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John Gielgud Greek Drama Ibsen Insults Henry Irving Edmund Kean Kitchen Sink Vivien Leigh Oscar Levant Life The Lunts Melodrama Method Acting Motivation Music Hall/Vaudeville Musicals Laurence Olivier Opprobrium Pantomime Plays Playwrights Playwrights – Individuals Prejudice The Press Producers Producers – Individuals Prologues Prompts Purpose Quick Thinking Realism 82 83 84 85 87 89 90 91 92 92 94 94 95 96 97 98 99 101 103 103 107 109 119 120 120 121 122 122 122 124 125 Recognition Rehearsals Reputation Resting Restoration Theatre Ralph Richardson Scenery and Lighting Shakespeare Shakespeare’s Plays George Bernard Shaw Richard Brinsley Sheridan Show Business Sarah Siddons Slips of the Tongue Stage Fright Stage Management Star Quality Success Talent Technique Telegrams Ellen Terry The Theatre Touring Tr a g e dy Herbert Beerbohm Tree Oscar Wilde Tennessee Williams 126 126 126 127 127 127 128 128 134 143 148 149 149 151 152 152 152 153 155 156 161 163 165 167 168 168 170 172 Biographical Index 175
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Gyles Brandreth – Introduction – F ifty years ago, when I was a student at Oxford Uni- versity, I decided that I wanted to put on a production for the OUDS – the Oxford University Dramatic Society. My plan was to direct a traditional English pantomime, Cinderella, with a script by one of my literary heroes, the great Byron. No, not Lord Byron the poet, but his less-well known cousin, Henry James Byron, the playwright who created the character of Buttons for his Cinderella and invented Widow Twankay for his version of Aladdin. To secure my OUDS production I had to audition for the OUDS President. She was an alarmingly beautiful and wonderfully gifted actress called Diana Quick, who, not long after, went on to become famous in the television series Brideshead Revisited. Having been given the go-ahead to direct Cinderella, Diana told me I needed a choreographer and pointed me in the direction of another student, Michael Coveney, who went on to become one of the most noted theatre critics of our time as well as the acclaimed biographer of Dame Maggie Smith. With Michael I set about casting the production and for our Fairy Queen we chose a young girl called Eliza Mannigham-Buller, who went on to become the head of MI5. When it came to casting the role of Cinderella we were spoilt for choice. The undergraduate actress who most caught my eye when she turned up for her audition was called Michèle Brown, who vii

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John Gielgud Greek Drama Ibsen Insults Henry Irving Edmund Kean Kitchen Sink Vivien Leigh Oscar Levant Life The Lunts Melodrama Method Acting Motivation Music Hall/Vaudeville Musicals Laurence Olivier Opprobrium Pantomime Plays Playwrights Playwrights – Individuals Prejudice The Press Producers Producers – Individuals Prologues Prompts Purpose Quick Thinking Realism

82 83 84 85 87 89 90 91 92 92 94 94 95 96 97 98 99 101 103 103 107 109 119 120 120 121 122 122 122 124 125

Recognition Rehearsals Reputation Resting Restoration Theatre Ralph Richardson Scenery and Lighting Shakespeare Shakespeare’s Plays George Bernard Shaw Richard Brinsley Sheridan Show Business Sarah Siddons Slips of the Tongue Stage Fright Stage Management Star Quality Success Talent Technique Telegrams Ellen Terry The Theatre Touring Tr a g e dy Herbert Beerbohm Tree Oscar Wilde Tennessee Williams

126 126 126 127 127 127 128 128 134 143 148 149 149 151 152 152 152 153 155 156 161 163 165 167 168 168 170 172

Biographical Index

175

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