Saxophone in Tarlatan by Aubrey Mandrake

Thanks to Yamaha

Title: Saxophone in Tarlatan 

Author: Aubrey Mandrake (real name Stanley Footling)

Publisher: Not known 

Source book: Death and the Dancing Footman by Ngaio Marsh 

Aubrey Mandrake writes experimental plays which may or may not have an enthusiastic audience. Frankly I think this sort of play sounds like a complete waste of time but I don’t think they are aimed at me. Saxophone in Tarleton is about the passion of a pattern-cutter for a headless bust; a saxophonist who could not perform to his full ability unless his instrument was decked out in tarletan frills; a lavatory attendant who became a gentleman of the bedchamber; and a chartered accountant who turns out to be a reincarnation of Thaïs (companion to Alexander the Great).

Obviously we all know what a saxophone is, but I had to look up tarlatan because it’s an old fashioned sort of a fabric that nobody talks about anymore. Apparently it’s an open weave fabric once used for ball gowns. A bit like cheesecloth but stiffened. 

Why even an experimental, avant-garde playwright would want to wrap a saxophone in fabric is anyone’s guess. But when Aubrey isn’t writing weird sounding plays, he seems like a nice young man. Even when he gets mixed up in a nasty murder.

Aubrey’s play Bad Black-Out reflects the fact that it was written in the early years of WWII but it isn’t about the war. It is an experiment in two-dimensional formalism. Whatever that means. It’s due to open at the Unicorn Theatre in March.