How did American aviatrix Harriet Quimby, first woman to fly the Channel solo, fall out of the history books?
What’s Next? at the Burton Taylor Studio, Oxford Playhouse
on Friday, September 6
By Jon Lewis
What’s in a Name?
Only a handful of theatregoers were present at Oxford’s Burton Taylor Studio to witness Victoria Lucie’s thrilling performance as American aviatrix Harriet Quimby in Tom Stabb’s Middle-Weight Theatre Company production of Matt Roberts’ play What’s Next? (a title doing little to excite). Quimby, who was a journalist, theatre reviewer, scriptwriter for silent movies by DW Griffiths and actress, was a pretty, feminine flyer, the first American woman to gain a pilot’s licence and the first woman to fly solo across the English Channel.
Roberts emphasises the struggles Quimby faced to be taken seriously in a man’s world. The hurdles to become a journalist were overcome by Quimby’s natural assertiveness, her motivation heightened by her fierce determination to create a new future for all women and not just herself. Lucie, who is a singer and model as well as an actress, is perfect casting with an allure and vibrancy that creates a rounded, wholesome picture of a pioneer whom Roberts feels should be better known.
Lucie’s Quimby is a fashion icon, proudly demonstrating how her flying kit was designed for her figure to be practical. In one scene she transforms into a glamorous Hollywood attendee suitable for the red carpets at film premieres, her presence in the film industry a marker for a farmer’s daughter growing up in poverty. So how is it that Quimby, who drew large crowds in flying demonstrations, fell out of the history books?
The first reason is bad timing: the Titanic had sunk the day before her channel crossing, Quimby holding a copy of the Mirror with the front page focusing on the disaster. Her feat gets a small column within. Quimby’s infectious confidence and Lucie’s winning smiles belie the play’s final, devastating blackout which suggests the next reason: an early death. Despite Quimby’s concern about air crashes dating from the fatal accident of her flying school boss, a close friend, she herself is killed in a flying display shortly after her groundbreaking flight. The third reason is sexism – from newspapers, fellow aviators and probably, historians. Lucie’s portrayal of this feisty, future-focused innovator will stay long in the memory.
