“Do you like Bette Davis?” I asked Aussie actor Jeanette Cronin in the Sydney foyer of a show I had just directed.
“Funny you should say that,” she laughed, revealing that she’d spent a lifetime being told of her resemblance to the Hollywood icon. This chance encounter sparked the creation of Queen Bette, our homage to one of the movie world’s most formidable actresses. Over the next year, Jeanette and I delved into the life of Bette Davis, peeling back the layers of a woman who was not just a star but a trailblazer in a male-dominated industry.
Our research uncovered a fascinating story behind Davis’s on-screen persona and the real woman behind the camera—a relentless fighter who battled both personal and professional adversity. Davis was more than just the sum of her iconic roles in classics like All About Eve, Now, Voyager, Dark Victory, and camp classic Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. She consistently challenged the status quo, earning a reputation as one of Hollywood’s most demanding and respected actors.
The production takes audiences on a rollercoaster ride through Davis’s life, tracing her journey from childhood, where her mother, Ruthie, encouraged her to step into the spotlight, through the silent film era, and into Hollywood’s golden age. It explores the many career restarts she experienced and the myriad films she made from the 1930s to the 1960s, offering insights into the internal and external battles that shaped her career. Famously, Davis played Queen Elizabeth I in 2 separate movies, 16 years apart. These roles form a framework for Queen Bette.
A key aspect of the play is its portrayal of Davis’s fraught relationship with the Hollywood studio system, particularly her tumultuous tenure under contract with Warner Bros. One incident in particular, covered in the play, demonstrated Davis’s Warrior spirit—she refused to let anyone dictate her path, no matter the cost.
“She’s much appropriated and there are all kinds of views on her—there’s Feud, there’s the gay icon, there’s the view of her as arch bitch, the actor who overdid it in horror movies,” Cronin explains. “But I think when you play someone, you go back to them. Her first book is our bible. She wrote two volumes of autobiography, and much of what she’s said is in the public domain. We’re trying to do Bette on Bette, not what others thought of her.”
Queen Bette is more than a biographical recounting; as a one-woman show, it becomes an intimate conversation between the audience and with Davis herself.
“It’s a roller coaster ride through the life and times of a Hollywood legend, but even if you’re not familiar with Bette Davis, never fear. Bette never goes out of fashion, and she is beyond relevant,” says Jeanette of the role she has played to audiences in Australia for over 10 years now. “She had a life filled with unbridled tenacity, indomitable spirit and worldwide acclaim, and what we have created is theatre that is thrilling, heartbreaking and ultimately life-affirming.”
Queen Bette is a celebration of a woman who, against all odds, left an indelible mark on the world.
“There’s a lot of joy. There’s a lot of love, there’s a lot of loss, but at the end of the day, it’s a very full life,” Cronin says, “Fasten your seatbelts!”.
Queen Bette with Jeanette Cronin as Bette Davis is directed by Peter Mountford for G.bod Theatre and runs at the King’s Head Theatre, Islington, from 5 to 23 November 2024.
