Juan Jose G. Levy (

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, 29 June 1884 - 6 October 1936) was an English theatre practitioner who attempted to import the ghoulish and grisly

Grand Guignol ''Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol'' (: "The Theatre of the Great Puppet")—known as the Grand Guignol–was a theatre in the Quartier Pigalle, Pigalle district of Paris (7, cité Chaptal). From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it spe ...

aesthetic for London audiences. Levy was born in

Portsmouth, England Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dense ...

and educated at the Ecole de Commerce,

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

. He wrote a number of plays between 1908 and 1925. In 1920, Levy opened the

theatre in the Little Theatre located in the London's Strand District. Levy's productions featured performances by the English stage actress

Sybil Thorndike Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson (24 October 18829 June 1976) was an English actress whose stage career lasted from 1904 to 1969. Trained in her youth as a concert pianist, Thorndike turned to the stage when a medical problem with her ...

, who would eventually originate the role of

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronati ...

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

's Saint Joan. During its inaugural season, Levy's company staged such notorious thrillers as Andre de Lorde's ''The Hand of Death''. The

experiment ended in 1922 when Levy met with interference from England's censorious

Lord Chamberlain The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main cha ...

's Department. Upon announcing its demise, Levy stated that "the reason I am finishing with

is the too rigid censorship. . . it is impossible to carry on while the Lord Chamberlain's Department raises so many difficulties." In March 1934 Levy received the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

for recognition of his contributions to French drama and theatre in England. In an obituary published on 10 October 1936 in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'',

James Agate James Evershed Agate (9 September 1877 – 6 June 1947) was an English diarist and theatre critic between the two world wars. He took up journalism in his late twenties and was on the staff of ''The Manchester Guardian'' in 1907–1914. He later ...

praised Levy’s passion for the theatre. He wrote that “unlike many theatre managers, (Levy) was intensely interested in theatre. The fact that managing a theatre was his business never destroyed his love for the drama as an art.”

References

* Appleton Post-Crescent, Thursday 27 July 1922 * The Times, Friday 9 October 1936 * The Times, Saturday 10 October 1936 * Gordon, Mel. Grand Guignol. New York: Amok Press, 1988.

External links

Plays by Jose Levy on Great War Theatre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levy, Jose People from Portsmouth Year of birth uncertain English theatre directors 1936 deaths 1884 births