"...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!