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LIFE CLASS Royal Court
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  Life Class, by David Storey (Allott) 9.iv.74, Royal Court Theatre and Duke of York's Theatre, London directed by Lindsay Anderson  Rosemary Martin was an actress who would be recognised by a huge number of people, but whose name would not necessarily come to mind. This is because she was that rare animal -- a pure actress -- someone with just the right amount of ego to be an actress, but an actress whose love of the work meant more to her than any acclaim for it. She was an actress who shared the stage with her colleagues without any ruthlessness or selfishness or fighting for attention. I worked with her on two plays by David Storey [above: Bates and Martin in Storey's "Stages," 1992] and three by Simon Gray. Every moment on stage with her was not only a pleasure, but a realisation of everything one had ever imagined acting with a colleague to be. She brought no neurosis with her, no one-upmanship -- just total honesty, enormous humour, love and service to the work. In "Life Class" by David Storey, she played the model in the art class. Here, her body was literally her instrument -- there was no exhibitionism, no paranoia about taking her clothes off - she just did it -- calmly, easily and beautifully, and played the part itself so superbly that Harold Hobson wrote about it for five Sundays afterwards. She first came to people's attention with a much praised performance in "Private Lives," and from then on has played leading parts, cameo parts, character parts, all with the same dedication. David Storey said to me "she is a writer's actress - ask anything of her and she can do it. She can be sensual, funny, moving, young or old." Simon Gray recollects "Rosemary always brought something original - a kind of truthful eccentricity to my work. Often she compensated for my deficiencies, for which I was very grateful. She was also the most delightful company, full of fun and kindness. What a loss." She has died too young and the acting world will be poorer without her." [The plays Alan Bates and Rosemary Martin performed in together include: "Life Class" (1973) and "Stages" (1992) by David Storey; and "Plaintiffs and Defendants" (1975), "Two Sundays" (1975) and "Simply Disconnected" (1996) by Simon Gray. They also both appeared in the 1982 film "Britannia Hospital."]
In the play, which starred Alan Bates as a caustic art teacher, Rosemary Martin had to spend more than an hour naked on stage. At the age of 37, and the mother of a young daughter, she had supposed herself too old for the role, but such were her charms (enhanced by a weekly tanning session) that one critic was provoked into referring to her in his column for five weeks in a row. She herself was less sure about the coolness of her performance.
"I find it a little unnerving", she said. "Knowing
that you've got to stand facing the audience makes you a bit
hot and sweaty. It's the fact of standing a little bit raised
- I'd feel exactly the same if I had my clothes on."  |
Saturday, 5 September 98 "One
of the few occasions on which she found herself in the limelight
came in 1974. She was cast as the model in David Storey's Life
Class (Duke of York's) and the play's poster became the first
featuring nudity to be passed as fit for its hoardings by London
Transport's Advertisement Selection Committee.