In the days of digitized indifference and superficial screens, it remains no mystery why the handwritten note is the unrivaled message of the heart. From an impulse to say more than we can speak, we take to the pen, and with equally desperate measure we grasp for a blank page—a finely-crafted card or the back of a receipt—the window to our soul. Then, in an outpouring of words, a declaration of devotion, the exclamation of love, an affirmation of friendship, or an expression of endearment, we mark the importance of permanence, and our words stay in time forever. Few souvenirs of human life are more eternally beautiful than the written word.
Melissa Errico affirms this sentiment, and can attest to it all so well, as she recently spends endless hours enveloped in this time-trodden tradition.
The Tony-nominated Broadway actress of “My Fair Lady” fame has been in rehearsal for the performances of “Dear Liar,” (written by Jerome Kilty and George Bernard Shaw, and directed by Charlotte Moore) which adapts the true, impassioned correspondences between the prolific playwright Shaw (David Staller) and esteemed actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell (Errico), in a limited engagement at Irish Repertory Theatre from April 25-30.
Not quite a play, Melissa Errico has been preparing herself and audiences for what she regards as a uniquely-dramatic evening: an onstage spoken recital of the infinitely intimate—the confessional sensitivity of letters.
In a conversation in anticipation of the opening performance, Errico discussed the exploration of the volatile lives of our inner emotions, untouchable connections, portraying Mrs. Patrick Campbell (Shaw’s inspiration behind the role of Eliza Doolittle), and staging this production at Irish Rep.
Kevin Phoenix: Where did the concept for "The Letters Series" come about, and what is it about the script, or overall production that most brought you to it?
Melissa Errico: I myself am a letter writer. It is a certain mood you get into, to send your emotions to another person in words. I have never done a play where I read letters only, and real words that real people wrote. I am simply fascinated. I have always written letters and loved the idea of a long relationship played out mostly in words; and also sensually, much in a kind of internal fantasy. Love expressed without the body, but a meeting of minds that sustains.
In the pandemic, I fell into studying the actress, activist, feminist, and mystic Maud Gonne who wrote some incredible letters to Yeats who loved her madly. “Poets should never marry,” she said, “The world should thank me for not marrying you.” If I’m not mistaken, I believe Maude said that she sent her body to him in his sleep, and they could make love in their dreams…It’s very interesting: the job of being a muse.
"Dear Liar" has its influences in Shaw, but how will this production be different, or similar, from a classic Shaw play?
It is not a Shaw play; it is a reading of letters. We are feeling only those moments in their lives when they were compelled to connect or did connect, on paper. Sometimes 16 months passes, sometimes 10 years. Sometimes a letter is slipped under a door. It is an intriguing and mischievous theatrical idea: a window into two beloved and legendary people, as seen only in these small intimate flashes.
Come in a dreamy and listening mood, don’t come looking for an active play with people racing around and doors opening and shutting and a gunshot.
How has the rehearsal process been getting on for "Dear Liar"?
I feel like being very quiet! Everyone around me is so brilliant. The only thing I can bring to the party is that I played Eliza hundreds of times and lived that role in my 20s and again in my 30s, and she feels like an old friend. Stepping into the shoes of the woman who inspired her creation is an absolute thrill. It is as if I am peeling away an onion, going deeper into a person I keep thinking I know, but finding more reasons to study her.
What has it been like to collaborate with David Staller as a Shaw expert, and Charlotte Moore, a master of Irish classics?
David, he knows so much! He emanates the man from deep inside. I am very moved by how sensitively he feels Shaw’s story, and by how he knows exactly what every allusion is. David knows every essential, like the color of paper that Shaw used for his letter-writing (blue), and that Shaw didn’t drink caffeine or alcohol. As I see Mrs. Patrick Campbell, she probably eats and drinks everything! She doesn’t feel like a woman, and actress, of much restraint.
Artistic director Charlotte Moore is such a bold director, and always gives me roles I love. Big stretches and, I stretch! Playing Nancy in “Oliver!” (opposite Brian Stokes Mitchell) was one of the best nights of my life. Hal Prince wrote me an overwhelming letter – a letter! – after that performance, which ended “It was a triumph! Love, Hal.” I have it framed. Letters can mean a lot. Someone like Hal Prince knew better and didn’t use email.
As a veteran performer on the Irish Rep stage, what have been some of the highlights, fond and memorable moments from your time with past shows that have stayed with you?
I really enjoyed the day Julie Andrews visited us during the play “Candida.” We all took a cast photo which I cherish. I suppose many of my Irish Rep adventures are thus entangled with the brilliant Tony Walton, who passed away this year. He directed me in several plays by Shaw and Wilde, and he designed them too. Every moment with him was a blessing and creative in the extreme. I also loved being in “The Importance of Being Earnest” with the late, great Nancy Marchand and Eric Stoltz as a wonderfully mischievous "Ernest"/Jack. I always loved the line “I say it’s perfectly heartless your eating muffins at all, under the circumstances.”
What are you most excited about experiencing this time at Irish Rep from the audiences and each other?
More than ever, we all want to experience the force of being alive. What a thrill to listen to voices long gone and listen to them love and fret, and console and tease, and survive and share. That will help us all do the same.
As an actor, what have you discovered about yourself while working at Irish Rep that you cherish?
You know that saying that “angels can fly because they take themselves lightly”? Something like that happens at The Irish Rep. I find the artistic process is so protected there. If you are laughing while you work before you know it you have found a lifetime.
Is there a favourite line from the play that speaks most to you?
The actress writes to the controlling playwright, “Perhaps someday, if you are very good and behave properly at rehearsal, I will write you a love letter.”
“Dear Liar,” runs in part with “The Letters Series” at Irish Repertory Theatre. For tickets, visit irishrep.org.
