Play Guide [2.6MB PDF] - Arizona Theatre Company

REBECCA
she meets the aristocratic widower Maximilian (Maxim)
de Winter (Laurence Olivier) and they fall in love. Within
weeks, they decide to get married.
Maxim takes his new bride to Manderley his country
house in Cornwall, England. The servants accept the
new Mrs. de Winter as the new lady of the house. The
exception is the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Judith
Anderson), who is particularly unpleasant to the
new bride. She is still obsessed with the beauty and
sophistication of the fi rst Mrs. de Winter -- the eponymous
Rebecca -- and preserves her former bedroom as a shrine,
even cherishing her handmade underwear and expensive
négligée. Rebecca's "cousin" Jack (George Sanders) (who,
as we only discover later, was in fact one of her lovers)
appears at the house when Maxim is away, and evidently
knows Mrs. Danvers well, calling her by the name
"Danny", which was Rebecca's pet name for her.
The new Mrs. de Winter is intimidated by Mrs. Danvers and by the responsibilities of being
the new mistress of Manderley. As a result, she begins to doubt her relationship with her
husband. The continuous presence of Rebecca in the house starts to haunt her, and she
convinces herself that Maxim is still in love with Rebecca. She discovers, too, that her
husband has a fi ery temper, and sometimes erupts at apparently innocent actions on her
part.
Mrs. Danvers tries to persuade Mrs. de Winter to leap to her death. Trying to act the
perfect wife, Mrs. de Winter suggests to Maxim that they host a costume party as he used
to do with Rebecca. Maxim reluctantly consents. Mrs. de Winter excitedly plans her own
costume in secret, but Mrs. Danvers suggests that she copy the dress of Caroline de Winter,
an ancestor, whose portrait hangs in the upstairs hallway. On the night of the party, Mrs.
de Winter reveals her costume to Maxim, who is both surprised and angry at her, shouting
at her to change her costume. Mrs. de Winter rushes upstairs, sees Mrs. Danvers go into
Rebecca's room and follows her. There she confronts Mrs. Danvers about her knowing that
Rebecca had worn the same costume at a previous ball. Mrs. Danvers retaliates by saying
that she will never take Rebecca's place and almost convinces Mrs. de Winter to commit
suicide. But Mrs. de Winter snaps out of her trance when a sudden commotion starts
outside — a ship has been spotted foundering off the coast.
Mrs. de Winter (after changing her outfi t) rushes downstairs to the front lawn, where she
hears news that, during the rescue, a sunken boat has been found off the coast - with
Rebecca's body in it. She spots a distant glow from the cottage on the shore and enters to
fi nd Maxim. Maxim admits to his new wife that he had earlier misidentifi ed another body
The Mystery of Irma Vep
Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 16