Author Elizabeth Charlesworth
Published 23/04/2018
‘What’s past is prologue’
The Tempest
Over the course of two centuries, the desire to present Shakespeare’s works has led The Old Vic to bend the rules, to break with convention and to keep calm, and carry on.
BENDING THE RULES
Shakespeare plays were first programmed at The Royal Coburg in 1824, but not as we know them. During this time only the patent theatres of Covent Garden and Drury Lanes were permitted to present Shakespeare. Nevertheless, theatre impresario George Davidge took it upon himself to rectify this by presenting The Bard’s works with some minor alterations. Richard III was programmed with additional musical interludes and starred the King’s horse, ‘White Surrey’, rather than the actor playing the King, King Lear became The King and His Three Daughters and the ending of Hamlet was altered to allow Hamlet and Ophelia to survive, marry and ascend to the throne.
On 27 June the great Shakespearean actor Edmund Keane performed Richard III, King Lear and Othello for six nights at The Royal Coburg, but he was not accustomed to the audiences on the south side of the river.
In 1832 Davidge was called before a Commons Select Committee set up to enquire about the distinctions between ‘patent’ and ‘minor’ theatres and eventually, in 1843, the law was abolished and The Coburg was free to present Shakespeare.
BREAKING WITH CONVENTION
When Emma Cons took over the management of the theatre in 1880, the newly named Royal Victoria Hall was transformed into a purified variety and concert hall and coffee house, putting an end to all theatre productions for the next 32 years. Following Emma’s death in 1912, Lilian Baylis became manager and theatre returned to The Old Vic stage.
Various visiting companies were booked, including ‘Shakespeare Stuart’, but none of these proved profitable. Lilian was accustomed to ‘visions’ of Jesus and was surprised one day to hear the voice of Shakespeare who asked her ‘Why have you allowed my beautiful words to be so murdered? You must run the plays yourself’.
In 1915 she hired actor-manager Ben Greet to put on a season of Shakespeare. With the outset of the First World War, he had to work with miniscule budgets and a dwindling Company as men were called up, and so women were often cast in male roles. He also adapted the texts to suit The Old Vic’s programme of weekly changes. Carefully arranged acting edits which omitted scenes were performed, with the exception of Hamlet which was performed in its full five-hour entirety. In his first season from January – April 1915, nine Shakespeare plays were performed at The Old Vic whilst West End venues struggled to compete with Greet’s economical approach.
KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON
Shakespeare continued to flourish throughout the First World War and in four seasons, Ben Greet presented 24 Shakespeare plays. Overseas soldiers on leave looking for culture were surprised that they had to visit an ‘obscure and unfashionable theatre across the water’.
According to Sybil Thorndike, one performance of King John was interrupted by an air raid and the sound of falling bombs underscored a crucial piece of dialogue.
The audience were on their feet by the end of the play:
‘This England never did, nor never shall,
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror.’
For the rest of the war, these lines were displayed over the proscenium.
These war time seasons began a renewed tradition of Shakespeare at The Old Vic and by 1923, all 36 plays in Shakespeare’s First Folio had been performed, a copy of which was displayed in the orchestra pit during a gala performance in November 1923 where Troilus and Cressida completed the Folio.
After Ben Greet came Tyrone Guthrie who cast Laurence Olivier in 1937 in his first season of Shakespeare at The Old Vic.
In that same year the Company performed Hamlet in Elsinore, where it rained throughout the open air performances and Lilian Baylis, despite her strict belief in temperance, procured a keg of rum to keep them warm. John Steinbeck was in the audience for one of these performances.
For five years between 1953 and 1958, two years before the arrival of the National Theatre, the only plays that were performed were Shakespeare under the artistic direction of Sir Laurence Olivier.
Once the National had left for their new premises, times were precarious for The Old Vic and salvation came in the unlikely form of one of theatre’s most infamous productions: Peter O’Toole’s Macbeth. Having opened the National Theatre’s residency back in 1960 with Hamlet, he returned 20 years later with a production that was so slated by critics, it became a sell-out sensation.
The theatre was soon bought by ‘honest’ Ed Mirvish but again, failed to turn a profit. It was eventually sold in 1997, with Peter Hall’s production of King Lear bringing the Mirvish era to a close.
Shakespeare’s plays have punctuated some of the most important moments in The Old Vic’s 200-year history. Today, Shakespeare continues to appear on The Old Vic stage in the spirit of the tenacious theatre makers that helped to ensure the theatre’s survival for two centuries. Most recently, Glenda Jackson returned to the stage after a 25-year hiatus to take the title role in Deborah Warner’s production of King Lear.
As we mark Shakespeare’s birthday, we’re proud to celebrate a special connection with The Bard, who has been with us through bad times and good, inspired mischief and innovation and continues to entertain audiences on ‘the wrong side of the river’.