Good Night, Sweet Prince© Synopsis Act I
Time: Winter 1939.
Time: Winter 1939.
Place: An old theatre in Iowa
Set: Three trunks and a ghost light are the only set pieces on a darkened stage.
John Barrymore enters from the back of the house expecting a rehearsal. He finds that it’s the wrong day. At first he is disappointed, and then happy that no one is there. He decides that this is an opportunity to “play hooky”. He has a hangover, and begins to drink from his silver flask.
Barrymore is playing the lead in a poorly written play titled, “My Dear Children” and is forced to ad-lib new lines each night to make the show playable and entertaining.
Disgusted, he sits on a trunk, and begins to review his life. He speaks aloud of his brother Lionel and sister Ethel, of his father Maurice and uncle John Drew, and remembers his beloved grandmother, Louisa Lane Drew, whom he calls “mum-mum”.
With each reminiscence, Barrymore drinks a little more gin from his flask. He admits that he was taught to be a stage actor, but sold out to the movies. His recollections reveal pathos, regrets and humor and they become bolder, and possibly, more honest as he drinks.
Under the influence, he opens the big wardrobe trunk and decides he will “play the actor”. Rummaging through the clothing, he begins to perform several speeches from the classic Shakespearean plays. e.g. Merchant of Venice-Othello-Taming of the Shrew-Romeo & Juliet.
Barrymore, with appropriate costume and dialog, although obviously inebriated, stumbles through these great roles, flubbing some of the lines, and forgetting others altogether.
Finally to God and all, he confesses the mortal sin of lying. He admits that he has not played all of the works of Shakespeare, as his father and uncle had done, but that he always wanted to.
For his entire life, he has misrepresented to everyone about his Shakespearean proficiency and sadly reveals that he has an insatiable appetite for women, alcohol and celebrity.
Barrymore remembers his prominence on Broadway, twenty years before, when he performed Richard III and Hamlet. He cries out that he wants to be loved and adored, again.
He regains his composure and, with great sobriety, performs a soliloquy from Richard III, followed by the last scene of Hamlet, wherein, he crosses steel with a phantom swordsman.
At the end of the scene, the dead Hamlet [Barrymore] rises, bows to the imaginary audience and declares to the ether: “Can I do it again? You bet your sweet ass I can!”
Good Night, Sweet Prince© Synopsis Act II
Time: Fall of 1940.
Place: 20th Century Fox studios in Hollywood, California
Set: Makeup mirror, chair, dressing table.
He has just returned from a triumphant success on Broadway in “My Dear Children” and has expected his homecoming in Hollywood to bring him many studio offers for good roles.
Instead, to his chagrin, Barrymore is cast in a Fox production, “The Great Profile” playing a character that lampoons himself. A has-been actor. Old. A drunk.
Then, at RKO, he is billed as himself in “Playmates” attempting to get work so he can pay his taxes. He sadly plays the foil to the comic shenanigans of Kay Kyser and Ish Kabibble.
Barrymore hates these mediocre and demeaning roles, but he is desperate for money. The IRS, his creditors and ex-wives constantly petition him. He is exhausted. His health begins to fail.
While acting in these second-rate motion pictures all day, at nights, he takes up with the drunken “Bundy Drive Boys” at John Decker’s artist studios. He plays the role of head “Poo-Bah-Raconteur of Greatest Excellence”. The men are like children. He makes them laugh.
Barrymore finds himself performing all the time. Days at the studios, and all nights with the Bundy Drive gang. The drinking and fatigue is rapidly destroying his physical condition.
Finally, he becomes persona non grata, No movie roles are offered to him. He has a heart attack.
Recovering, Barrymore, reluctantly, accepts an ongoing job on the Rudy Valle radio show. Once again he is playing himself, a washed-up actor, the brunt of Vallee’s barbed remarks.
Knowing that he is dying, Barrymore, a fallen Catholic, seeks intercession and absolution.
Barrymore collapses on the air during one of the Vallee shows and is taken away by ambulance.
Even on the stretcher, near to breathing his last, his bravura and humor are still in play. “Die? I should say not. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him!”
At the finish, John Barrymore utters his last speech: “..the rest is silence”.
About the Author
Steven J. Conners was born at Dayton, Ohio. He is the father of seven children and three step-children. He resides in Reno, Nevada and has been in the entertainment field all of his life as a musician, performer, manager, booker, designer, producer, writer and director.
Through the years Conners' various interests have included music, the magical arts, cooking, history, philosophy, the environment, horse racing and politics.
During the 1960's he created and toured special event promotions across North America. In 1965 he conceived and co-produced a children's show: THE MAGIC LAND OF MOTHER GOOSE.
In 1972, Conners, conceived, co-wrote and staged with David Richmond, the first living cartoon show, THE BUGS BUNNY REVUE for Warner Bros. Entertainment.
In 1976 Conners then formulated, wrote, co-produced, directed and toured a lavish female impersonation revue, WHAT A DRAG: A BI-SEXTENIAL CELEBRATION.
In 1981, Conners acquired the rights and titles for all of the DR. SILKINI stage shows and wrote a new script, produced, directed and toured, DR. SILKINI’S ASYLUM OF HORRORS.
Then in 1988, Conners wrote, produced and directed, DR. SILKINI’S GREAT GHOST SHOW in Hollywood and that same year formed a company to build, manage and tour special retail-broadcast events across North America.
In 1993, he wrote the futuristic-action-political novel, A-B-C.
In 2004 and 2005 Conners created a radio show, THE VOICE OF REASON, and acted as its host.
In 2006 and 2007 he finished a one-man stage play, GOOD NIGHT, SWEET PRINCE and a US history-opinion-inspirational book, A VOICE OF REASON.
In 2009 and 2010, he wrote a magic whodunit novel, THE MYSTERIOUS JOURNAL, and a futuristic-action-environment novel, WHAT THE DOLPHIN SAID and a stage play, PHANTASMA.
Today, with a number of books ready for publishing, many more in various stages of completion and several plays in progress, his retirement is not likely to happen.
Steven J. Conners now returns to his first love, the theatre, with the production and touring of GOOD NIGHT, SWEET PRINCE.
About the Actor
A veteran of Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theatre, Mr. Richmond’s acting career spans more than fifty productions ranging from Shakespeare, Shaw and Chekhov to The Threepenny Opera.
David Richmond is the co-author and co-producer, with Bob Hall, of THE PASSION OF DRACULA, which opened Off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York, starring Christopher Bernau and ran for two years, with a subsequent West End production in London at the Queen's Theatre, starring George Chakiris, Geraldine James, and Roy Dotrice. It became a standard of Ginza theatre in Tokyo, Japan, and had national tours in Australia, Africa, and in the US, where it starred Jose Greco as the Count.
Recent major regional revivals of THE PASSION OF DRACULA have included productions at the Alliance in Atlanta, and Actor's Theatre of Louisville, where it broke all previous box office records. It was produced for television by Showtime, starring Christopher Bernau and Malachi Throne.
Richmond co-wrote with Steven J. Conners, the national arena tour of THE BUGS BUNNY REVUE, for Warner Brothers Entertainment in New York and produced the nostalgic revue BIG BAD BURLESQUE at the Orpheum Theatre Off-Broadway in New York, under the direction of the legendary Celeste Hall, to rave reviews.
Again in partnership with Bob Hall he co-authored an adaptation of Mary Shelly's FRANKENSTEIN, THE MODERN PROMETHEUS, which premiered at CSC Repertory in New York and had its regional premier at Playhouse in the Park, Cincinnati, starring Paul Ukena and Catherine Miesle.
He is the author of PARLAY, a political thriller, which premiered at the George Street Playhouse starring Catherine Burns and Lou Bedford, and CUE THE VIOLINS, which won the Stanley Drama Award.
For the Georgia Shakespeare Festival he adapted Dumas' THE THREE MUSKETEERS. In partnership with Drew Fracher he created ZORRO for the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, and THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, commissioned by Ensemble Theatre.
Now, David Richmond returns to the stage to star in a one-man play, GOOD NIGHT, SWEET PRINCE portraying the famed actor, John Barrymore.