The Human Voice (La Voix Humaine)

I first came across this play in Christopher Isherwood's book as he mentioned them coming back to London to see Beatrix performed it. She only did one production of it and it was produced by the man she'd been having an affair with (Bertold Viertel).

The play is definitely one that would rely on the voice of the actress and as such I think Beatrix would have been perfect for it. In the introduction the author says that the woman isn't particularly spectacular in any way, just ordinary and in love. It's quite nice that an ordinary woman is the focus. Even if it is just as a love object.

One of the things that strikes me the most about the play is how different the medium of telephone conversations is. They are constantly being disconnected, they have to go through the exchange, they have random people in on their conversation and have to fight off wrong numbers. Different in every way to phones today. In a way it reminded me of the people I see on skype in the coffee shops who are all, Hello, Hello, no I can't see you, hello, try again. It is very much that kind of conversation, which in a way kind of distracts from the human drama and in another way just adds to the frustration of the woman.

Over the course of her side of the conversation it becomes clear that her lover has broken it off with her, that he has found another woman (which she had seen in the papers), that she is sending him back his love letters. She also talks about the dog that she thinks he should take because it doesn't like her but prefers him. She initially pretends to be brave about it but then admits that she tried to kill herself the night before by taking too many sleeping pills, but then phoned her friend at the last minute as she didn't want to die alone.
It comes out she's going to marry the girl, and she promises that she won't attempt suicide again. Though it ends with the cord of the phone wrapped around her neck.

This translation also includes the French original which is very good. I know that this translation isn't considered as good as the later one, but as this is the one Beatrix performed it was this version I wanted to read. One of the things that surprised me the most about this play was that it wasn't just a big monologue (Nothing like the Whoppi Goldberg film the telephone). This was just one person actually having a conversation. There were as many pauses for her to listen to his words as there were parts where she was speaking.