Freshwater: A Comedy

by Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf's only play-a hilarious farce taken from the life of her great-aunt, Julia Margaret Cameron, the famous Victorian photographer. It was first performed at Vanessa Bell's London studio in 1935 as one of Bloomsbury's theatrical evenings and later, in New York, in a star-studded French production. Edited and with a Preface by Lucio P. Ruotolo; drawings by Edward Gorey.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Fiction, Classics, Theatre, 20th Century, Humor

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

(Adeline) Virginia Woolf was an English novelist and essayist regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century.

During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929) with its famous dictum, "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."

Reviews

[Rozhan Sadeghi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This play, although very enjoyable to read was filled with references, cultural and historical that I simply didn't get and also couldn't find a good source to explain them to me so I didn't get the full Virginia Woolf effect.
------------
Virgina Woolf has written a comedy? That's also a play AND is illustrated?
well then SING ME UP!!!

[Márcio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a curious little comic play by Virginia Woolf and based on the life of her great-aunt Julia Margaret Cameron. The drama takes place on the Isle of Wight, at the house of the Camerons, who are ready to leave for India but are receiving the poet Tennyson and the painter George Frederic Watts, married to the young Ellen, who is posing to one of Watts painting. There is also John Craig, but this is another story apart.

What I thought so interesting about the play is that, with the exception of Ellen, all of the other characters are so self-serving with their own interests and their own arts, they hardly seem to take notice of what goes around.

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of silliness saved only by being a collectible.

[herbatk a · Rating 3 out of 5]

myślę, ze bardziej podobałby mi się dramat jakbym nie czytała najpierw eseju Magdy Heydel - spoilery! sam esej był naprawdę dobry, widać, że tłumaczka ma doświadczenie z Virginią

widać, że "freshwater" zostało napisane w celu wystawiania wśród przyjaciół, a nie na scenie. jest dobre, momentami zabawne, ale nie na takim poziomie jak książki Woolf

cieszę się, że dowiedziałam się więcej o Virginii i o Julii Margaret Cameron - jej ciotecznej babce. esej Vi jest ekstra!

końcowy esej Marii Poprzęckiej jest ciekawy, ale kończy się tak źle ! to chyba miało być zabawne. chyba

jako fanka Virginii Woolf jestem zadowolona, bo dowiedziałam się o niej więcej

i wciąż myślami byłam przy przedstawieniu "orlando/bloomsbury" o grupie bloomsbury. widziałam ich jako postacie z "freshwater"

[Emanuela Siqueira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um complemento (dos melhores) para quem já se aventurou pela obra e vida da Virginia. Para esse momento que estou, pensando no humor dela, foi perfeito ler. As notas e paratextos podem soar como exagero para quem não gosta de muita informação, mas juro que depois que estamos estudando ela se tornam uma grande alegria. A peça é fresca (com o perdão do trocadilho), só deixa mais nítido o projeto gigantesco que foi a obra da Ginia <3

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In her introduction to the Hesperus edition of Carlyle's House, Doris Lessing criticizes Nicole Kidman's portrayal of Virginia Woolf in The Hours. Whereas Kidman's Woolf is a severe, angular, melancholic figure pre-haunted by her later depressive suicide, Lessing counters that Woolf actually loved life, and enjoyed it thoroughly when she was not sick.

Freshwater is one of the best proofs of this in her surviving fiction. It is a saucy, at times even goofy, comedy first drafted in 1923, and then substantially revised in 1935 for performance in one of the famous Bloomsbury evening parties. Ostensively, it is a biographical sketch of her great-aunt, Julia Cameron, who had been a famous Victorian photographer. And apparently, the many historical details embedded on what seems an entirely absurd, even surrealist, script are nearly all true.

The narrative is inconsequential: Julia and her husband are at their Freshwater estate on the Isle of Wight, awaiting the arrival of a pair of coffins before departing for India. In the meantime, Julia is searching among all the menfolk of the town for someone with manly enough calves to model Galahad in her next photograph, Alfred Lloyd Tennyson is lurking about reciting his epic Maud and nearly expiring in horror at failures in melifluosity in others' speech, a love tryst unfolds in the garden, and Queen Victoria makes an unannounced arrival. In the 1935 edition, one of Virginia's relatives played a porpoise (to whom the young ingenue feeds her wedding ring in order to elope with a soldier), and there was a guest appearance by Mimzi, Leonard Woolf's pet marmoset.

Fans of Woolf's most devastating masterpieces might be perplexed to learn of her participation in the Dreadnought Hoax shortly before WWI, whereby she, her brother, and several of their friends gained admittance to a restricted English battleship under the disguise of an (all male!) delegation from Abyssinia. In contrast, it's not quite so hard to imagine the author of Freshwater sooting up her face, donning a long false beard and speaking mock Abyssinian to her majesty's finest.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable reading with friends. Wes Anderson definitely read this. I must write a play about my friend group and the farce of life that we can all be actors in

[Encarni Prados · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una obra de teatro corta, concretamente una comedia. La historia es corta, se alarga más por las notas aclaratorias de todas las referencias. Es ligera y los personajes son dignos de estudio, el artista, la fotógrafa, la musa, en fin, entretenida y se lee rápido.

[leonardo V. granados · Rating 1 out of 5]

A qui li importa aquesta obra o hauria de dir "això"? Pregunto.

[emma :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars (adding .5 because I love Edward Gorey)

[Marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Virginia Woolf’s only play was written as a comedy performed by and for friends, seemingly full of inside jokes, nevertheless quite entertaining and based on surprisingly accurate historical facts. The play is about Woolf’s great-aunt, Julia Cameron, photographer; and her highly intellectual friends, Alfred Tennyson, the poet, and G. F. Watts, the painter. She pokes fun at Tennyson’s morbid themes and long poems, and their symbolism, such as wings (off a turkey). There is a porpoise, a marmoset, and the Queen herself. Woolf’s friends must have had great fun.

[beesp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Virginia Woolf è stata una scrittrice prolifica, ma soprattutto incredibilmente poliedrica nella sua produzione. "Freshwater" è una prova della sua poliedricità. è una piccola commedia, densa, surreale, divertente, che ci getta in un ambiente etereo, ma irreale, sconclusionato. è un piacere leggere "Freshwater", ha qualcosa di miracoloso.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are two plays in the set, the original 1927 version and the later 1935. Partly derived from notes and Woolf's illegible handwriting, it's an odd discussion about life and art. I found the original to be far clearer then it's later counterpart as the dialogue wasn't so disjointed. A curious play indeed.

[Sukhpreet · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, lark of a play that would be a challenge to stage well. Who knew Woolf had written a play?! Would love to try a reading of this at the right dinner party.

[Sam Gilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Splendider than Corneille. Juicier than Mamet. Jollier than that Shakespehearean rag.

[Miquel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Crec que és la primera i última obra de teatre que llegeixo des que em van obligar a llegir "Tres sombreros de copa" a segon de batxillerat.

[Pianobikes · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Será uno de esos odiosos periodistas. La playa está llena de periodistas. Se esconden detrás de las rocas, ¿sabes?, esperando que el Poeta Laureado perciba el grito enloquecido de la arena al sentirse barrida por la resaca.” ~ Freshwater de Virginia Woolf.

No sé qué he leído. Así os lo digo. Esta breve obra de teatro, comedia en principio pero no ha asomado por mi boca ni una sola carcajada, de Virgina Woolf me ha dejado igual. Imaginad que escribís una historia de chanzas entre vosotros y vuestros amigos. Pues eso. No sé si se esperaba algo más con esta obra pero la verdad es que me ha dado igual leerlo que no porque ha sido precisamente una sucesión de guiños a las manías de sus amigos y a mi, la verdad, me ha dado un poco igual.

Breve, se lee de un tirón, no tardáis nada, por si tenéis curiosidad. Y tan igual me ha dejado que en #clasicosflash no he podido sino asumir una postura muy Bartleby y decir “preferiría no comentarlo”. Hay libros con los que pasan estas cosas y para mi este ha sido uno.

[Miles Robson · Rating 3 out of 5]

not quite a certified Woolf classic, but still lots of fun. Tennyson serves little to no purpose, but steals the show. Loved Edward Gorey’s illustration too

[Esperança Almeida · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ler Virginia sempre é tudo de bom

[Samuel Maina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Virginia Woolf would have made a very good playwright. However life is so fleeting, you cannot afford to dab in all activities. You curve your niche.
I should think it is the only play she ever wrote and true to her style her narrative style is different. She must have had a lot of respect for her aunt Julia Cameron and the rest of the intellectual friends. Honorable mention in the inimitable Tennyson. It is no wonder that Virginia combines a biographical sketch to appear like a play. In as much as we might not be the ones to say…..from her previous writings it is possible that most of what was said here was true.
She goes on about art and her true appreciation for art…..how to describe it and interpret it. The description of Signor’s painting contrasted against “Working Classes of Great Britain spend upon beer in one year a sum sufficient to maintain and equip twenty battleships or two million horse marines.”
The conversations going on here were truly on a purely intelligent level… “Mammon typifies British love of beer. Maternity, two million horse marines. The Milky Way symbolising the spawn of fish and the fertility of the marriage bed may be held, without impropriety, to be highly symbolical of two million horse marines. Thus the picture will serve I hope a very high and holy purpose. I shall call it Mammon trampling upon Maternity, or the Prosperity of the British Empire being endangered?”
“Maud” makes an appearance… as read by Lord Tennyson
This journey to India reminded me of “To the Lighthouse” I do not know why….
Mrs. Cameron is the photographer; and Mr. Cameron is the philosopher; and Mr. Tennyson is the poet; and Signor is the artist. To make it all beautiful.
Good read.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief and whimsical play by a promising young playwright whose career never seemed to take fire-- just kidding, the author is Virginia Woolf.

The play presents well-trod territory for both Woolf and for British drama between the wars. There is a kind of artist's bungalow in the country (with a maritime flavor in this case, as the house sits upon the Isle of Wight) where artists of separate generations pass through, biting their tongues until they finally clash. The older generation puffs and bloviates, waxing poetic upon the good times and subtly irritating one another in the process. The younger generation enjoys the largess bequeathed upon them by the old, but the old world is insubstantial and unsustainable, and so they dream of escape. I am being intentionally vague. This could easily describe the plot something by Coward or Chekhov, and it describes Freshwater too. Woolf, in this script prepared for a private performance in a family home, was clearly not attempting to reinvent the wheel.

Still, Woolf uses the genre to good effect. There's a dishy element of 19th-century who's-who in the cast of characters, with theatre superstar Ellen Terry and poet laureate Alfred Tennyson among the persons behaving badly. And Woolf doesn't abandon all of her personal touches; the excellent second act, an extended scene of seduction set before the vast expanses of the white sea, finds Terry cast in a typical Woolfian role, that of a woman at the precipice of a perilous decision, who must make a gamble for her happiness, even if it might mean losing it all. That Terry consecrates her adultery by tossing her wedding ring into the mouth of a passing porpoise, and that the hunky sailor seducing her may have initially been played by a woman in drag-- well, these and others are the elements that mark Freshwater out as vintage Woolf, and therefore a cut above.

[Carles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Petit volum que inclou l’obra de teatre ―que és molt breu― i un magnífic pròleg, molt detallat i explicatiu de l’obra i el seu context. S’agraeix molt, doncs Virginia Woolf, en el seu text, fa força referències a autors, obres, conceptes, ―familiars per a ella i els seus personatges, però― absolutament desconeguts per a mi.
Aquest pròleg, com també les moltes notes a peu de pàgina en el propi text de l’obra, han estat crucials per entendre les situacions.

En el pròleg se’ns explica que va ser l’única obra de teatre que va escriure Virginia Woolf, i que, originalment, ella mateixa no la va tenir en gaire consideració, la anava escrivint per desconnectar, per esbargir-se de la gran tasca i concentració que li suposava en aquells moments Mrs. Dalloway, la seva gran novel·la.

Deu personatges, comptant un zífid i un mico (que a la representació que hem vist el van substituir per una gosseta). Les protagonistes són una fotògrafa ja gran i una jove actriu, personatges reals, van existir, com els marits que, juntament amb la criada, un poeta, un mariner i la reina, completen l’elenc.

Escrita en un to de comèdia, com indica el títol, la fotògrafa, el pintor, el poeta...parlen amb aquesta forma irònica anglesa tan elegant i sofisticada, també pel fet de ser intel·lectuals de status benestant, afectats, amb cites constants per mostrar i demostrar la seva erudició. Això contrasta amb el tarannà de l’actriu, la criada i el mariner, personatges que representen el món real, de la gent normal, i que critiquen i se’n riuen de l’altra part i se'n volen apartar.

[Julia Benassi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ese es el destino de los actores, dejar como legado solamente postales. Cada noche, al cerrarse el telón, el hermoso y colorido lienzo se desvanece. En el mejor de los casos, lo que queda es sólo un fantasma frágil y trémulo; palabras que habitan los labios de los vivos.

Leer a Woolf a esta altura del partido es un mimo. El día en que termine su bibliografía me la releo entera porque dios QUÉ MUJER. Lo que daría por haber nacido a principios del siglo XX y ser su contemporánea.
Breve comentario sobre la obra: dado que es teatro de lo absurdo y cumple su cometido de ser una comedia delirante y satírica, me entretuvo muchísimo. Fue de rápida lectura, y sería interesante verla representada. Lo que sí me llamó la atención es una cosa con las didascalias. Me llamó la atención que la misma escritora que escribió Mrs. Dalloway, novela sin un momento de respiro y con un fluir de conciencia lleno de observaciones, no tenga tantas didascalias para describir el espacio en el que se mueven los personajes. Compensa con los monólogos, donde se despliega todo ese fluir de conciencia modernista y woolfiano.
La biografía de Julia Margaret Cameron fue más que interesante, y hasta me pareció divertido. Qué cosa esos personajes perdidos en la historia, que tienen tanto para contar y mostrar. Y los ensayos: la gloria. Woolf ensayista es una de mis Woolf favoritas.

[Gabrielle Alves · Rating 3 out of 5]

As amizades que a gente constrói também constroem arte. Foi por aí a minha reflexão depois de ler a única peça cômica de Virginia Woolf.

Da peça em si, senti um estranhamento curioso: são infinitas as referências familiares e um contexto cultural inglês com o qual não tenho familiaridade, apesar das ricas notas de rodapé, eu me interessei mesmo pelos absurdos!! Afinal, não é todo dia que a gente lê que um golfinho engole uma aliança de casamento e que encomendar os próprios caixões possa ser um motivo para adiar uma viagem.

Pensando nesse grupo de amigos, o Bloomsbury Group, só consegui imaginar a zoação que foi escrever, atuar e partilhar desse momento entre amigos aristocratas e bem instruídos, que sabiam construir críticas ácidas ao artista que se aliena do mundo para se concentrar apenas em sua arte.

Quando encenaram a peça no estúdio de Vanessa Bell, sua irmã, em Londres, naquele ano entre guerras de 1935, imagino como se divertiram. Mesmo conhecendo essa faceta mais nublada de Virginia Woolf, é lindo ver que ela também tinha dias de sol.

O que fez mais diferença para apreciar a obra foram o Prefácio, Apresentação e Posfácio da Editora Nós, muito interessante conhecer as múltiplas escritoras que habitam um só corpo.

[Kai Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun and very poetic. I'm sure a lot of the historical references and inside jokes went over my head but the ones that didn't, hit. Some striking and funny images, the huge toe of Mammon, the muse and her turkey wings, I genuinely laughed when Watt's thought the veil symbolized modesty but was horrified to find that it actually could symbolize fertility. The photographer/ philosopher duo and their longing for India this totally imaginary place that just acted as a receptacle for their dreams and desires was v well done. Obviously Woolf was poking fun at Tennyson but some of the poetics were still v v strong even as parody. In addition to all of the historical references this felt so pregnant with symbolic content, in the same way that some of the Goethe stories in Tales of Transformation felt (even having the overlap of the will o' wisp which ofc is a well known entity but still I thought that was a fun coincidence). Loved the marmoset and the porpoise and love how John was always exasperated and trying to parse what everyone was talking about. Also ofc the Gorey illustrations were absolutely top notch. Overall a lot of fun and a v quick read. Highly recommend.

[Becky Ankeny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had not previously associated Virginia Woolf with comedy, but this is an unpolished and amusing farce with jokes at the expense, most satisfyingly, at Tennyson, but also at a number of other important artists, particularly self-important ones. There are two versions included in this edition, and they make slightly different jokes, making both a worthwhile read. Woolf and her sister put together a production of the playlet for friends, who responded with "unbuttoned laughter," in Woolf's words. I like thinking of Virginia experiencing unbuttoned laughter. This will mostly (or only) interest Woolf readers, but I recommend it to them.

[Elizabeth]

This is another for work read- it's a wild play written by Virginia Woolf in 1923 and then revised for performance in 1935. Her relatives performed the play in Woolf's sister's drawing room in 1935. I'm working on an article about it so will reread it in the morning. Tennyson is in the play, and so is Queen Victoria. But what Woolf is doing here that is so cool is creating a female artist ancestry including her godmother the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron (google her she is so fascinating) and the actress Ellen Terry (also obsession-worthy and well worth a google. Shaw's original Eliza Doolittle).

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first taste of Woolf's writing, which was completely random. I bought it at a library sale for a quarter only because of the name of the author. It was really cool to finally read a farce. I really wasn't expecting much because I have heard such good things about her other works. Really this was just something to read to get me out of a funk. I also want to read more plays. I wrote a lot of "hahas." I can't wait to read more of Virginia Woolf's works. I also need to find out more about the artists that were characters in this play!

[Dominika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fun :) It was an absurd, charming play presenting a group of artists in love with the Art - so in love, that they stopped seeing real people and their lives. What I found fascinating was the fact, that it was all more or less true - the story about travelling with coffins, this absurd marriage of an old painter and a teenager, it all really happened. I was said that the essey about Julia Cameron by Virginia Woolf may contain some legends and myths about this family, but it was still extremely well-written and interesting. I really enjoyed this book.

[anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sama komedia Freshwater jest błyskotliwa, przyjemna w odbiorze i naprawdę zabawna, jednak najbardziej podobał mi się esej Virginii Woolf na temat jej ciotecznej babki - Julii Margaret Cameron, głównej postaci komedii, kobiety uzdolnionej i bardzo interesującej. Cieszę się, że książka wpadła w moje ręce, bo dowiedziałam się wiele o rodzinie Woolf, a fotografie Cameron są intrygujące i na pewno będę się jeszcze w jej postać zagłębiać.