How would Eleanor Roosevelt have fared in our post-truth
world? Donald Trump would have hated
her. Bernie Sanders (and Jeremy Corbyn) would have loved her. Your reviewer
wanted to ask her portrayer, Alison Skilbeck, to stand for Prime Minister in
the up-coming election (as Mrs Roosevelt of course).
Donald Douglas said that “Mrs Roosevelt Flies to London” was
a truly one-woman show, with Alison Skilbeck having written and acted
in FET’s latest production. And in over
an hour non-stop Ms Skilbeck gave us a sympathetic portrayal of a remarkable
woman.
We are used to these talented performers that come to FET
being able to conjure up voices and actions in performances that move and amuse
us, as well as imparting some real wisdoms to us group of middle class expats.
But Alison Skilbeck brought us a woman of conviction, very liberal, probably
more so than her husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR had a loyal if not
loving companion; he had a string of mistresses; she had a string of feminist
friends (despite innuendo she came across as faithful – she had made her vows).
But the crippling polio which struck down FDR in mid-career demanded her physical
as well as moral support. And she did it with great skill.
Eleanor described her passions as “talking and writing” and
for over an hour Alison Skilbeck drew on those writings to illustrate Eleanor’s
impressions of her visit to the UK in 1942 after the American troops were
deployed to Europe. Her meetings with the King and Queen, Churchill and Ernest
Bevin, General Eisenhower and especially the ordinary citizens were all reported with humour and
humility. (It was cold and there was a lot of Brussels sprouts..)
Eleanor’s passion then was to ensure that after we had won
the war, we should win the peace. And it was the planning going on in
government for this that impressed her – but the indomitable spirit of the
British people was what moved her most. Her desire for a new world order via a
United Nations, where she became US ambassador, led to her chairing the
committee to draw up the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Thanks again to FET for a moving and thought provoking
production. One wants to avoid politics in the run up to an election, but if
the best we can come up with in 2017 is Theresa May and Marine Le Pen in a
world which has seen Eleanor Roosevelt, things have definitely declined.
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