Hanover welcomed Tony Award-winning actress Irene Worth to Spaulding Auditorium Friday night, as she performed her dynamic "Portrait of Edith Wharton." Worth's recital consisted of selections from the autobiography and works of Wharton, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of such novels as "The Age of Innocence" and "Ethan Frome."
Adorned in a shimmering apricot Fortuny gown given to her by the actress Lillian Gish, Worth became Wharton reminiscing about her formative years. She shone with the delight of innocent childhood while retelling Wharton's excitement over her first kiss. Her descriptions of "making up" captured the imaginative energy of a young girl. Flawlessly she demonstrated the serious, self-assured attitude of the novelist, who wrote her "first novel at age eleven."
Worth's endearing, humorous and enlightening characterizations of people with whom Wharton associated were deftly presented. As easily as she mimicked her stuffy mother, she dryly portrayed a touchingly funny Henry James with his "slow, measured style of speech." Worth also enacted characters from Wharton's novels, creating a hilariously silly Grace with "adaptable manners" from "The House of Mirth," as well as several of the characters from "Ethan Frome." Her range of voices and mannerisms made them all completely believable. Captivating indeed was her sensuous description of a woman's pleasure under the skill of a perfect lover.
As Wharton, Worth depicted the vibrancy with which the writer addressed life. Her descriptions of plush interiors and lavish decor provided a feeling of the surroundings in which she delighted. Worth showed the intense satisfaction that Wharton felt toward The Mount, her Massachusetts home, a "spacious, dignified house." "Life in the country is the only way of life that has ever satisfied me," she quoted. Wharton's pleasure at the acceptance of her poems for publication could not have seemed more real.
The pain and sorrows in Wharton's life became apparent with Worth's illustration of her husband's coldness. Incredibly moving was her simple statement, "my marriage was a failure and I married the wrong man." It is with much triumph that she said of the publishing of her first novel: "It broke the chains of my miserable marriage. . .thereafter I never questioned that storytelling was my first job." With extreme sadness Worth read the letter that Wharton wrote to her lover. "You write me like a lover, you treat me as a casual acquaintance," she recited.
Worth, who has acted on Broadway, with the Old Vic Company, the Royal National Theatre of England and the Royal Shakespeare Company, dedicated her recital "to the memory of Jessica Tandy." Her forceful performance closed and Wharton's words lingered: "the visible world is a daily miracle for those who have ears and eyes." Irene Worth gave Hanover a view of the world through the eyes of Edith Wharton.
