At Freddie's

At Freddie's

Cover to first edition hardback, depicting the death of Arthur in King John
Author Penelope Fitzgerald
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Published
  • 1982 (Collins, UK)
  • 1985 (Godine, US)
Media type Print (Hardback)

At Freddie's is a novel by British author Penelope Fitzgerald. It concerns the run-down, barely viable Temple Stage School, an acting school for children, known as "Freddie's", after its headmistress Frieda "Freddie" Wentworth.

The children regularly perform as fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Arthur in King John, and the Lost Boys in Peter Pan.

Freddie is relentless in her commitment to traditional stage acting, and continually rejects training for film, television, and commercials.

At Freddie's was her second novel[Note 1] to be published in the US, although some sources describe at as her first such.[1][2]

Background

Fitzgerald had taught at Italia Conti stage school, at Avondale House in Clapham, Greater London, in the years 1960–62, living impoverished. Her teaching duties included classes and backstage tutoring. The school's most famous graduate was Noël Coward.

In contrast, the novel is set in 1963. The Italia Conti, named for its founder, was during Fitzgerald's time, run by Ruth Conti, Italia's niece. Unlike Freddie's, Conti was open to film and television acting.[3]

Character summary

Frieda "Freddie" Wentworth
Aged 73, obese, a "female Falstaff",[4] she is mysterious regarding her background, and utterly forceful yet charming in getting what she wants for the school. She learned her trade from Lilian Baylis at the Old Vic.
Freddie is partly based on Baylis,[5] and other historical figures, for example, she owns a beetlewing dress once used by a famed actress playing Lady Macbeth.
Miss Blewett
Freddie's assistant, nicknamed "the Bluebell".
Unwin
Freddie's accountant.
Hannah Graves
A new hire, aged 20, for general studies teaching. She hails from a repressive Catholic home in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She is stage-struck, and is the love interest of Pierce and Boney.
Pierce Carroll[Note 2]
A new hire, aged about 30, for general studies teaching. He is from a rural Protestant Northern Ireland family. Inept in pretty much everything he attempts, and he knows it.
Matthew "Mattie" Stewart
An 11-year-old student at Freddie's, a talented impersonator, given to practical jokes.
Jonathan Kemp
A 9-year-old student at Freddie's, he rarely talks, and is a naturally gifted actor.
James Wentworth
Freddie's younger brother, a solicitor. His attempts to talk seriously about Freddie's finances are rebuffed.
Joey Blatt
A business acquaintance of Mattie's father, he would like to invest in the school, if only they would do things his way.
"Boney" Lewis
Actor, aged 43, happy to coast along with his natural acting talents, which are not impeded by his drinking problem.
Noël Coward
"The Master" makes an off-stage cameo and contributes a song praising Freddie and her school.

Reception

It is well mannered, well written and instantly forgettable.
— Roxanna Robinson, New York Times Book Review[1]
Like a Hirschfeld caricature, "At Freddie's" aims solely to delineate, to depict. But it does that admirably well.
— Anne Tyler, The Washington Post[6]

Critical review

The novel has a chapter of its own in Peter Wolfe Understanding Penelope Fitzgerald[7] and Hermione Lee Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life.[8]

Notes

  1. ↑ Scribner's published The Golden Child in 1977.
  2. ↑ Wolfe 2004 misspells the name as Connell in the relevant chapter, but elsewhere in the book (p. 40) spells it correctly.

References

  1. 1 2 Robinson, Roxanna (1985-09-08). "At Freddie's". New York Times Book Review: 24.
  2. ↑ Lee 2014, p. 279.
  3. ↑ Lee 2014, pp. 187–8.
  4. ↑ Lee 2014, p. 200.
  5. ↑ Lee 2014, pp. 201–2.
  6. ↑ Tyler, Anne (1985-09-13). "Roar of the Greasepaint": B3.
  7. ↑ Wolfe 2004, pp. 160–83.
  8. ↑ Lee 2014, pp. 199–207.

Further reading

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