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Marie Wilton
Marie Effie Wilton, Lady Bancroft (1839–1921) was an English actress and theatre manager. She appeared onstage as Marie Wilton until after her marriage in December 1867 to Squire Bancroft, when she adopted his last name. Bancroft and her husband were important in the development of Victorian era theatre through their presentation of innovative plays at the London theatres that they managed, first the Prince of Wales's Theatre and later the Haymarket Theatre. Life and career Bancroft was born at Doncaster, and as a child appeared on the stage with her parents, who were both actors. Among her early parts was that of Fleance in '' Macbeth'' (1846). She made her London début on 15 September 1856, at the Lyceum Theatre, as the boy Henri in ''Belphegor'', playing the same night in ''Perdita; or, the Royal Milkmaid''. She won great popularity in several boy roles, in burlesques at various theatres, as Cupid in two different plays, and notably as Pippo, in ''The Maid and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Effie Bancroft
Marie Effie Wilton, Lady Bancroft (1839–1921) was an English actress and theatre manager. She appeared onstage as Marie Wilton until after her marriage in December 1867 to Squire Bancroft, when she adopted his last name. Bancroft and her husband were important in the development of Victorian era theatre through their presentation of innovative plays at the London theatres that they managed, first the Prince of Wales's Theatre and later the Haymarket Theatre. Life and career Bancroft was born at Doncaster, and as a child appeared on the stage with her parents, who were both actors. Among her early parts was that of Fleance in ''Macbeth'' (1846). She made her London début on 15 September 1856, at the Lyceum Theatre, as the boy Henri in ''Belphegor'', playing the same night in ''Perdita; or, the Royal Milkmaid''. She won great popularity in several boy roles, in burlesques at various theatres, as Cupid in two different plays, and notably as Pippo, in ''The Maid and the Mag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Society (play)
''Society'' was an 1865 comedy drama by Thomas William Robertson regarded as a milestone in Victorian drama because of its realism in sets, costume, acting and dialogue. Unusually for that time, Robertson both wrote and directed the play, and his innovative writing and stage direction inspired George Bernard Shaw and W. S. Gilbert. Origins The play originally ran at the Prince of Wales's Theatre, Liverpool, under the management of Mr A. Henderson, opening on 8 May 1865. It was recommended to Effie Wilton, the manager of the Prince of Wales's Theatre in London's West End, by H. J. Byron, where it ran from 11 November 1865 to 4 May 1866 Robertson found fame with his new comedy, which included a scene that fictionalized the ''Fun'' gang, who frequented the Arundel Club, the Savage Club, and especially Evans's café, where they had a table in competition with the ''Punch'' 'Round table'. The play marked the London debut of Squire Bancroft, who went on to marry Effie Wilton in 186 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Baldwin Buckstone
John Baldwin Buckstone (14 September 1802 – 31 October 1879) was an English actor, playwright and comedian who wrote 150 plays, the first of which was produced in 1826. He starred as a comic actor during much of his career for various periods at the Adelphi Theatre and the Haymarket Theatre, managing the Haymarket from 1853 to 1877. Biography Buckstone was born in Hoxton, London, the son of John Buckstone, a retired shopkeeper, and his wife Elizabeth (née Baldwin).Roy, Donald"Buckstone, John Baldwin (1802–1879)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, January 2008, accessed 3 January 2015 He was educated at Walworth Grammar School and was briefly apprenticed on a naval ship at age 10 but returned to school. He studied law and was articled to a solicitor but turned to acting by age 19.''The Times'', 1 November 1879, p. 5 Early career Buckstone first joined a travelling troupe in 1821 as Gabriel in ''The Children in the Wood''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ellen Terry
Dame Alice Ellen Terry, (27 February 184721 July 1928), was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and toured throughout the British provinces in her teens. At 16, she married the 46-year-old artist George Frederic Watts, but they separated within a year. She soon returned to the stage but began a relationship with the architect Edward William Godwin and retired from the stage for six years. She resumed acting in 1874 and was immediately acclaimed for her portrayal of roles in Shakespeare and other classics. In 1878 she joined Henry Irving's company as his leading lady, and for more than the next two decades she was considered the leading Shakespearean and comic actress in Britain. Two of her most famous roles were Portia in ''The Merchant of Venice'' and Beatrice in ''Much Ado About Nothing''. She and Irving also toured with great success in ... [...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] |
Charles Francis Coghlan
Charles Francis Coghlan (11 June 1842 – 27 November 1899) was an Anglo-Irish actor and playwright once popular on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Early life Charles F. Coghlan was born on 11 June 1842, in Paris, France to British subjects, Francis (sometimes spelled Frances) and Amie Marie (née Ruhly) Coghlan. His father, a native of Dublin, Ireland, was the founder of Coghlan's Continental Dispatch and publisher of Coghlan's Continental Guides, and counted among his friends, Charles Dickens, Charles Reade, and other literary figures of the day. Amie Coghlan was born on the English Channel Island of Jersey sometime around 1821. Charles Coghlan was later raised in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and Hull, Yorkshire and though originally groomed for a career in law he had chosen instead to be an actor whilst still in his teens.Charles Coghlan is Dead - New York Times 28 November 1899; pg. 7; Career Charles Coghlan began his stage career in 1859 as a minor player with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Hare (actor)
Sir John Hare (16 May 1844 – 28 December 1921), born John Joseph Fairs, was an English actor and theatre manager of the later 19th– and early 20th centuries. Born and brought up in London, with frequent visits to the West End, Hare had a passion for the theatre from his childhood. After acting as an amateur as a young man he joined a professional company in Liverpool, before making his London debut in 1865 at the age of 21 with Marie Wilton's company. Wilton was a pioneer of naturalistic theatre, with which Hare was greatly in sympathy, and he quickly gained a reputation in character roles, particularly in comedies. Within a decade Hare was well enough established to go into management. He was in partnership with the actor W. H. Kendal at the Court Theatre from 1875 to 1879, and from 1879 to 1888 at the St James's Theatre with Kendal and the latter's wife, Madge. They presented, mostly successfully, a succession of new British plays, adaptations of French works, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victorien Sardou
Victorien Sardou ( , ; 5 September 18318 November 1908) was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, of the well-made play. He also wrote several plays that were made into popular 19th-century operas such as ''La Tosca'' (1887) on which Giacomo Puccini's opera ''Tosca'' (1900) is based, and ''Fédora'' (1882) and '' Madame Sans-Gêne'' (1893) that provided the subjects for the lyrical dramas '' Fedora'' (1898) and '' Madame Sans-Gêne'' (1915) by Umberto Giordano. His play ''Gismonda'', from 1894, was also adapted into an opera of the same name by Henry Février. Early years Victorien Sardou was born at 16 rue Beautreillis (), Paris on 5 September 1831. The Sardous were settled at Le Cannet, a village near Cannes, where they owned an estate, planted with olive trees. A night's frost killed all the trees and the family was ruined. Victorien's father, Antoine Léandre Sardou, came to Paris in search of employment. He was in su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diplomacy (play)
''Diplomacy'' is an 1878 English play which is a translation and adaptation by B. C. Stephenson and Clement Scott of the 1877 French play ''Dora'' by Victorien Sardou.(1 December 1878)"French Authors and English Adapters" ''The Theatre'', pp. 329-332 It saw frequent revivals and was a popular play for over fifty years.Ayres, Brenda, edNew Women Fiction, 1881-1899 p. 300 n.27 History Sardou's original play debuted in Paris in January 1877, and was a success, making it ripe for "adaptation" into English. B. C. Stephenson and Clement Scott had previously adapted the Sardou play ''Nos Intimes'' for the Bancrofts, under the name ''Peril'' to great success, and thus they were engaged to adapt ''Dora'' as well (with contributions by the Bancrofts) for use at the Princes of Wales Theatre.(January 1907)Stage History of Famous Plays ''The Theatre'', pp. 19–20 ''Diplomacy'' was described by the English theatrical paper '' The Era'' as "the great dramatic hit of the season".''The Era'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sweethearts (play)
''Sweethearts'' is a comic play billed as a "dramatic contrast" in two acts by W. S. Gilbert. The play tells a sentimental and ironic story of the differing recollections of a man and a woman about their last meeting together before being separated and reunited after 30 years. It was first produced on 7 November 1874 at the Prince of Wales's Theatre in London, running for 132 performances until 13 April 1875. It enjoyed many revivals, thereafter, into the 1920s. The first professional production of ''Sweethearts'' in Britain in recent memory was given in 2007 at the Finborough Theatre in London, along with Arthur Sullivan's ''The Zoo''. Background This romantic comedy of manners was written for Squire Bancroft and his wife Marie (née Wilton), managers of the Prince of Wales's Theatre, and starred Mrs. Bancroft. Gilbert wanted his friend John Hare to play the male lead, to take advantage of Hare's naturally boyish appearance and of his talent for impersonating elderly men, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The School For Scandal
''The School for Scandal'' is a comedy of manners written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on 8 May 1777. Plot Act I Scene I: Lady Sneerwell, a wealthy young widow, and her hireling Snake discuss her various scandal-spreading plots. Snake asks why she is so involved in the affairs of Sir Peter Teazle, his ward Maria, and Charles and Joseph Surface, two young men under Sir Peter's informal guardianship, and why she has not yielded to the attentions of Joseph, who is highly respectable. Lady Sneerwell confides that Joseph wants Maria, who is an heiress, and that Maria wants Charles. Thus she and Joseph are plotting to alienate Maria from Charles by putting out rumours of an affair between Charles and Sir Peter's new young wife, Lady Teazle. Joseph arrives to confer with Lady Sneerwell. Maria herself then enters, fleeing the attentions of Sir Benjamin Backbite and his uncle, Crabtree. Mrs. Candour enters and ironically talks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olympic Theatre
The Olympic Theatre, sometimes known as the Royal Olympic Theatre, was a 19th-century London theatre, opened in 1806 and located at the junction of Drury Lane, Wych Street and Newcastle Street. The theatre specialised in comedies throughout much of its existence. Along with three other Victorian era, Victorian theatres (Opera Comique, Globe Theatre (Newcastle Street), Globe and Gaiety Theatre, London, Gaiety), the Olympic was eventually demolished in 1904 to make way for the development of the Aldwych. Newcastle and Wych streets also vanished. 1806-1849: Early days and Madame Vestris The first Olympic theatre was built in 1806 on the site of Drury House (later Craven House), for the impresario Philip Astley, a retired cavalry officer. The original name of the house was the Olympic Pavilion. It was said to be built from the timbers of the French warship ''French ship Ville de Paris (1764), Ville de Paris''. It opened on 1 December 1806 [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
