Interview with Eleonora Duse

NG: Ciao Eleonora! It’s great to meet with you.

Eleonora: The feeling is mutual. I’m happy to be here.

NG: So I have a few questions to ask you. You started acting at a very young age. What experiences did you have that interested you in pursuing acting as a career?

Eleonora: Well like you said before I did start appearing on stage at a very young age. My first appearance was actually at the age of four! My godfather and father were actors as well and I traveled on tour with them during my childhood. When I was fourteen years old I portrayed Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. I later performed roles such as Theresa Raquin in Naples. I decided to perform in more modern French dramas after watching Sarah Bernhardt.

NG: Who were the teachers that helped develop your interest and talent for the art of acting?

Eleonora: Watching my father, godfather, and their company was a big inspiration for me when I was little. I also really admired the modern plays from Paris, especially Alexandre Dumas’ work. I performed his work in Italy translated to Italian. Sarah Bernhardt invited me to perform the Italian translation in Paris and she performed the French translation. Sarah was, as I would call it, my friendly rival. She presented herself as my mentor in France but she would sometimes find ways to upstage me. However, she was helpful by helping me learn about different audiences.

NG: What was the world of acting like when you first started acting?

Eleonora: At the time, acting was very much more focused on self-expression. It was an escape from the norm. An escape from reality. “It gave people a lawful opportunity of meeting together and venting their spite while they listened half in indignation, half in delight, to dramatic comments on all those things which the political orators and the newspapers were forbidden to say.” (Rheinhardt 1930)

NG: How did cultural events affect your work as an actress?

Eleonora: Being an artist during the world war was very hard. I did not act during the war but I wrote letters to friends about plays I was thinking about performing in the future. The war absolutely terrified me.

I remained very patriotic and was very supportive of Italy. In the letters I would write I would always say Viva l’Italia! I also wrote to soldiers to encourage them and to keep fighting.

NG: What would you say your best accomplishments while being an actress were? What methods did you use?

Eleonora: I think my greatest accomplishments were performing for Queen Victoria in the play La Locandiera and when I portrayed Ibsen’s Rebecca West and Hedda Gabler. The methods in acting that I use are most importantly becoming your character and feeling their emotions. It makes the role you’re portraying become real. I played my characters with a very naturalistic style and I did not wear make-up.

NG: What were main opportunities you had that led to a more successful career?

Eleonora: Well as I mentioned before, I traveled to Paris to perform with Sarah Bernhardt. That was a very big opportunity for me. When I went on tour in America was another. The special performance for Queen Victoria was another. These experiences really made me well known around the world! I am so glad I had these opportunities to travel the world and do what I love the most in the whole world.

NG: What were personal choices you had to make in order to be successful?

Eleonora: Personal choices I had to make to be successful all revolve around the power I had inside me to push myself to keep going. I lost my mother at a young age and my father left not long after. All that kept my life intact was acting. I didn’t have a place to call home either. Always moving around there was just never a time to have one. Theatre however, was my home. Ever since I was a child I had theatre. Acting helped me push myself because it was all I had.

NG: What problems did you encounter that you had to overcome to be an artist?

Eleonora: My family suffered with shortage of food and money. My mother being ill greatly impacted and increased these problems. I tended to her whenever I could. At the same time I was in school and learning roles to play. The situations were very hard to handle all at once. But I was very strong and I was able to overcome because I loved all the things in my life and worked very hard to keep them.

NG: What kind of events did you experience that affected you as an artist and a person?

Eleonora: Well, during my early years of being an actress I quickly learned that traveling with an acting company meant you had to be ready to just pack up and move on to another place anytime. I never had a permanent home because of that. When I would be put into schools, I didn’t have many friends because I was very shy and quiet. I didn’t have much time to make friends either. My most tragic experience when I was young was when my mother passed away. I was fourteen years old. I became very sad after that. But I knew I had to move on. My childhood made me a stronger person and actress.

NG: What personal experiences best describe how you became such a successful actress?

Eleonora: Most of my experiences that made me such a successful actress were when I was a young girl. I’m glad I learned at such a young age that you should never give up. There is much rejection being an actress and you must be prepared for it. Growing up with a traveling company taught me that you always have to move on, even if it means leaving things behind. When I was very young, when my mother and father were traveling together, they stayed at this woman’s house. This woman very kind and she gave me a doll. I loved this doll dearly. There was rarely a time the doll wasn’t in my arms. But there came a time when we had to leave the woman and keep traveling. I didn’t want to leave the doll and I wanted to take it with me so badly. I knew I could not. So I left it behind, and continued on.

NG: Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me Eleonora.

Eleonora: Oh the pleasure is all mine. See you again sometime soon.

Bibliography

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