When Lincoln Center Theatre revived The Heiress on Broadway twelve years ago, I was lucky enough to attend a preview. Leaving the Cort Theatre after the performance, I overheard two elegant women of a certain age: “Thank you, for bringing me,” one said to the other “I didn’t know Broadway theatre was this good. Is it always?” Her friend thought a moment and replied: “Well, it used to be.” The 1995 revival won four Tony Awards and The Heiress was again the toast of Broadway, as it had been when it premiered in 1947.

Playwrights Ruth and Augustus Goetz fashioned their intense, psychological drama from Henry James’ brilliant 1880 novel, "Washington Square". In the upper reaches of genteel New York society in the 1850's, Catherine Sloper, a shy young heiress, falls for Morris Townsend, an attractive, penniless young man who makes no secret how much he would like to enjoy the privileges of the rich. Catherine’s father, a highly- regarded New York physician, openly resents his daughter’s lack of social grace and her undistinguished looks. He is convinced that his daughter is incapable of inspiring genuine affection, and therefore her young man is a mere fortune-hunter. Dr. Sloper engages his determined daughter in a surprisingly brutal battle of wills. How Catherine eventually gains the upper hand, and at what cost is the disquieting story of The Heiress.

The fascination of both the novel and the play, is that the truth remains elusive. Does Morris himself know what his motives are? Ruth Goetz suggested the adaptation to her husband and collaborator. She said she was drawn to the material by a desire to write about "a lost maiden like dozens I had watched". In fact, in the Goetz’s own courtship there were echoes of “Washington Square”. Ruth’s father, Philip Goodman, was a 1920s theatrical producer who had presented W.C. Fields on Broadway, as well as musicals by Jerome Kern, Guy Bolton and Harry Ruby. The Goodman house was regularly filled with eminent writers and composers, and Ruth herself had been educated in Paris. While on board a trans-Atlantic ocean liner with her father, the 23 year-old Ruth met 30 year-old Augustus Goetz, a stockbroker and aspiring writer. They soon became inseparable. Goetz had lived an adventurous life, a taste of which can be gleaned from a 1930 New York Times article. It reports that he had rescued a woman from drowning at the Jersey shore and won a dance contest with her later the same night. The Goetzes were married October 11, 1932. Ruth’s mother disapproved, calling Gus Goetz “a drunk”. But the daughter won out, saying later, “I found him the most enchantingly witty man I've ever known in my life, and I've known some very, very witty men.” The Goodman/Goetz circle included the Gershwins, H.L. Mencken, George S. Kaufman and Sinclair Lewis. The marriage lasted 25 years till Gus’s death in 1957. Ruth died in 2001.

The couple started writing plays together and the first to be produced was Franklin Street (1940), a comedy based on Philip Goodman's memoirs of his early life in Philadelphia. It closed before reaching Broadway. Their second play, One-Man Show (1945), had only a brief run. Then came The Heiress. The original 1947 producer of the play, insisted the Goetzes change the Jamesian ending to a more conventional one. Bad reviews in Boston, allowed them to restore the original and led to a highly successful opening in New York. In 1949 William Wyler's film version, won the Goetzes the Academy Award for Best Screenplay. Their collaborations for stage and film were acted by the leading actors of their time, including Ralph Richardson, Wendy Hiller, Laurence Olivier, Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Geraldine Page and James Dean.

Katie Firth, who is making her Peterborough debut as Catherine Sloper, is a terrific young actress I’ve enjoyed working with in New York. She is also Ruth and Gus Goetz’s granddaughter.