The Harrington family is not a happy one. Mother and housewife Louise (Rosalind Russell) is somewhat self-deluded, while father and business executive Stanley (Jack Hawkins) is disconnected and distant. Their son, Philip (Richard Beymer), is a fey and sensitive teen, and his sister, Pamela (Annette Gorman), is restless and tightly wound. Into this tense mix arrives Walter (Maximilian Schell), a charming tutor, whose presence shakes things up in the troubled household.
The Harrington family is spending the summer at a beach house in Carmel, California. Louise Harrington is a domineering and overly culture-conscious woman who feels she has married beneath herself. Her husband, Stanley, is an intolerant, self-made furniture manufacturer who has allowed his wife complete authority in the upbringing of their two children. Young Philip, a sensitive Harvard student, is confused, semi-emasculated, and uncertain of both himself and his future. Fifteen-year-old Pamela is a frivolous child controlled by her adolescent impulses. Into their lives comes Walter, a young German whom Louise has hired as a tutor for Pamela. He has fled his home because of a brutal Nazi father; lonely, shy, and desperately in need of family love, he serves as the catalyst to unleash the hidden tensions in the family. To Stanley, Walter is one more of Louise's ridiculous affectations; to Philip, he is a much-needed friend and advisor who can save him from his mother's stifling love; to Pamela, he is a symbol of love; and to Louise, he is a potential lover. Walter's efforts to become a member of the family end in a violent domestic crisis. His attentions to Louise are misunderstood by father and son as adulterous; his "rescue" of Pamela when she swims out too far embarrasses and alienates the girl; and his confession to Louise that he regards her as a mother is met with a chilling silence. As a result he is dismissed and ordered to leave. Not knowing how he has failed to win the family's love, he attempts suicide. The drastic action awakens the Harringtons to a sudden realization of their individual selfishness and, once Walter has gone, they make an effort to repair their shattered family life.
I chose this monologue:
I read it out to the class for the first time in front of people the day after I chose it. I chose it because I thought it would be interesting to do a character who is fourteen years old as I am seventeen years old and I usually go for much older characters. I have to read the play as I am a little confused on how to read it. I don't know if Pamela is trying to be creepy or if she finds it funny etc. So I need to read the play.
My feedback from Olga was even though she considered I have only just picked the play, that I look like me in the monologue and not a different character and also that when I mentioned about 'Snow' in the monologue that they could hear the word 'snow' but she could not see the 'snow' and that other people saw 'leaves' and not snow.
After all that though, Olga told me that the monologue is nice for me and it suits me and reckons I could play a fourteen year old well.
I am very much looking forward to your audition on Thursday Corrina. Could you please provide evidence of other plays you have read but discounted.
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