Tag Archives: Henry Irving

Bram and the Guv’nor: Henry Irving and his manager onstage together

Through his novel Dracula and the numerous adaptations of it, writer Bram Stoker is probably now better known than the man who was his “Guv’nor”, the great late-Victorian actor Henry Irving. The two men had a working relationship that lasted almost … Continue reading

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Full of sound and fury: recording Shakespeare

There are few things that take people back to their past more effectively than sound recordings. Mostly, of course, it’s recordings of favourite songs. Last week Radio 4 broadcast a series of programmes entitled His Master’s Voice which looked at … Continue reading

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The divine Sarah Bernhardt’s Hamlet

On Radio 4 Francine Stock is currently investigating the concept of charisma. This week in Pinning down the Butterfly: the It Factor, she looked at an actress whose fame spread across Europe and North America, the divine Sarah Bernhardt. Bernhardt … Continue reading

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Celebrating Stage Management Day

Rather late in the day I heard that 10 October 2013 is being celebrated as the first Stage Management Day. Stage managers are some of the unsung heroes of the theatre world, people who the audience rarely sees, but who … Continue reading

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Acting companies and the ensemble

A couple of weeks ago Gregory Doran, the new Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, was “In conversation” with Michael Dobson, the head of the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon. The session was recorded on video and is now generously … Continue reading

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Peter O’Toole’s Shakespeare

The actor Peter O’Toole has recently announced his retirement from stage and screen, shortly before his 80th birthday. His reason? “The heart for it has gone out of me: it won’t come back.” It occurred to me that it’s unusual … Continue reading

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Jubilee Queens

This weekend we celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of our Queen, and the media have made many references to the other massively influential English monarch who ruled for sixty years, Queen Victoria. Queen Elizabeth II doesn’t pretend to take a great … Continue reading

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Stratford’s American Fountain: a monument to temperance?

  The American fountain In recent weeks I’ve written several times of Stratford-upon-Avon’s links with America, and how Shakespeare supplies shared cultural values in spite of political differences. The American Fountain is a favourite focal point in the town’s marketplace, … Continue reading

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Bram Stoker’s centenary and the Shakespeare connection

2012 marks the centenary of the death of Bram Stoker. At the time of his death on 20 April 1912 he would probably have seen the years he spent in London, theatrical manager to the great Shakespearian actor Henry Irving, … Continue reading

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Kevin Spacey as Richard III, the “cunning, conniving, charismatic king”

One of this summer’s hottest theatre tickets will be Kevin Spacey’s performance as Shakespeare’s most famous villain Richard III, currently previewing at the Old Vic in London.  In a Radio interview with Spacey and his director, Sam Mendes it’s clear … Continue reading

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