. Her standard of acting may not have stood the test of time, but for a woman at the turn of the twentieth century, she held an extraordinary amount of power and never kowtowed to societal standards. I found Eleanora Duse’s story to be equally fascinating, if only because of her lasting impact on theater in spite of her lack of eye-catching headlines and fantabulous wealth. While Sarah’s story teaches you to go for your dreams and society be damned, Eleanora’s is to not be afraid to hone your craft (and society be damned). Either way, spending time learning about these two remarkable women, and feeling a lot better about that childhood nickname that was meant to be derisive, was time well spent.

Sex. Rivalry. Betrayal. Reconciliation. Art.

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Towering over all, the two greatest actresses of the 19th century challenging and competing with each other, in a time of turbulent change in both the acting world (with the advent of art nouveau and moving pictures), and the world at large (the Franco-Prussian War, the First World War). The prize at stake was the very soul of acting.

This is a true story. Playing To The Gods relives the lives of two actresses, one of whose name is still widely recognisable, the other whose name is now known only to drama students.

Historically, both actresses lived at a time of great change. Up to about the 1870’s or so, being called an ‘Actress’ was equivalent to being called a prostitute. Acting then was primarily vaudeville-type shows, tickets cost mere pennies, and actresses usually ended as paupers, (to be buried in the potter’s field, not even worthy of a cemetery burial).

Acting style was minutely described, with “poses” being the conduit for emotion (i.e. a certain pose for rage, for happiness, etc.). This was known as Symbolism, acting by physical mimicry. There was no emotion, no realism. It was all swooning and stage-left exits.

Writing style was equally trite – tragedies ended in death, comedies in marriage. It was all very formulaic, predictable, and required nothing of the actors or audience.

Sarah Bernhardt changed the perception of actresses, Eleanora Duse the nature of acting.

French actress Sarah Bernhardt, born 1844, was the illegitimate daughter of a Jewish courtesan, who had run away from Amsterdam with her younger sister to Paris. Paris was more permissive and accepting of such children, and of such ladies like her mother and their salons, and her mother’s success was such that Sarah went at seven years of age to a boarding school (with a less-than-inspiring debut as the Fairy Queen in a play called Clotilde), then at nine to a convent, to finish her education. She eventually joined Comedie-Francaise, a highly-respected acting troupe. She also joined the family business for a period, at this time.

From these beginnings, she went on to star in some of the most popular plays (using the “posed” or Symbolic style) from the mid 1860’s to just after the First World War. The names include her signature role as Camille in La Dame Aux Camelias (by Alexandre Dumas), Theodora, Fedora and La Tosca by Sardou, and latterly L’Aiglon by Edmond Rostand (who would succumb to the Spanish Flu of 1919). She also was comfortable playing male roles, such as Hamlet, but as early as 1869 she was playing Zanetto in Le Passant, by Francois Coppee. Her legend began with this role.

She became larger than life, not caring what newspapers said of her in the theatre pages, so long as she was on the front page. She promoted her eccentricities, such as her travelling menagerie, her opulent lifestyle, her grandiose gestures, her myriad lovers. She could entertain equally as well on stage and in the bedroom (which may have been just another stage for her).

The “witching music of her voice of gold” enraptured audiences and critics alike, and propelled her to stardom. She took full advantage, understanding the importance of merchandising herself. She created several firsts, for example becoming the first international move star (a full year before Chaplin). She WAS the Grande Dame of theatre.

Eleanor Duse, an Italian actress born in 1858, had none of the advantages that Bernhardt had, such as they were. Born into a family of poor, wandering troubadours, her life from the start was characterised by rootlessness, restlessness, and loneliness. From these inauspicious beginnings (she from about four was used as a beggar in order to earn the family enough money for food), and without any formal training, she rose to become the greatest stage actress of her generation, possibly of any generation to that date, and her rivalry with Bernhardt stemmed from this.

Duse debuted as Cosette, the orphaned waif in Les Miserables, learning early the lesson that for the audience to be entertained, the actor had to suffer. She had an isolated, lonely childhood, (naming only one friend), which fed her imagination and developed her deep inner spiritual life.

Many years of literally walking the roads of Italy, Germany, Austria were to follow, until she had an epiphany in Verona, playing Juliet in the Shakespearean heroine’s hometown. A force, (known to her and select intimates from then forward as The Grace), revealed itself to her, and she was transformed. Acting had now become Art. Art would flow without effort, truth would channel through the artist to the audience creating a mystical communion, but the artist had to lose herself (i.e. destroy the ego) in the performance.

Duse would be the model and inspiration for what would become the Method School of acting, and was the first major proponent for the emotional style of acting. She would revel in plays by Ibsen. She too would create some firsts, notably being the first actor or actress ever to be invited to the White House, and also the first woman to appear on the cover of Time magazine. The American phrase “it’s a doozy” dates from their appreciation of her performances, when on tour in the US. While never short of lovers, Duse fell in love with the wrong guys, and suffered terrible emotional distress at their hands. Conversely, Bernhardt was always the one in control.

Duse and Bernhardt were different in almost every conceivable way. Modest as opposed to flamboyant, retiring against extroverted, publicity-shy against publicity-hungry, these two women bestrode the acting world like colossi. Bernhardt had the early advantage, being some 15 years older, and already a star when Duse took her first steps upon the stage.

Bernhardt had perfected the Symbolic school, and was worshipped wherever she went.

Duse created a new style of acting, being more natural, using the pauses between the lines, and had to work hard to win over her audiences and critics, initially at least.

Playing To The Gods perfectly narrates the growing confidence of Duse in her Art, and Bernhardt’s increasing awareness of this rising star. Bernhardt calls her “de vigne” in French, which to Anglophone ears sounds like divine, but means “of the peasantry, or ‘of the vines”. Bernhardt’s reaction is to go big, larger performances, more extravagant sets, increased publicity, but ever the survivor we see her changing her style, and re-writing her past, to become Duse-like near the end of her career.

They stole each other’s lovers and scripts, they followed each other around the globe, and strove to out-perform each other in the roles they took. This epic rivalry (echoed by the 1963 tensions between Crawford and Davis in Feud) culminated in an act-off, a head-to-head staging by both actresses of the SAME play (Magda) at the SAME time in London – across the street from each other!

The book is a fascinating insight into two incredible talents, their highs and lows, abject failures and stunning successes, the sexual shenanigans and unlikely partnerships. These iconic women were venerated and criticised by people whose names are still known today (Henry James, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, and others). It was a time of legends, and this book details why Bernhardt’s name lives on, whereas Duse is almost obscure.

It is a fascinating read, and thoroughly recommended.

Not available until August 21st 2018.

Acknowledgements:
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to review, in return for a free copy of the book. ( )