Now am I in Arden, the more fool I...

For 'Arden' read 'Stratford upon Avon.' Yes, mentally, I'm there again and have been for a couple of hours already this evening.  Monday nights have become sacred to Benson searching and this evening I decided to tackle the long over-due problem of making sense of the Stratford performances.  You'd think, given the significance of Stratford to Benson (and the significance of Benson to Stratford) that this would be relatively easy, but for several reasons a complete record of the Bensons' performances has been frustrating me.

One reason for this is the result of a book - more accurately two books - published in the early 1980s - "Theatre at Stratford-Upon-Avon: Set. a Catalogue-Index to Productions of the Shakespeare Memorial/Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 1879-1978" by Michael Mullen and Karen Morris Muriello who used early computer technology to create a digital index of the productions held by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Archives. I stumbled across a reasonably-priced second hand copy on ebay when I was beginning my research over ten years ago and it has proved invaluable, if not entirely infallible. Despite my best attempts at using it to fill in the rep, there remained several noticeable gaps, particularly around the war years of 1914 -1918.

So tonight I rolled up my (hypothetical) sleeves and used the British Library Newspaper Archive and the Stratford upon Avon Herald, which provided detailed listings for most of the Festival performances, with the notable exception of 1913, which is still proving difficult to complete.

A couple of other things have come to light this week as well. The first is a photograph of actors from Benson's Company in 1916, taken - unusually - at what was at that time the BACK of the Memorial Theatre - corresponding to the current FRONT of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The building which is now the Costume Department is also clearly visible in the background, as are several of the Waterside cottages.

James Dale (Pistol) Leah Hanman (Boy) Rose Edouin (Hostess/Mistress Quickly) W.H. Quinton (Bardolph) and H. O. Nicholson (Nym) The photograph comes from The Sphere April 29th 1916 and is part of an article about the Tercentenary celebrations. File:Shakespeare's Tercentenary The Benson Company 1916 cropped.jpg - Wikimedia Commons



The second photograph that popped up this week comes from the V&A archives and is a picture taken by Sir Benjamin Stone, showing the theatrical company with noted local persons in 1900. Shakespeare Festival, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1900 | Stone, Benjamin (Sir) | V&A Explore The Collections (vam.ac.uk)

This is particularly interesting because this is the year Benson stayed in London, trying to revive his post -fire fortunes with a flagging Lyceum season , and instead sent a representative group headed by Oscar Asche to perform that year's birthday play, which was Pericles. The production was, by all accounts, a disastrous one, the play having been virtually rewritten by the veteran actor John Coleman. Running at 3 1/2 hours in length, Coleman had replaced the 'unsavoury' elements in the play with his own words, and at over 70 he was stretching everyone's imagination as the young Prince of Tyre. Trewin's account is largely based on Oscar Asche's book - the review in the Stratford upon Avon Herald is about as damning as is it possible to be!

In the photo, Asche can be clearly seen in the back row, to the right of the doorway - on the far left of this picture.  After a bit of digging, I've identified the two men next to him as H. Asherton Tonge and H.O. Nicholson.

And at the left edge of the photograph I spotted another interesting face...

Is that perhaps Dick the Shakespearean Dog as a puppy??! It certainly looks like him - or a predecessor.  I'm pretty sure the dog-wrangler is Garnet Holme (who is such an interesting person he probably needs a post to himself at some point!)  Again, this was taken at the back of the theatre - the current front.  A few years ago the RSC posted this photo on Facebook which gives a clear indication of where the photo was set up.

I'm now working to try and identify the rest of the company and when I get a bit further, I'll add a key to the photograph.  There are some very characterful faces here - what a fabulous photograph.  It makes me wonder if there are other group photos like this from other seasons and where they might be...

Finally, a bizarre clipping from the Stratford upon Avon Herald on 28th August 1914, a few weeks after the outbreak of war. This was on the same page as the listings for the final week of the 1914 Summer Festival, which had been somewhat more muted than anticipated as a result of the declaration of war on 4th August.

Shakespeare Summer Season, Under The Direction Of Mr. F. R. Benson. Memorial Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon, August Ist To August 20th, 1914 | Stratford-Upon-Avon Herald | Friday 28 August 1914 | British Newspaper Archive

This gave me a bit of a 'WarHorse' moment - clearly the Brigade's usual horses were heading to the Front, but it does seem a bit extreme to expect the victims of fire to provide their own horses if they want the fire extinguishing! Just one of those lovely bits of social history that brings the events of 110 years ago a little closer.  

"...where men have read/ His fame unparalleled..."

In researching late Victorian and Edwardian Shakespeare, it sometimes feels as if all roads lead inevitably to the Lyceum Theatre on the Strand in London.  There's no escaping Sir Henry Irving: he is a figure that dwarfs the rest of the theatre world, someone whose name still resonates when others are lost to history.  And this week, I've been aware of his giant shadow on the periphery of both my reading and writing.  

Laurence Irving, the actor's grandson, wrote the definitive Irving biography which weighs in at over 700 pages.  He also wrote two books about Irving's sons, the first of which - The Successors - I've just devoured in two days, and which has left me greedy for more.  Fortunately, I already have his later book The Precarious Crust on my bookshelf where it has sat patiently since 2000 waiting for me to realise the truth that, without some understanding of Irving there can be no explanation of Benson.

Laurence Irving is actually very positive about Benson, which is refreshing, (particularly considering that his uncle's experience with the company may well have contributed to a suicide attempt whilst in Ireland on tour). He also provides a useful comparison between the Benson Company and that of Ben Greet who was touring a similar circuit with the same kinds of plays - Shakespeare and 'Old English Comedies' like School for Scandal, making the point that these provincial companies effectively replaced the stock theatre companies which had been the training route for actors of Sir Henry's generation.  Extracts from letters sent to and from the Irvings and Dorothea Baird who would become H.B. Irving's wife, give a real flavour of life on the road.

My home town of Sunderland has the claim to fame of being the place where Sir Henry Irving first performed and, through reading The Successors, I've found out that H.B. also first played Hamlet here with Greet's company, a performance I'm planning to track down in the local paper.  

Both the Royal Lyceum and the Theatre Royal are long gone, but there is a little bit of Irving history in the entrance to the Winter Gardens, Museum and Art Gallery, in the form of a plaque which was unveiled by that other great provincial tourer, Sir John Martin-Harvey in 1925.  In fact, a snippet of newreel footage still exists of that plaque being unveiled. Sir John Martin Harvey (1925) (youtube.com)

Benson was sometimes referred to as 'The Irving of the Provinces' and initially he made the most of his short experience of working at the Lyceum in his advertising.  Irving would come to Benson's aid after the Newcastle fire, having himself suffered a similar disaster which consumed his stock of costumes and sets, stored in railway arches which caught fire.  And both Irving and Benson would end their careers in Bradford - Irving collapsed and died at the Midland Hotel after a performance on stage in 1904. Benson was knocked down by a cyclist after stepping out of the stage door and he struck his head on a lamp post.  He would not act again.

Laurence Irving's writing is vibrant and all-engrossing - the family's history reads like a theatrical version of The Forsyte Saga and I can't help feeling it would make a fabulous TV series!  

O, call back yesterday – bid time return!

 

A Hamlet's-eye view of Autumn just starting in Stratford

I have been back from Stratford for a week and I'm only now getting a chance to sort out my notes, my second hand book purchases and my photographs from five nights staying in the cottage I like to pretend is my second home.  I'm struggling to get my head round the fact that my greatly anticipated September visit is past and gone already! It was the availability of the cottage that made me decide in July that I needed to make another visit.  The fact that the dates available included the last weekend of the summer holidays enabled me to shoe-horn four performances into four nights, gave me a chance to see As You Like It in the outdoor Garden Theatre and also take in a talk by Simon Russell-Beale in conversation with Greg Doran on the Sunday evening.

Sunday's performance was the final one for the Garden Theatre - it was fascinating watching it being dismantled on Monday! - and there was some doubt as to whether the weather would mean it was cancelled: as an entirely metal structure, thunder storms present a particular hazard! We were late starting but the atmosphere was fabulous and the 'edited' 90 minute text managed to squeeze in all the significant lines.  There was something particularly wonderful about being in that space, just feet away from the doorway where Henry Ainley was photographed as Orlando c.1910 - the photograph that started the Bensonian obsession for me!

 I'd requested some material for the Monday and Tuesday openings at the Birthplace Reading Room to make up for missing out in February, delving into the minutes of the Company after 1911, with a particular focus on the build up to the American tour.  It was fascinating - if rather sad - to observe Benson gradually losing control of his company after the Memorial Theatre stepped in to try and deal with the vast amount of debt he'd built up.  

As always, I kept my eyes open for Bensoniana around Stratford and found this addition to The Greenwood Tree in the Great Garden of New Place, which I had not seen the last time I had been there - evidence that there are other Merry Shrews out there! An entirely appropriate epithet, I think!

The theatre's exhibition space had changed some of its exhibits since the last time I visited it and this time, the Benson cabinet displayed Constance Benson's outfit as Mistress Ford.  At close view, it appears to be made from very heavy wool - almost blanket-weight - fabric, which moths had clearly had some fun nibbling on over the years, as it was patched in several places.  The lack of embellishment on this fitted with the studio portrait from Dublin and the photograph from The Tatler in 1902 which showed the Laundry Basket scene:

It was suggested by the label that this was one of the costumes borrowed, possibly from Irving, after the Newcastle Theatre Royal fire.  Merry Wives of Windsor was one of this summer's plays as was The School for Scandal, both, of course, regularly played on tour by all of the Benson companies.  Both were fabulous - performed by largely the same cast - as was Pericles - a play which I saw at the Globe some years ago and really didn't enjoy much.  This production had, admittedly, had some quite creative editing - doubling Gower and Marina was inspired - and was very simply but effectively staged in The Swan, with an exceptional central performance from Alfred Enoch.  It is still a flawed play but it did polish up well!  I was very impressed by what I saw of the RSC's season and the whole place seems to have a renewed sense of energy and purpose.

Stratford was as lovely as ever, although last year's heatwave was replaced by some very humid and then showery weather which felt much more autumn-like than I'd been expecting.  I am so grateful for these short 'escapes' to Stratford and the chance to indulge my obsession! Having the cottage so close to hand is incredible and having somewhere to come back to at the end of the day where I can type up my notes in comfort, prepare my own food and basically please myself is an absolute godsend.  Fingers crossed that 2025 provides at least one opportunity to do it all again.

Sunflowers I bought to celebrate being back in Stratford in September!