In her 54 years on this earth, the singer and actress Gertrude Lawrence packed a lot in.
From her sterling career in theatre, her distant relationship with her daughter, having to work hard to pay off massive debts, and her eventful personal life, there never seemed to be a moment that wasn’t marked by some form of drama.
It probably helped though that she was blessed with talent, a remarkable singing voice and went to school with Noel Coward, while becoming friends with the likes of George and Ira Gershwin and other actors and creatives of the day.
Her time was in the 1930s, as a star and newspaper fixture. But her personal life was just as interesting as her time on stage.
Born in Clapham, she started her career as a 13-year-old, helping her father – a jobbing actor in a small theatre. As her talents were later spotted, life took her to both sides of the Atlantic, appearing in films to pay her huge debts and starring in theatre shows.
Her career continued until her early death at 54, the result of illness and over-work.
Lawrence was played by the actress and singer Lucy Stevens, while the pianist Elizabeth Marcus moved the show from music hall revue to the complicated theatre songs written by the likes of Noel Coward and Kurt Weill, all matching the singing for virtuosity and range.
The play is not a hagiography though. It also looks at the less appealing side of Lawrence’s character and how her family life was given less of a priority than her career, while her careless over-spending let to all types of legal disputes.
The play doesn’t hang around, and at less than 90 minutes long it goes a long at quite a pace, much like the life of Gertrude Lawrence herself.
