Editing Elizabeth David (section)

===Actress===
After returning to England in 1932 David unenthusiastically went through the social rituals for upper-class young women of presentation at court as a [[Debutante#United Kingdom|débutante]] and the associated [[Ball (dance party)|balls]].<ref>"Court Circular", ''The Times'', 10 May 1932, p. 19; 28 June 1932, p. 17; and 13 July 1932, p. 17</ref> The respectable young Englishmen she met at the latter did not appeal to her.<ref>Cooper, p. 36</ref> David's biographer Lisa Chaney comments that with her "delicately smouldering looks and her shyness shielded by a steely coolness and barbed tongue" she would have been a daunting prospect for the young upper-class men she encountered.<ref>Chaney, p. 51</ref> David decided that she was not good enough as a painter and, to her mother's displeasure, became an actress.<ref>Cooper, p. 37</ref> She joined [[J. B. Fagan]]'s company at the [[Oxford Playhouse]] in 1933. Her fellow performers included [[Joan Hickson]], who decades later recalled having to show her new colleague how to make a cup of tea, so unaware of the kitchen was David in those days.<ref>Chaney, p. 54</ref>

[[File:Regent's Park open air theatre.jpg|thumb|alt=open air stage, with trees seen behind the setting|[[Regent's Park Open Air Theatre]] (2008 photograph)]]
From Oxford, David moved to the [[Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park|Open Air Theatre]] in [[Regent's Park]], London, the following year.<ref>Cooper, p. 42</ref> She rented rooms in a large house near the park, spent a generous 21st birthday present on equipping the kitchen, and learned to cook.<ref>Cooper, p. 44</ref> A gift from her mother of ''The Gentle Art of Cookery'' by [[Hilda Leyel]] was her first cookery book.<ref>David (2001), p. 5</ref> She later wrote, "I wonder if I would have ever learned to cook at all if I had been given a routine [[Isabella Beeton|Mrs Beeton]] to learn from, instead of the romantic Mrs Leyel with her rather wild, imagination-catching recipes."<ref>David (1970), pp. 16–17</ref>

At Regent's Park David made little professional progress. The company was distinguished, headed by [[Nigel Playfair]] and [[Jack Hawkins]], and, in the leading female roles, [[Anna Neagle]] and [[Margaretta Scott]].<ref>"Open Air Theatre", ''The Times'', 22 May 1934, p. 13</ref> David was restricted to [[bit parts]].<ref>Chaney, p. 67; and Cooper pp. 42–43</ref> Among her colleagues in the company was an actor nine years her senior, Charles Gibson Cowan.{{refn|In his memoirs Cowan states that he was born at [[Pewley Hill]], [[Guildford]], in 1903 to a former [[East End of London|East End]] family.<ref>Cowan, p. 26</ref>|group=n}} His disregard for social conventions appealed strongly to her, and she also found him sexually irresistible. His being married did not daunt either of them, and they began an affair that outlasted her stage career.<ref>Cooper, p. 47</ref> Chaney comments, "Cowan was the ultimate outsider. He was working class, left wing, Jewish, an actor, a pickpocket, a vagabond, who lived in caves in Hastings for a time. Her mother called him a 'pacifist worm'. He was a sexual presence, and slept with anything that moved."<ref>Treneman, Ann. [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/elizabeth-davids-final-recipe-take-one-culinary-saint-two-rival-books-add-wine-and-sex-and-stir-to-1188554.html "Elizabeth David's final recipe: take one culinary saint, two rival books, add wine and sex and stir to boiling point"], ''The Independent'', 2 December 1998. Retrieved 22 November 2017</ref> David's mother strongly disapproved, and tried to put a stop to the affair.<ref>Chaney, p. 89</ref> She arranged for her daughter to spend several weeks holidaying with family and friends in Malta in the first half of 1936 and in Egypt later in the same year, but in her 1999 biography [[Artemis Cooper]] comments that David's lengthy absence failed to detach her from her involvement with Cowan.<ref>Cooper, pp. 52–54</ref> During her stay in Malta, David was able to spend time learning from her hostess's cook, Angela, who was happy to pass on her expertise. Although she could produce elaborate grand dinners when required, the most important lesson she taught David was to work day in, day out, with all available ingredients, showing her how to make an old bird or a stringy piece of meat into a good dish.<ref>Cooper, p. 53</ref>