The George Garrett Archive Project

Module Four. The Subterranean Theatre 1918-1955. 

Workshop Two. A Playwright in the Shadows, 

a Deportee Lying Low. 1922-1926

In 1923, after the National Hunger Marchers have reached London, rallying for a mass demonstration at Trafalgar Square, and have subsequently been ignored by the new tory Prime Minister, Bonar Law, George realises that Liverpool, even though they have forced the Guardians to increase the rates of relief, holds little for him. Blacklisted for his activities, he’s certain to be at the back of the queue for any jobs that may be available. With the agreement of his wife Grace, he makes his way to Southampton and on to New York aboard The Homeric.

In New York he is lying low, living as George Oswald James, he works at any job he can to make a living, including in a brewery (during prohibition) and as a janitor in a Police Station. But he’s not complaining, as this also offers him the opportunity to mix with other writers, with actors, immerse himself in the work of Eugene O’Neill, Ibsen and Strindberg, and most importantly, spend time on his own writing.

It was Samuel Beckett who coined the phrase ‘The Siege in the Room’, the time when every artist has to do time at their desk, stripping everything away to focus on their work. From George’s notebooks, which show how he studied his craft, through to the two complete plays (Flowers and Candles, Tombstones and Grass) he produces in this short period, plus Two Tides written a few years before, it is clear that George is now devoting all his energy into becoming a writer and a dramatist. It is not clear to what degree George was successful in getting any of his work performed, but there’s no doubt that his output at this stage was prolific, and that if it wasn’t performed, it certainly wasn’t through a lack of effort on his part.

As we explore George’s plays we are able to see the clear influence of Eugene O’Neill; the tight focus on characters in scenes in confined spaces; the use of common language; the exploration of j ealousy, anger and bitterness among characters drawn from everyday life. But there are features that demonstrate that George is finding his own voice, introducing his own themes and concerns of justice and utilising drama to explore the role of class in society, and demonstrating, as we also see later in his short stories, a keen eye for dialogue, for character, and humour.

Actor Jackie Gleason

Despite the Palmer Raids of 1919/20 New York remains a melting pot of nationalities and radical political and cultural ideals. George lives among the bohemia of East 42nd Street, and rooms with actors who later establish themselves in Hollywood, including Jackie Gleason and Victor Mclaglan and Barry Fitzgerald. This is a time for George to escape from the pressure he would no doubt be under in Liverpool as an activist and as a mentor and advocate for people in need of support, and he uses it well. George is finally forced back to Liverpool as the jobs and his money run out, but not before he has imbibed all he can about writing drama, and honed his craft. Although there is no evidence that any of George’s plays were performed in Liverpool, that he clearly intended on finding a place for them is indicated in annotations in the manuscript of ‘Flowers and Candles’ where he changes place names, characters and slang words to suit it for a British rather than American audience.

Letter from Millie Toole 

The radical moment, for the time being has passed, but George, and others like him are still working away. But what is radical here? The writer Millie Toole, who struck up a correspondence with George in the 1950’s, and credits him for ‘telling her the story’ in her biography of Bessie Braddock, urges her to tell him all about Byron Street and the Communist Party in Liverpool in the early 1920’s. But George, who was described as a Communist by Orwell in the 1930’s, was one of many, including Jack Braddock, who had caught the wind of change in the role of the CP and had left. George described it as getting another Pope off his back when he left. Many syndicalists had flooded into the CP following its upsurge in popularity after the Russian revolution. Eric Hobsbawn said it was the only party that could contain them.

But after 1922 something happens. It’s the first period of Leninism, and the role of the Russian CP in the lead role, through which all other struggles and satellites were to be conducted didn’t sit well with many activists. It’s likely too that the violent suppression of the uprising by the krondstadt sailors would have hit hard among seafarers the world over. There is feeling that the CP is becoming too restrictive. Democratic centralism was always going to be hard to swallow for someone like George, who named one of his sons after a Wobbly leader Wesley Everest, who was lynched and castrated by right-wing thugs during a strike in America. The seaman Jimmy Breslan returns from a visit to Russia and tears up his membership card, because the ‘poor, working class stiffs’ were still ‘getting it in the neck’. George still sees the CP as a force, but is no longer willing to take part in its activities. In 1928 the European working class movement is divided, but George still continues as one of many who Camus describes as ‘persistent radicals’, who don’t get subsumed in organisational structures.

During the workshop the group read from Act Two, Scene One of ‘Two Tides’. Two Tides, most likely written in Liverpool between 1920 and 1922, is remarkable in many respects, not least of all in being the first play of a writer who has had no formal training or experience in writing for the stage. If he does encounter the work of O’Neill when in New York between 1918 and 1920, then it is clear that he has absorbed it at an incredible rate. Two Tides exhibits strong themes and plotting, with believable and sympathetic characters. Our reading brought the play t life, and provided a lot of scope for discussion and further enquiry. One of the most significant aspects of the play, commented upon by the group, was how modern it felt in the way that George foregrounds and gives prominent roles to the female characters. This too is indicative of his work, and as we’ll find out later when we look at other plays, how he deals with issues of race also reflects his radical concerns. We also watched a fascinating clip of the actor Christopher Plummer discussing O’Neill’s work, and portraying the character Edmund Tyrone from O’Neill’s masterpiece, Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
Click here to view the clip.

The workshop, as ever, ran way over time, but as they say, time flies when you’re having fun, and no-one was looking from their watch to the door.

In the second part of the session we discussed ideas for the celebration events in May, and how we could continue to work in the run up to the Writing on the Wall festival in May, and beyond. We are planning to launch the public exhibition of the archive on Saturday 3rd May at the Central Library, and there will be a rehearsed reading of the play ‘Two Tides’ on Thursday 29th May at The Unity Theatre. In between these two events, which nicely bookend the celebrations, we will have a public display, which is being designed by art and design students at Liverpool John Moores University. This display will be taken to different venues in Liverpool as part of our work to bring knowledge of George’s work to the wider public. We will also launch the complete website at the beginning of May.

Other ideas suggested include: a small book, or ‘mini-series’ of George’s work; finding a sponsor to enable publication of a more substantial collection of George’s writing; asking the Liverpool Echo to publish a long article about the project and George’s work; cycle of performance of all of the plays and a reconstruction of the hunger marchers, or of the events around the Walker Art Gallery. We also explored the idea of linking in George’s time during the war, and his experiences afterwards, with the centenary events commemorating the First World War. We will continue consulting with the group and looking at what is possible over the next few weeks as the festival programme develops.

At the end of the session (as I said, busy night this one!), Val Stevenson, the head of learning and research at LJMU Aldham Robarts Library, showed us round the rooms next to where the archives are stored, and we discussed plans, when the taught sessions of the course finish at the end of January, to continue with the group working collectively to catalogue and curate the archive in preparation for May. This will allow us to continue researching any area that participants are interested in, while also gaining a range of skills including, writing, research, preservation, handling and curating. Thanks again to Val and her team – absolute troopers all.

Next week will be looking at the period 1926-1939, exploring some of his short story work and reading Scene Two Act two from Two Tides.

Blog created and written by Mike Morris & Tony Wailey, based upon a series of introductions by Tony Wailey to the George Garrett Archive course.

The George Garrett Archive project workshops are free and open to all. We meet every Monday, 6-8pm in Liverpool John Moores University’s Aldham Robarts Library, Maryland Street, L1 9DE (off Hope Street). The next meeting will be on Monday 20th January 2014. All welcome.