Word: lavinia
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Cocktail Party is fashioned on the Alcestis legend (already the subject of a tragedy by one of Eliot's favorito writers). But in Eliot's play the fun has just begun when Alcestis--Lavinia returns from the dead. Lavinia and her husband realize that time's only issue has been grief and anxiety, and that their marriage in its present state cannot last. Celia Coplestone, Edward's quondam mistress (apparently considered to be another aspect of Alcestis) decides that she is also far from mental health...
Joan White as the inquisitive and omniscient Julia leads the cast in the merrier of its japes. Again and again, when the play begins to bog down in the cool of Mr. Eliot's emotions, Julia bustles in to start things going again. Priscilla Chamberlayne as Lavinia is also excellent, portraying with heavy sarcasm the role of the Alcestis of the hearth...