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Allan Aynesworth
Edward Henry Abbot-Anderson (14 April 1864, Sandhurst, Berkshire – 22 August 1959, Camberley, Surrey), known professionally as Allan Aynesworth, was an English actor and producer. His career spanned more than six decades, from 1887 to 1949, and included the role of Algernon Moncrieff in the 1895 premiere of Oscar Wilde's ''The Importance of Being Earnest''. Aynesworth generally appeared in drawing room comedy and contemporary high-society dramas, usually avoiding old classics and modern plays about social problems. He retired from the stage in 1938, and made his final acting appearance in the film '' The Last Days of Dolwyn'' in 1949. Life and career Early years Aynesworth was born at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, the third son of Major-General Edward Abbot-Anderson and his first wife, Martha, ''née'' Birkett, who died the day after Aynesworth was born. The eldest son, John Henry, followed his father into the army, and rose to be a Brigadier-General; the middle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St James's Theatre
The St James's Theatre was in King Street, St James's, London. It opened in 1835 and was demolished in 1957. The theatre was conceived by and built for a popular singer, John Braham; it lost money and after three seasons he retired. A succession of managements over the next forty years also failed to make it a commercial success, and the St James's acquired a reputation as an unlucky theatre. It was not until 1879–1888, under the management of the actors John Hare and Madge and W. H. Kendal that the theatre began to prosper. The Hare-Kendal management was succeeded, after brief and disastrous attempts by other lessees, by that of the actor-manager George Alexander, who was in charge from 1891 until his death in 1918. Under Alexander the house gained a reputation for programming that was adventurous without going too far for the tastes of London society. Among the plays he presented were Oscar Wilde's ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' (1892) and ''The Importance of Being Earn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Alexander (actor)
Sir George Alexander (19 June 185815 March 1918), born George Alexander Gibb Samson, was an English stage actor, theatre producer and Actor-manager, theatre manager. After acting on stage as an amateur he turned professional in 1879 and, over the next eleven years, he gained experience with leading producers and actor-managers, including Thomas William Robertson, Tom Robertson, Henry Irving and Madge Kendal, Madge and William Hunter Kendal, W. H. Kendal. During this time, Alexander became interested in theatre management. In 1890 he took a lease on a London theatre and began producing on his own account. The following year, he moved to the St James's Theatre, where he remained, acting and producing, for the rest of his career. Among the most successful of the new plays he presented were Oscar Wilde's ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' (1892), Arthur Wing Pinero, A. W. Pinero's ''The Second Mrs Tanqueray'' (1893) and Wilde's ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' (1895). Alexander followed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garrick Theatre
The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, named after the stage actor David Garrick. It opened in 1889 with ''The Profligate'', a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, and another Pinero play, '' The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith'', was an early success at the theatre. In its early years, the Garrick appears to have specialised in the performance of melodrama. The theatre later became associated with comedies, including ''No Sex Please, We're British'', which played for four years from 1982 to 1986. History There was previously another theatre that was sometimes called the Garrick in London, in Leman Street, opened in 1831 and demolished in 1881.Allingham, Philip V"Theatres in Victorian London" The Victorian Web, 29 November 2015 The new Garrick Theatre was financed in 1889 by the playwright W. S. Gilbert, the author of over 75 plays, including the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas. It was designed by Walter Emden, with C. J. P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, and was demolished in 1937. The theatre was built for and named after the American impresario Augustin Daly, but he failed to make a success of it, and between 1895 and 1915 the British producer George Edwardes ran the house, where he presented a series of long-running musical comedies, including ''The Geisha'' (1896), and English adaptations of operettas, including ''The Merry Widow'' (1907). After Edwardes died in 1915 Daly's had one more great hit, ''The Maid of the Mountains'' (1917), which ran for 1,352 productions, but after that the fortunes of the theatre declined; Noël Coward's play ''Sirocco'' (1927) was a notable failure. By the mid-1930s Leicester Square had become better known for cinemas. Daly's was sold to Warner Brothers who demolished it and erected a large cinema on the site. History Background and early yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Criterion Theatre
The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre at Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has a seating capacity of 588. Building the theatre In 1870, the caterers Spiers and Pond began development of the site of the White Bear, a seventeenth-century posting inn. The inn was located on sloping ground stretching between Jermyn Street and Piccadilly Circus, known as Regent Circus. A competition was held for the design of a concert hall complex, with Thomas Verity winning out of 15 entries. He was commissioned to design a large restaurant, dining rooms, ballroom, and galleried concert hall in the basement. The frontage, which was the façade of the restaurant, showed a French Renaissance influence using Portland stone. After the building work began, it was decided to change the concert hall into a theatre. The composers' names, which line the tiled staircases, were retained and can still be seen. The redesign placed the large Criterio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Globe Theatre (Newcastle Street)
The Globe was a Victorian theatre built in 1868 and demolished in 1902. It was the third of five London theatres to bear the name, following Shakespeare’s Bankside house, which closed in 1642, and the former Rotunda Theatre in Blackfriars Road, which for a few years from 1833 was renamed the Globe. The new theatre was also known at various times as the Royal Globe Theatre or Globe Theatre Royal. Its repertoire consisted mainly of comedies and musical shows. The theatre's most famous production was ''Charley's Aunt'' by Brandon Thomas, which enjoyed a record-setting run there, having transferred from the Royalty Theatre. Other long-running pieces included the opéra-comique ''The Chimes of Normandy'' (1878) and the farce ''The Private Secretary'' (1884). History Background and first years In the 16th century Lyon's Inn, one of the Inns of Chancery attached to London's Inner Temple, stood on the site. By the 1860s the area had deteriorated greatly and the old inn had been c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Playhouse Theatre
The Playhouse Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Northumberland Avenue, near Trafalgar Square, central London. The Theatre was built by F. H. Fowler and Hill with a seating capacity of 1,200. It was rebuilt in 1907 and still retains its original substage machinery. As of November 2021, the theatre has been refurbished and renamed as the Kit Kat Club and is home to a revival of the musical ''Cabaret'' with a seating capacity of 550. History Early years Built by Sefton Henry Parry as the Royal Avenue Theatre, it opened on 11 March 1882 with 1200 seats. The first production at the theatre was Jacques Offenbach's ''Madame Favart''. In its early seasons, the theatre hosted comic operas, burlesques and farces for several years. For much of this time, the low comedian Arthur Roberts, a popular star of the music halls, starred at the theatre. By the 1890s, the theatre was presenting drama, and in 1894 Annie Horniman, the tea heiress, anonymously ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. In 1956 it was acquired by and remains the home of the English Stage Company, which is known for its contributions to contemporary theatre and won the Europe Prize Theatrical Realities in 1999. History The first theatre The first theatre on Lower George Street, off Sloane Square, was the converted Nonconformist Ranelagh Chapel, opened as a theatre in 1870 under the name The New Chelsea Theatre. Marie Litton became its manager in 1871, hiring Walter Emden to remodel the interior, and it was renamed the Court Theatre. Several of W. S. Gilbert's early plays were staged here, including ''Randall's Thumb'', ''Creatures of Impulse'' (with music by Alberto Randegger), ''Great Expectations'' (adapted from the Dickens novel), and ''On Gu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Wing Pinero
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (24 May 185523 November 1934) was an English playwright and, early in his career, actor. Pinero was drawn to the theatre from an early age, and became a professional actor at the age of 19. He gained experience as a supporting actor in British provincial theatres, and from 1876 to 1881 was a member of Henry Irving's company, based at the Lyceum Theatre, London, Lyceum Theatre, London. Pinero wrote his first play in 1877. Seven years later, having written 15 more, three of them highly successful, he abandoned acting and became a full-time playwright. He first became known for a series of farces, of which ''The Magistrate (play), The Magistrate'' (1885) was the longest-running. During the 1890s he turned to serious subjects. ''The Second Mrs Tanqueray'' (1893), dealing with a woman with a scandalous past, was regarded as shocking, but ran well and made a large profit. His other successes included ''Trelawny of the 'Wells', Trelawny of the "Wells"'' (1898), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Hunter Kendal
William Hunter Kendal (16 December 1843 – 7 November 1917) was an English actor and theatre manager. He and his wife Madge starred at the Haymarket in Shakespearian revivals and the old English comedies beginning in the 1860s. In the 1870s, they starred in a series of "fairy comedies" by W. S. Gilbert and in many plays on the West End with the Bancrofts and others. In the 1880s, they starred at and jointly managed (with John Hare) the St. James's Theatre. They then enjoyed a long touring career. Biography Kendal was born William Hunter Grimston in London, the middle son of portrait artist Edward Hunter Grimston, and his wife, Louisa ''née'' Rider. His maternal grandfather was a painter, and the boy demonstrated early talent in painting, but his parents urged him to study medicine. He often visited the Soho Theatre to sketch the performers, which led to his trying acting, in 1861, as Louis XIV, in ''A Life's Revenge'', billed as "Mr Kendall".Foulkes, Richard"Kendal, Da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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