#popculture27: W. Somerset Maugham Writes the Play “The Letter”
A real-life murder inspired the short story and play by this celebrated writer.
W. Somerset Maugham was a European writer from the early twentieth century, best known for such books as Of Human Bondage, The Painted Veil and The Razor’s Esge.
He also wrote short stories and plays. One of his short stories became one of his greatest plays: The Letter.
All the world’s a stage
I have some experience as a playwright. In seventh grade, I co-wrote a play which we put on for the school. In college, I took a Playwriting class. Fun fact: The Tick creator Ben Edlund was in it (I didn’t know him well). I also took some acting classes.
Playwriting isn’t too different from prose, except one, of course, must be conscious that the words you write will be spoken out loud. You also have to be aware of stage directions, of course—how your characters enter and exit, where to position them, what role props play, etc.
I found it challenging. I wrote one scene about a vampire girl who lives in Central Park and another about a TV remote that controls time. Don’t recall if there were any good. Probably not.
They certainly weren’t on the level of what Maugham wrote.
W. Somerset Maugham’s early career
A former medical student, born in Paris to British parents and educated in London, Maugham published his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, in 1897. Other novels followed, including Bondage and Veil, plus a number of plays and short stories, such as “Rain.”
In 1926, Maugham wrote The Casuarina Tree, a short story collection published first in the UK and then in the US. Inspired by his travels in the Malay Peninsula earlier in the decade, the collection contained six stories.
Expat Brits living in the region thought Maugham told tales out of school and made them look bad.
The plot of “The Letter”
One of the stories in the collection was “The Letter,” based on actual events. In Kuala Lumpur, in 1911, an Eurasian woman killed a man after what she claimed was a rape attempt on his part. The subsequent trial drew lots of attention.
In Maugham’s story, the titular letter was an addition. It claims Leslie, the main character, invited Geoff, the man she killed, to her house while her husband was away. Leslie and Geoff had an affair for years.
When Geoff reveals he’s leaving Leslie for another woman, Leslie shoots him out of jealousy, not in self-defense as she claims.
In the play, Leslie’s lawyer tries to prove her innocence.
The play’s the thing
When Maugham adapted The Letter for the stage, it opened at the Playhouse Theatre in London in 1927, starring Gladys Cooper. A theater veteran from the start of the century, she had co-managed the Playhouse since 1917. Among the plays in which she appeared also included Maugham’s Home and Beauty. The Letter was the first play Cooper had produced solo.
She went on to become a three-time Oscar nominee.
The Letter opened on Broadway in the fall of 1927, starring Katherine Cornell.
Hollywood made two successful film adaptations, one in 1929 and the other, with Bette Davis, in 1940.
An opera version premiered in 2009.
PLUS: Fancy making chop suey to go with the 1940 film version?
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Also in 1927:
Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse is published.
Herman Hesse’s Steppenwolf is published.
B. Traven’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is published.
Two major bookstores are founded: New York’s Strand Bookstore and Tokyo’s Books Kinokuniya.
Erma Bombeck is born.
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Have you seen The Letter, on stage or in film? Leave a comment and let me know!
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Great post and insights on Maugham. I learned a couple things. And many thanks for the Flicks & Forks chop suey mention!