Theatre of the People : Donald Wolfit's Shakespearean Productions 1937-1953.
- 1st ed.
- 1 online resource (241 pages)
Intro -- Contents -- Preface: A Personal Search for the Theatre of the People -- Acknowledgments -- 1 The Actor-Manager's Temperament -- 2 Hamlet at the Malvern Festival Theatre, October 1937 -- 3 Selections from Shakespeare at the Strand Theatre, 1940-1941 -- 4 Richard III at St. Francis Theatre, Letchworth, September 1941 -- 5 A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Cardiff, August 1942 -- 6 The Merchant of Venice at the Opera House, Manchester, October 1943 -- 7 King Lear at the Scala Theatre, London, April 1944 -- 8 Twelfth Night at the Grand Theatre, Leeds, October 1945 -- 9 Othello at the King's Theatre, Glasgow, November 1946 -- 10 As You Like It at His Majesty's Theatre, Montreal, January, March 1947 -- 11 The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Bedford Theatre, Camden Town, March 1949 -- 12 Macbeth at the Dudley Hippodrome, October 1950 -- 13 The Taming of the Shrew at the King's Theatre, Hammersmith, April 1953 -- 14 The Legacy -- Works Cited -- Index -- About the Author.
This book looks at how performances of Shakespeare in the Second World War (and post-war years) not only commented on the strife happening outside the theatre, but drew audiences together in a shared sense of community as a way of resisting the enemy. This examination is through the lens of one particular theatre actor/manager, Donald Wolfit, whose productions were extremely popular at the time. Wolfit was the model for "Sir" in Ronald Harwood's play The Dresser and is remembered fondly by British audiences.