Not many people know that Virginia Woolf dabbled in drama. Even Wikipedia has the information listed incorrectly for this play. Woolf originally wrote it around 1923 and later resuscitated the play in 1935 for performance with the Bloomsbury group. Jason found this book for me a couple years back. The edition contains both the 1935 and 1923 versions of the play, with notes, and it’s illustrated by Edward Gorey. How much more perfect could it be?

Despite that, I didn’t read it right away, because I was scared of it. I knew it said, “Freshwater: a Comedy” on the front, but I had a hard time imagining Ms. Woolf as comedic. While I love her, her books take a lot out of me. I usually can only read one a year, and I get in a bit of a funk afterwards when I do. But it’s been sitting on my shelf for too long now and I really wanted to get to it.

The play is a spoof about the life of Woolf’s great-aunt, Julia Cameron, who was a famous photographer. It also features George Watts, Ellen Terry, and Alfred Lord Tennyson as key characters. Yes, they all knew each other. It was a small world.

The 1935 version of the play, the one that was performed, was presented in the book first. It was laugh out loud funny, especially the parts with Tennyson. I had no idea Woolf could be so funny. I imagine watching this would be even better, and since it was a family affair, probably even funnier to them. The cast list, written in Woolf’s hand, is included in the book, and even Leonard Woolf’s pet monkey got his own part in the play (“the marmoset”). It only took half an hour or so to read, even with pauses to laugh and read out lines to Jason.

The 1923 version came after all the indexed notes, and it was not anywhere near the brilliance of the later version. It’s easy to see Woolf had no idea what she was doing when it came to writing her first play. Every time someone spoke, it was a long monologue. The play was a weird contrast of serious, tragic, and comic. It didn’t flow very well. She did a lot of work shaping the play up for the performed version.

And then there were the illustrations. Well, it’s Edward Gorey. I couldn’t ask for better. They were just a neat little touch that added dimension to the book and made it that much more enjoyable.