Playing to the Gods

June 4, 2018
Screenwriter Rader makes his first foray into nonfiction with this delectable tale of two feuding stage actresses at the end of the 19th century. Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923), the better known of the two, commanded the stage, never disappearing into her roles. Wildly popular and a self-promotional genius, she transformed acting from disreputable entertainment to high art and mined her professional and private lives to invent the “eccentric celebrity” archetype. Born in Paris to an unmarried Jewish courtesan, Bernhardt used sex to secure patrons and break into acting. Eleonora Duse (1858–1924), born to a family of wandering Italian troubadours, first appeared on stage at age four. She later adopted an acting method different from her idol Bernhardt, disappearing into her characters. Her revolutionary style ushered in a new era of acting that threatened to leave Bernhardt behind. Writing in a style both humorous and romantic, and throwing in juicy tidbits (catty notes, cheating lovers) all along, Rader follows the careers of both women, leading to their 1895 dueling stage performances in London (in which Bernhardt intentionally tried to undermine Duse by putting on the same play Duse had already planned—but premiering two days earlier) and the subsequent escalation of their rivalry (in which Duse “hijacked” a role from Bernhardt in a performance for the U.S. president). This entertaining chronicle illustrates how both women captivated audiences and made a lasting impact on the theater. Agent: Becky Sweren, Aevitas Creative Management.

July 1, 2018

TMZ meets theater history gravitas in this deliciously entertaining and informative dual biography of late 19th-/early 20th-century preeminent actresses Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse. Their decades-long rivalry played out in theater stages, newspapers, and boudoirs around the world, with a supporting cast that included royalty and some of the most famous personalities of the time. Hollywood screenwriter, director, and insider Rader focuses on the stark contrasts in their approaches to acting. Bernhardt was the undisputed queen of the declamatory pose with its attendant by-the-numbers predetermined broad gesticulations. Her universally recognized golden-throated voice and larger-than-life personality had a hypnotic effect on her audiences and many lovers. The introverted and enigmatic Duse, by contrast, had an almost spiritual connection with acting that enabled her to dissolve into her roles and, in contemporary parlance, "be in the moment." The lineage of method acting, the modern acting technique taught by Stanislavsky in Russia and the emblematic stamp of the Actors' Studio in New York, can be directly traced to Duse. VERDICT Archetypal prima donnas Miss Thing 1 and Miss Thing 2, the French Bernhardt and Italian Duse tread the boards again in Rader's text. This is up any thespian's proverbial Alley Theatre, but general readers interested in the development and curse of modern celebrity will also be jazzed.--Barry X. Miller, Austin P.L., TX

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2018
A filmmaker and screenwriter's biographical account of two 19th-century theater divas and their fabled feud.As Rader (Mike Wallace: A Life, 2012) notes, before the rise of French acting superstar Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) in the 1860s, popular theater was little more than a vaudevillian "social experience." Actors earned neither money nor respect for their work. Bold and charismatic, Bernhardt took the "highly stylized" art of acting, which portrayed archetypes rather than real human beings, to a level never seen before. Her efforts and her eccentricities--e.g., traveling with a pet alligator and sleeping in a coffin--along with her scandalous affairs, earned the French actress wealth, fame, and legions of adoring fans all over the world. While the world reveled in the on- and offstage antics of "The Divine One," Eleonora Duse (1858-1924), an actress 14 years Bernhardt's junior, was gaining national attention in Italian newspapers. The flamboyant Bernhardt's temperamental opposite, Duse gravitated toward naturalistic stage representations and portrayed her characters as "multidimensional, shaded, and complex" figures. Duse first saw Bernhardt appear in an 1882 production of her signature play, La Dame aux Camélias. Enchanted by the older actress's talent and success, Duse made Bernhardt her role model. As critics across Europe began to take positive notice of Duse's revolutionary acting methods, they also began to critique Bernhardt for her "dated style." Soon the two divas began poaching plays, playwrights, and even lovers from each other. Before Bernhardt was able to perform playwright Giacomo Giacosa's rendering of La Dame on Broadway in 1891, for example, Duse performed Giacosa's translated version for Italian audiences first. Several years later, Bernhardt took poet and playwright Gabriele D'Annunzio--whom Duse adored like no other--as her lover. Delightfully readable and informative, Rader's book examines a rivalry that defined modern theater while also exploring the origins of modern celebrity culture.A well-researched and thoroughly entertaining dual biography.

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June 1, 2018
Rader unpacks the acting rivalry of the modern world between divas Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse. Aside from their equally troubled love lives and humble beginnings, Bernhardt and Duse were radically different artists. Though by today's standards, Bernhardt would have been considered an over-the-top performer, utilizing dramatic gestures and stylized poses, she was exemplary of the style used throughout Europe in the 1800s. Duse, 15 years Bernhardt's junior, made a different choice, galvanizing audiences with her quiet, emotion-based realism. Though Duse's style would become the one we utilize today, at the time critics were divided. The Bernhardt-Duse rivalry reached its apex in an absurd face-off in London, where each played the same role in the same play, just blocks away from each other. After watching each performance, George Bernard Shaw, London's definitive theater critic, announced that Bernhardt had been annihilated by Duse. Rader's well-researched text utilizes diary entries, letters, and reviews, which he weaves together to paint each diva's life, from childhood to death. Theater buffs will love the way Rader captures a global moment in theater?Ibsen, Chekhov, and Shaw all make appearances. A fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)