Theatre by W.S. Maugham

Chapters 28-29

I. Answer the following questions:

1. What seemed the most scaring for Julia in the talk with her son on the first day of his arrival?

It was his suggestion that if she went into an empty room and someone suddenly opened the door there would be nobody there.

2. How did Julia prepare for the play?

Julia studied her part. She didn’t deliberately create the character she was going to act by observation, she had a knack of getting into the shoes of the woman she had to portray so that she thought with her mind and felt with her senses. Julia wanted to show the courageous yet uneasy breeziness of the Mrs. Marten who played golf and could talk to a man like one good chap to another and yet, essentially a respectable, middle-class woman, hankered for the security of the marriage state.

3. How did she act at the dress-rehearsal? Why?

Julia spared herself because she thought she would give everything she could only on the stage in the first night.

4. What advice did Julia give Michael about Avice Crichton? Why did she need it? Was that carefully planned?

Julia gave advice towards Avice to Michael but he was not still sure in her. Julia decided to train her role individually. It was planned to take revenge for her.  “You can never really tell how a performance is going to pan out till you've got an audience”.

5. Who did Julia talk to about her conversation with Roger? Why? What did she need to get from the conversation?

Julia talked to Charles about her conversation with Roger, because this woman expected him to be more sympathetic.

6. Describe the state Julia was in before a first night? Compare her attitude towards first-night acting with the bygone years?

Julia was very nervous. She had felt slightly sick all day and as the hours passed got into such a state that she almost thought she would have to leave the stage. But by now she had acquired a certain nonchalance. Throughout the early part of the day she felt only happy and mildly excited; it was not till late in the afternoon that she began to feel ill at ease. She grew silent and wanted to be left alone. She also grew irritable. Her hands and feet got cold and by the time she reached the theatre they were like lumps of ice.

7. Who did she meet while wandering the streets of London at noon, 6 hours before the first night? Where did they go?

Julia met Tom, who offered her to have tea with him.

8. What thoughts accompanied Julia when she visited Tom's place?

Julia looked round the room. Nothing was changed. Her photograph stood in its old place, but on the chimney piece was a large photograph also of Avice Crichton. The room might have been a set in which she had once acted; it was vaguely familiar, but no longer meant anything to her.

9. Why did Julia change her attitude to Tom? What phrase does Julia pronounce to herself at the end of chapter 28? Comment on it.

Julia didn’t love him anymore. She was free. "I dare say there's something in what Roger said. Love isn't worth all the fuss they make about it" .

10. Was the first night a success for Julia? For Avice? Why?

As for Julia, it was the success while for Avice it was a catastrophe. Julia literally outshined her.

11. What was Tom's attitude towards Avice's acting? How does the scene in Julia's dressing-room characterize him?

Tom found Avice’s acting a rotten one. It characterized him as a person who only wanted to be with people who could introduce him to the high society.

12. Why do you think Julia refused to supper with Tom that night?

Julia refused to supper with Tom that night, because it was the end with him, she didn’t love him anymore.

13. How did Julia spend that night? Was it typical of her? Why did she prefer this?

Julia wanted to be alone and it wasn’t typical for her. This woman understood that she would never have another moment like this in her life.

14. What was peculiar about Julia's appearance and order at the Berkeley? Do you feel that night was somehow significant to her? Why?

Julia was without any make up because it was so unusual moment when she didn’t care about her appearance. She looked at herself at the mirror and thought about her life.

15. How does she reflect about the day passed? Does she feel satisfied? Why? Prove your point of view.

Julia was satisfied with her meetings with Tom because she realized her indifference towards him. "It was an amusing experience."

16. Describe the place in a restaurant where Julia was having supper? What was special about it? Why had she chosen to be seated there?

The room in which she sat was connected by three archways with the big dining-room where they supped and danced; amid the crowd doubtless were a certain number who had been to the play. How surprised they would be if they knew that the quiet little woman in the corner of the adjoining room, her face half hidden by a felt hat, was Julia Lambert. It gave her a pleasant sense of independence to sit there unknown and unnoticed. They were acting a play for her and she was the audience.

17. What conclusion did Julia come to while sitting at the Berkeley and "throwing prudence to the winds?"

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. But there's the illusion, through that archway; it's we, the actors, who are the reality.

Theatre by W.S. Maugham

Chapters 25-27

III. Answer the following questions:

1. Why was Julia doubtful about her beauty and sex appeal the night after her adventure with Charles?

Julia was doubtful about her beauty and sex appeal the night after her adventure with Charles, because he didn’t desire her.

2. How did she put her looks to the test? Why did she need it?

Julia made up a little more than usual, and without calling Evie put on a dress that was neither plain nor obviously expensive and a red straw hat with a wide brim. She needed it to know whether she was attractive or not.

3. Describe Julia's feelings when she had caught a young man's eye in the street? Rely on the lines starting with, "Suddenly her heart gave an exultant leap..." (Ch.25) and use your stylistic and linguistic knowledge while commenting.

Suddenly her heart gave an exultant leap. She had caught a young man's eye and she was sure that there was a gleam in it. He passed, and she had all she could do not to turn round. She shot him a glance and then modestly lowered her eyes. He fell back and she was conscious that he was following her. She stopped to look into a shop window and he stopped too.

4. Did the date meet Julia's expectations? What were the man's real intentions towards having a cup of tea with Julia?

The date didn’t meet Julia's expectations, because she thought his request to give him her autograph was an excuse for speaking to her. In reality the man only wanted to get her autograph for his young lady.

5. The young man didn't seem to be very polite and well-bred. Prove it using the text and comment on the techniques the author employs to create a desirable effect upon the reader.

“Before we go any further let's 'ave this autograph, eh? Do it now, that's my motto. Let me bring my young lady to see you in your dressing-room one day. Just shake 'ands with her, see? It would mean a rare lot to her. Why, she'd go on talking about it the rest of her life.” There was some impudence in his manner that Julia did not like.

6. After the stroll, what thoughts occurred to Julia when she got back home and started reflecting over herself? Rely on the lines starting with, "When she got home she went upstairs to her room..." (Ch.25) and use your stylistic and linguistic knowledge while commenting.

At first the woman began speaking to herself, asking rhetorical questions, what shows her emotionality and acting skills as if she was on stage at that moment: Old, old, old. There are no two ways about it; I'm entirely devoid of sex appeal. You wouldn't believe it, would you? You'd say it was preposterous. What other explanation is there? She felt herself old and devoid of sex appeal.

7. Why did Julia begin to do an imitation of Lydia Mayne? What affect did this acting have on her? How does that characterize Julia as professional and personality?

Julia was a great mimic and did it only to prove herself.

8. What was the name of the play Michael was putting on?

Michael was putting on Nowadays.

9. How did Julia feel before the rehearsals?

Julia felt as if she were a girl playing her first small part. However at the same time she had a delicious sense of her own powers.

10. The play Michael was staging was a modern version of The Second Mrs. Tanqueray by Arthur Pinero (1855-1934), an English playwright. What changes did Michael introduce to the original?

Some of the old characters were introduced, and Aubrey Tanqueray appeared in the second act. The change of manners of this generation it had been treated from the standpoint of comedy.

11. Why did Michael need Julia's advice about Avice's acting?

Avice's cold, matter-of-fact prettiness had been exactly what he had thought would be so telling in the circumstances. But after half a dozen rehearsals he began to think that was all she had to give.

12. What motifs did Julia have to praise the mediocre Avice Crichton and keep her in the cast?

Julia knew her well enough to be sure that if she were dismissed she would tell Tom that it was because Julia was jealous of her. He loved her and would believe anything she said. “She must play the part, and fail; and Tom must see with his own eyes what a bad actress she was”.

13. What pains did Julia take to make herself look nice to meet Roger? How does that characterize her as an actress and a mother?

Julia wanted Roger to be proud of her. So, she tended to look very young and pretty. She strolled up and down the platform. You would have thought, but wrongly, that she was perfectly unconscious of the attention she attracted.

14. What did Michael ask Julia to discuss with Roger?

He was going to Cambridge so soon he ought to make up his mind what he wanted to do. Michael was afraid that he would drift through his time there and then go into a broker's office or even on the stage. Thinking that Julia had more tact than he, and more influence with the boy, he had urged her to put before him the advantages of the Foreign Office and the brilliant possibilities of the Bar.

15. How did Julia react on Roger's reflection about his future? What did they eventually talk about?

Julia felt discomfort.

16. During their conversation, Julia notices some new traits in her son's character and behavior. What are they?

Julia listened to him attentively, because she felt he was expressing something that had burdened him for years. She had never in his whole life heard him talk so much.

17. Roger sounds reproachful to Julia. What doesn't he approve of? Do you agree with him?

Roger doesn’t approve of her affair with Tom. I agree with him, because Tom was much younger than she and he needed only her money.

18. What were Julia's arguments to support her point of view about acting? Do you feel they are ground and serious? Why?

Julia said that acting is an art. Real grief is ugly; the business of the actor is to represent it not only with truth but with beauty.

19. How did their talk end?

Their talk ended with conversation about Tom and Julia. Then they heard a car drive up. It was Michael.

20. What was the thing Roger said that bothered Julia most?

His suggestion of her affair with Tom was the thing that bothered Julia most.