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Tag Archives: Laurence Olivier
Hung be the heavens with black! Terry Hands remembered
Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night! The opening line of Henry VI Part One seems appropriate as a memorial for the great theatre director Terry Hands, who died on 4 February 2020. The success of the … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged Alan Howard, Bille Brown, Henry VI, Laurence Olivier, Poppy, Royal Shakespeare Company, Swan Theatre, Terry Hands, The Seagull, The Swan Down Gloves, Theatregoround
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Remembering Vivien Leigh on World Bipolar Day
In 1955, sixty-three years ago, Stratford-upon-Avon experienced its most glamorous season of Shakespeare. Laurence Olivier and his wife Vivien Leigh, the golden couple of stage and screen, performed in three plays at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre: Twelfth Night (Malvolio and … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged Alexander Walker, Anthony Holden, Bipolar disorder, Laurence Olivier, mental illness, Vivien Leigh
1 Comment
Speaking Shakespeare in 2018
The speaker at a recent meeting of the Shakespeare Club in Stratford-upon-Avon was actor Robert Lister. Never heard of him? Well Robert wouldn’t be hurt or surprised. He described himself as an “engine room actor” and in his talk, entitled … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged accent, Barrie Rutter, Chrisopher Eccleston, dialect, Laurence Olivier, Lenny Henry, Macbeth, Robert Lister, Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon, speaking
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Post-war British theatre: Finlay, Gaskill and British Black and Asian Shakespeare
Almost swamped by the understandable outpouring of tributes for the late Sir Terry Wogan, the death of the fine actor Frank Finlay at 89 has passed with little attention this week. Most people remember Finlay for his screen and TV … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged Adrian Lester, Bill Gaskill, British Black and Asian Shakespeare, Frank Finlay, Ira Aldridge, Laurence Olivier, Othello, Red Velvet, William Gaskill
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Remembering the Battle of Agincourt
The 600th anniversary of one of the most famous British military victories is being celebrated this month. The actual date is the 25th October 1415, the event the Battle of Agincourt when Henry V, with an outnumbered and outclassed army, … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Plays and Poems
Tagged Agincourt, anniversary, battle, Henry V, Laurence Olivier, war, William Walton
2 Comments
Vivien Leigh, Shakespeare’s lass unparalleled
In the theatre gardens in Stratford-upon-Avon is a silver birch tree planted in memory of Vivien Leigh, one of several dedicated to people who have worked at the theatres. At its base is a stone tablet, with her dates of birth … Continue reading
Shakespearean acting: achieving greatness
Four hundred years on, Shakespeare has lost none of his appeal for actors and directors, with Tom Hiddleston recently winning the Evening Standard Best Actor award for his charismatic portrayal of Coriolanus at the Donmar Warehouse in London. Only 33, … Continue reading
Posted in Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged acting, awards, David Calder, Evening Standard, Jeremy Irons, Judi Dench, Laurence Olivier, Nicholas Hytner, Ralph Myers, Robert Greene, Shakespeare Club, Stanley Wells, Tom Hiddlestone
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Remembering Sir Laurence Olivier
Friday 11 July 2014 is the 25th anniversary of Laurence Olivier’s death in 1989. By chance I was in the RST that evening and before the performance artistic director Terry Hands delivered an onstage tribute to Olivier. At the end … Continue reading
Falstaff and the loss of Merrie England
This week Sir Antony Sher takes on the role of one of Shakespeare’s most famous characters, Sir John Falstaff, in the first of the Henry IV plays, for the RSC. It’s a role that has attracted many of the greatest … Continue reading
Slaughter in the streets: Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus
This post was always going to be about Titus Andronicus. But it was going to be about the designs for the 1955 Shakespeare Memorial Theatre production of the play, put on at a time when it was thought to be … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged #woolwich, Desmond Heeley, Laurence Olivier, Peter Brook, Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Titus Andronicus, Vivien Leigh
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