The Consolation of Poetry (Becoming Elizabeth Barrett Browning): Creating a Solo Performance

Go to the theatre often enough and you're bound to see plenty of solo shows where an actor plays some prominent historical or artistic figure, but Barbara Neri's charming and modestly eloquent piece The Consolation of Poetry (Becoming Elizabeth Barrett Browning) is the first time I've seen a solo play about the questions and concerns an artist may have in putting such a show together.

This isn't a Browning autobiography or a detailed exploration of her work, but rather a shared experience where the artist explains to the audience why she decided to do what she's doing while you're watching her do it. As such it's not exactly a linear piece of theatre. Neri goes off on tangents and at times you may find yourself wondering if there's any connection between what she's talking about and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, but the creative process isn't always easily explained and the pleasing manner of our gracious hostess makes up for any unclear intentions.

Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning is most known for 44 Sonnets from the Portuguese, and even if you think you know nothing of this collection, you surely know the first line of number 43, even if you've only heard is as a sitcom joke or a TV commercial slogan: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Neri's performance takes place in a representation of her dressing room and she invites us to be voyeurs taking a peek at what is normally done privately. As an example, she shows us a set of late 19th Century stereoptican slides, projected upstage, depicting a lady getting dressed and undressed in her boudoir. The slides certainly are of historical interest and although they have nothing to do Barrett Browning, they give us a few hints as to how Neri's mind works as she approaches putting this production together.

But when we do get to the business of presenting the poet, Neri is conflicted about which artist should be the focus of attention. She wants to tell us what Barrett Browning's life and work mean to her. She wants to tell us of the care she took in finding accurate historical clothing. But she's also well aware that she is an unknown and the deceased writer is the famous one. Will the audience resent having the show be about Neri and not simply an evening saluting this great poet?

She discusses her trepidation with Barret Browning herself, impressively depicted as a hologram of Neri wearing her 1858 garments.

"Will I ever be heard?", Neri asks the poet.

"Will it silence you if you are not?", is her reply.

Barbara Neri makes it clear from the beginning that, through her years of research and study, she has fallen in love with Elizabeth Barrett Browning. She has become a distant admirer. And it's this passion and admiration that propels the production and gives it a sweet sincerity.

Ask any of your friends to spend an hour talking about their favorite artist and what their work means to them and you'll probably wind up with something similar to The Consolation of Poetry (Becoming Elizabeth Barrett Browning).

Photo of Barbara Neri by Phil Linsalata