Felix Cherniavsky - "Veil of Disgrace" Production 1998

Added 19th Mar 2022 by Beth Dobson (Archives and Programming Assistant, DCD) / Last update 19th Mar 2022

Maud Allan 1315 51 2008-2-73.jpg
Maud Allan 1315 51 2008-2-73.jpg
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Felix Cherniavsky - "Veil of Disgrace" Production 1998

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Maud Allan Research Collection
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1990 The playwright , the PC and the ' lewd ' dancer BILLY SUTER T HERE was a time last month when Durban playwright and producer Brenda Lauth wished the computer age had never dawned . And she had very good reason a glitch in her new PC led to the instant loss of some 70 hours of work . Not just any old work either , but 11 crucial pages of a play script to which she had devoted all of her Easter long weekend and on which she had been working furiously in order to complete it in time to rehearse and polish it for the Grahamstown Arts Festival in July The play is Veil Of Disgrace : The Story Of Maud Allan , a one - hander starring FNB Vita Award - winning Durban actress Belinda Harward , and it's set to premiere at 9pm on June 18 at Durban's second annual Not the Grahamstown Festival . This mini festival , showcasing 11 varied productions which will be going from this region to the Grahamstown Arts Festival , is being held at Durban High School from June 17 to 21 . " I was in a state . I didn't know what to do , " says Brenda , shaking her head and smiling now at the memory of her computer catast rophe . Luckily , a computer boffin managed to find rough versions of some of the missing pages , while Harward had snippets of some first drafts . In the end Brenda was able to salvage five - and - a - half of the lost pages . Time , however , was of the essence and she's sighing with relief now that the script is finally complete and the show in rehearsal and looking good . The production , running 70 minutes without an interval , focuses on dancer Maud Allan who , in her heyday from 1905 to 1918 , was more famous than Mata Hari or Isadora Duncan , says Brenda . Producer " She was labelled a Victorian a sexual icon and made her name in Europe with her dancing and , particularly , her Vision Of Salome , " she says . The production is based not only on Allan herself , but also a libel trial which the dancer and her producer brought against Noel Pemberton - Billing , editor of The Imperialistic , a far - right London newspaper He wrote that Allan was " a lewd , unchaste woman " who came from " a depraved family " . The trial apparently caused as much of a sensation as that which brought to light the homosexuality of Oscar Wilde . BRENDA LAUTH No great love for computers CONTROVERSIAL DANCER : Belinda Harward in Veil of Disgrace : The Maud Allan Story , which premieres on June 18 at the Not the Grahamstown Festival at Durban High School . The idea for the play , billed as to portray seven other characters highlighting fascism , sexual as well as Allan , and has several innuendo and mystery , and also costume changes . featuring some nudity – " Billing After its run in Grahamstown , said : ' this lewd woman appears in from July 2 to 12 , the play is public bedecked in beads and likely to have a short season in little else ' " - came about purely by Durban , at a venue still to be coincidence . decided , after which Brenda Brenda had not even heard of intends taking it to Cape Town . Allan until she read a magazine Her last production locally was article some time ago which the very successful The Wind In touched on the dancer's life story . the Willows , one of 20 children's It so interested the playwright plays Brenda has written , that she gave Harward a thumbs- alongside the 10 revues and four up and wink to indicate she'd dramas she has penned . found what she'd been seeking . The venue for that was the Brenda had long been looking garden of Durban's Killie for a perfect vehicle for Harward , Campbell estate on the Berea , a one - hander which the actress which is also likely to be the had asked Brenda to consider venue for Pinocchio , a new , six writing for her after the two character children's play adapted worked together in 1996 on You by Brenda from the classic story , Might As Well Live . which she plans to stage over the Michaelmas holidays . Nominations Her annual festive season production at the estate is likely This acclaimed production , to be Alice In Wonderland , an staged at the University of Natal's extended version of a short Square Space Theatre in Durban , children's production she wrote was penned by Brenda . 10 years ago as a touring show for It centred on gossip and wit schools . Dorothy Parker , and received FNB Brenda is also keen to write a Vita Award nominations for best new play revolving around a production and for Lauth as best fictitious meeting between famous director . wits Dorothy Parker and Oscar Veil Of Disgrace is proving a real Wilde , but that will only be in the challenge for Harward as she gets new year , she says .