97-675: Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (24 May 1855 – 23 November 1934) was an English playwright and, early in his career, actor. Pinero was drawn to the theatre from an early age, and became a professional actor at the age of 19. He gained experience as a supporting actor in British provincial theatres, and from 1876 to 1881 was a member of Henry Irving 's company, based at the Lyceum Theatre , London. Pinero wrote his first play in 1877. Seven years later, having written 15 more, three of them highly successful, he abandoned acting and became
194-779: A "general utility" actor. He made his professional debut in the small role of a groom in an adaptation of Wilkie Collins 's The Woman in White . As a junior member of Wyndham's company Pinero quickly gained experience in a range of roles, supporting E. A. Sothern in Our American Cousin , and Charles Mathews in the Balzac adaptation A Game of Speculation , and graduating to larger parts such as Crosstree in Black-Eyed Susan . His engagement in Edinburgh came to
291-500: A West End playwright – achieved fame at an unusually early age: his contemporaries Bernard Shaw , J. M. Barrie and John Galsworthy were all in their thirties before their plays were produced in London. Pinero's other Court farces – The Schoolmistress (1886), Dandy Dick (1887), The Cabinet Minister (1890) and The Amazons (1893) – ran for 291, 262, 199 and 114 performances respectively, an aggregate of 866. Their success
388-544: A bygone era. For twenty years after his death Pinero's reputation remained in what Dawick calls "a state of near-eclipse". From the 1950s onwards interest in his Court farces grew. In a 1972 study of the playwright, Walter Lazenby wrote, "Pinero cannot be outranked as a farceur by any other English writer; not even Shakespeare consistently expended on this form the care and art which went into the Court Theatre farces or achieved such thoroughly satisfying results". Reviewing
485-542: A commercial career for acting. On 29 September 1856 he made his first appearance at Sunderland as Gaston, Duke of Orleans, in Bulwer Lytton 's play, Richelieu , billed as Henry Irving. This name he eventually assumed by royal licence. When the inexperienced Irving got stage fright and was hissed off the stage the actor Samuel Johnson was among those who supported him with practical advice. Later in life Irving gave them all regular work when he formed his own Company at
582-636: A death threat in 1899 from fellow actor (and murderer of William Terriss ) Richard Archer Prince . Terriss had been stabbed at the stage door of the Adelphi Theatre in December 1897 and in the wake of his death, Prince was committed to Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum . Irving was critical of the unusually lenient sentence, remarking "Terriss was an actor, so his murderer will not be executed." Two years later, Prince had found Irving's home address and threatened to murder him "when he gets out". Irving
679-488: A famous actor and later a theatre manager. His younger son, Laurence Irving (1871–1914), became a dramatist and later drowned, with his wife Mabel Hackney , in the sinking of the Empress of Ireland . H B married Dorothea Baird and they had a son, Laurence Irving (1897–1988), who became a well-known Hollywood art director and his grandfather's biographer, and a daughter, Elizabeth Irving (1904 – 2003) an actress and
776-485: A fool of yourself like this all your life?" Irving exited their carriage at Hyde Park Corner , walked off into the night, and chose never to see her again. He maintained a discreet distance from his children as well, but became closer to them as they grew older. Florence Irving never divorced Irving, and once he had been knighted she styled herself "Lady Irving"; Irving never remarried. His elder son, Harry Brodribb Irving (1870–1919), usually known as "H B Irving", became
873-508: A four-act play The Gay Lord Quex , a comedy of manners, in succession to two others in the genre, The Times (1891) and The Princess and the Butterfly (1897). The Gay Lord Quex , a story of a determined and resourceful young woman and a reformed aristocratic philanderer, had an initial run of 300 performances, and has proved one of Pinero's more revivable plays. In the first decade of the century Pinero continued to be regarded as among
970-420: A full-time playwright. He first became known for a series of farces , of which The Magistrate (1885) was the longest-running. During the 1890s he turned to serious subjects. The Second Mrs Tanqueray (1893), dealing with a woman with a scandalous past, was regarded as shocking, but ran well and made a large profit. His other successes included Trelawny of the "Wells" (1898), a romantic comedy celebrating
1067-402: A greater actor than was Irving.") George Bernard Shaw , at the time a theatre critic who was jealous of Irving's connection to Ellen Terry (whom Shaw himself wanted in his own plays), conceded Irving's genius after Irving died. After a few years' schooling while living at Halsetown, near St Ives, Cornwall , Irving became a clerk to a firm of East India merchants in London, but he soon gave up
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#17327986212721164-561: A highly successful lawyer. His younger son, Pinero's father, also took up the legal profession, but was much less successful; Pinero was brought up in circumstances that were not poor but were not affluent. He attended Spa Fields Chapel charity school in Exmouth Street, Clerkenwell , London, until the age of ten, when he went to work in his father's office. John Daniel Pinero died in May 1871, leaving very little money. To contribute to
1261-589: A modest amount of publicity. His first full-length play, La Comète , was staged in a theatre in Croydon in 1878, and he wrote four more one-act comedies, staged in London in 1878–1880, playing in two of them – Daisy's Escape and Bygones – at the Lyceum. Another of these, Hester's Mystery (1880), written for the comic actor J. L. Toole , ran for 300 performances at the Folly Theatre . Pinero's profile as
1358-675: A playwright was further raised by The Money Spinner , a full-length comedy, first given at the Prince's Theatre, Manchester in November 1880 and then at the St James's in London in January 1881. The theatre historian J. P. Wearing regards the play as of particular importance in the history of the St James's, a theatre previously known more for its failures than its successes. Pinero's play
1455-460: A revival of the melodrama The Bells , with which Irving's name was already synonymous, he played Dr Zimmer (1878). While in Irving's company Pinero wrote his first plays. He began with £200 a Year , a one-act comedy written in a single afternoon for a colleague to present at a benefit performance in 1877. The play was well received and was given several further performances, bringing Pinero's name
1552-465: A run of 88 performances, The Benefit of the Doubt (1895) ran for 74, The Thunderbolt (1908) and Mid-Channel (1909) both ran for 58. The year 1898 saw one of Pinero's most enduring successes and his most conspicuous failure. The first was Trelawny of the "Wells" , the second, The Beauty Stone . In Trelawny of the "Wells" , described by a 21st-century critic as "Pinero's love letter to theatre",
1649-953: A serious bout of influenza, Pinero failed to survive an operation for a hernia . He died on 23 November 1934 in Marylebone Nursing Home. A memorial service was held at St Marylebone Parish Church on 28 November 1934, after which, by Pinero's request, his ashes were buried in his wife's grave in the churchyard of Chiddingfold , Surrey, close to their former country house. The original London productions that were followed by New York productions were: The Money Spinner (New York, 1882); The Squire (1882); Girls and Boys (1883); Lords and Commons (1884); In Chancery (1885); The Magistrate (play) (1885); The Schoolmistress (1886); Dandy Dick (1887); Sweet Lavender (1888); Lady Bountiful (1891); The Cabinet Minister (1892); The Second Mrs Tanqueray (1893); The Amazons (1894); The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith (1895); The Benefit of
1746-536: A social club for actors —and would be made an Honorary Lifetime member in 1883. He finally made his first conspicuous success as Digby Grant in James Albery 's Two Roses , which was produced at the Vaudeville Theatre on 4 June 1870 and ran for a very successful 300 nights. In 1871, Irving began his association with the Lyceum Theatre by an engagement under Bateman's management. The fortunes of
1843-546: A social message as they could stomach". Both Pinero and Alexander were apprehensive about the public reception of the piece, but it was a sensational success at its opening in May 1893, made a profit of more than £10,000, and was still playing to full houses when Alexander, who disliked acting in long runs, closed the production in April 1894 after 225 performances. Wearing comments that the public's appetite for similar Pinero plays varied. The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith (1895) managed
1940-536: A sudden end in February 1875 when the theatre was destroyed by fire. He was fortunate in being offered another provincial engagement, at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Liverpool , where he began to be noticed by the press, gaining approving reviews for his acting in supporting roles. A production of Miss Gwilt , an adaptation of Wilkie Collins's Armadale , starring Ada Cavendish , was reported by
2037-548: A while.' But at earlier periods in her life, when there were more people around to be offended, she said contradictory things. Terry's son Teddy, later known as Edward Gordon Craig , spent much of his childhood (from 1879, when he was 8, until 1897) indulged by Irving backstage at the Lyceum. Craig, who came to be regarded as something of a visionary for the theatre of the future, wrote an especially vivid, book-length tribute to Irving. ("Let me state at once, in clearest unmistakable terms, that I have never known of, or seen, or heard,
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#17327986212722134-712: A year. When its star, Arthur Cecil , required a summer break, Beerbohm Tree deputised for him for three weeks. Three touring companies were needed to meet the demand for the play in the British provinces, and local managements in Australia, India and South Africa were licensed to stage it; Pinero travelled to New York for the American premiere, at Daly's Theatre in October 1885. He had turned 30 earlier that year. A retrospective review of his career published in 1928 pointed out that Pinero – who had recently celebrated 50 years as
2231-573: Is a statue of him near the National Portrait Gallery in London. That statue, as well as the influence of Irving himself, plays an important part in the Robertson Davies novel World of Wonders . The Irving Memorial Garden was opened on 19 July 1951 by Laurence Olivier . Both on and off the stage, Irving always maintained a high ideal of his profession, and in 1895 he received a knighthood (first offered in 1883),
2328-455: Is as a god, and can do no wrong.' In the considered judgment of one biographer, Stoker's friendship with Irving was 'the most important love relationship of his adult life.'" Irving, however, "… was a self-absorbed and profoundly manipulative man. He enjoyed cultivating rivalries between his followers, and to remain in his circle required constant, careful courting of his notoriously fickle affections." When Stoker began writing Dracula , Irving
2425-509: Is being dusted down, reappraised and hailed as one of the great British playwrights". Four of Pinero's plays have been adapted as musicals: The Magistrate as The Boy (1917) with words by Fred Thompson , Percy Greenbank and Adrian Ross and music by Lionel Monckton and Howard Talbot ; In Chancery as Who's Hooper? (1919) with lyrics by Thompson and music by Talbot and Ivor Novello ; The Schoolmistress as My Niece (1921) with words by Greenbank and music by Talbot; and Trelawny of
2522-626: Is more poular in London than Miss Cavendish who, if some one could provide her with a powerful play, might increase her reputation. She married the playwright Francis Albert Marshall at St Edward's Roman Catholic Church, Windsor on 2 May 1885, only 10 weeks after his first wife (Imogene Fitzinman Batty) had died. They had no children but Frank, as he was known, was father to a son and a daughter by his previous marriage. He died 8 Bloomsbury Square, London on 28 December 1889. Ada Cavendish died on 5 October 1895 at her home in Thurloe Square . She
2619-507: The Court Theatre , where five of his farces were presented, with great success at the box office, between 1885 and 1892, beginning with The Magistrate . Wearing writes that in these plays Pinero "attacked facets of Victorian society by creating credible though blinkered characters, trying to preserve their respectability while trapped in a relentless whirlpool of catastrophically illogical events". Pinero told an interviewer that with
2716-466: The Lyceum Theatre . For 10 years, he went through an arduous training in various stock companies in Scotland and the north of England, taking more than 500 parts. his delineations of the various characters (...) were admirably graphic, and met with repeated rounds of applause. Possessed of a fine voice, which he modulated with great taste and judgment, he was able to mark the depth or frivolity of
2813-435: The "Wells" (1949, 1971 and 1985, Bransby Williams , Roland Culver , Michael Hordern); Dandy Dick (1948, directed by Athene Seyler ) and The Second Mrs Tanqueray starring Elizabeth Sellars (1962). In 1906, The Times commented: By the time of Pinero's death in 1934 the paper had become less enthusiastic. Both The Times and The Daily Telegraph published polite obituaries that respectfully relegated his works to
2910-575: The "Wells" (as The Actress , 1928), The Magistrate (as Those Were the Days , 1934), Dandy Dick (1935), The Enchanted Cottage (1945), and The Second Mrs Tanqueray (1952). There have been many adaptations of Pinero's works for broadcasting. Television versions include The Gay Lord Quex (1946, 1953 and 1983, starring respectively Ronald Ward , André Morell and Anton Rogers ); The Magistrate (1946, 1951 and 1972, Desmond Walter-Ellis , Richard Goolden and Michael Hordern ); Trelawny of
3007-489: The "Wells" as Trelawny (1972), adapted by Aubrey Woods , George Rowell and Julian Slade . The first of Pinero's works to be filmed was The Second Mrs Tanqueray , in an unauthorised American silent version in 1914, which prompted a successful but not very lucrative lawsuit by the author. With his approval, eight of his plays were adapted for the silent cinema, an authorised version of The Second Mrs Tanqueray (1916) with George Alexander in his first film role, reprising
Arthur Wing Pinero - Misplaced Pages Continue
3104-517: The 1880s and 1890s that has endured. There have been numerous revivals of many of his plays; and some have been adapted for the cinema or as musicals. By his later years, Pinero was seen as old-fashioned, and his last plays were not successful. He died in London at the age of 79. Pinero was born in London, the only son, and second of three children, of John Daniel Pinero (1798–1871), and his wife Lucy, née Daines (1836–1905). Pinero's father and grandfather were London solicitors . They were descended from
3201-644: The Bradford Theatre, was seized with syncope just after uttering Becket's dying words 'Into thy hands, O Lord, into thy hands', and though he lived for an hour or so longer he never spoke again." (Thomas Anstey Guthrie. "Long Retrospect") Another witness at the play, Bram Stoker (known for being the author of Dracula ), told reporters later that "We chatted for awhile after the play, and I left him, although not notably strong, not in any way cast down and not more exhausted than had been usual for some time. A little more than three-quarters of an hour afterward I
3298-568: The Court, but subsequently became one of Pinero's most revived plays. At the same time the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte was in need of a new opera for his Savoy Theatre after the end of Gilbert and Sullivan 's long partnership. It is not clear why Carte chose to commission a libretto from two writers with no experience in the genre, but for Arthur Sullivan 's The Beauty Stone he brought together Pinero and J. Comyns Carr , an art critic, gallery owner and part-time author of dramas. Sullivan, who
3395-666: The Doubt (1896); The Princess and the Butterfly (1897); Trelawny of the Wells (1898); The Gay Lord Quex (play) (1900); Iris (1902); Letty (1904); A Wife without a Smile (1904); His House in Order (1906); Mid-Channel (1910); Preserving Mr. Panmure (1912); The "Mind the Paint" Girl (1912); and The Enchanted Cottage (1923). Among the notable British revivals of Pinero plays singled out in John Dawick's 1993 study of
3492-665: The Great Quack (1866) The next year he joined the company of the newly opened Queen's Theatre, where he acted with Charles Wyndham , J. L. Toole , Lionel Brough, John Clayton , Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Wigan , Ellen Terry and Nellie Farren . This was followed by short engagements at the Haymarket Theatre , Drury Lane, and the Gaiety Theatre . In the spring of 1869, Irving was one of the original twelve members of The Lambs of London —assembled by John Hare as
3589-416: The Irving business all through supper. He sank so low down in his chair that his chin was almost on a level with the table, and twice he kicked Carrie under the table, upset his wine, and flashed a knife uncomfortably near Gowing's face." In T. S. Eliot 's poem, " Gus: The Theatre Cat " ( c. 1939 ), the title character's old age and theatrical distinction are expressed in the couplet: For he once
3686-684: The Lyceum Theatre in Sunderland in 1856, labouring against great odds until his 1871 success in The Bells in London set him apart from all the rest. He married Florence O'Callaghan on 15 July 1869 at St. Marylebone, London, but his personal life took second place to his professional life. On opening night of The Bells , 25 November 1871, Florence, who was pregnant with their second child, criticised his profession: "Are you going on making
3783-478: The Lyceum during Irving's term as sole manager (at the beginning of 1899 the theatre passed into the hands of a limited-liability company) were Arthur Conan Doyle 's Waterloo (1894); J. Comyns Carr 's King Arthur in 1895; Cymbeline , in which Irving played Iachimo, in 1896; Sardou 's Madame Sans-Gene in 1897; and Peter the Great , a play by Laurence Irving, the actor's second son, in 1898. Irving received
3880-574: The Lyceum, Terry had fled her first marriage and conceived two out-of-wedlock children with architect-designer Edward William Godwin , but regardless of how much and how often her behavior defied the strict morality expected by her Victorian audiences, she somehow remained popular. It could be said that Irving found his family in his professional company, which included his ardent supporter and manager Bram Stoker and Terry's two illegitimate children, Teddy and Edy . Whether Irving's long, spectacularly successful relationship with leading lady Ellen Terry
3977-734: The Madding Crowd . After leaving Irving's company Pinero joined another well-known London management, Squire Bancroft and his wife Effie , who ran the Haymarket Theatre . For them he played the Marquis de Cevennes ( Plot and Passion , 1881), Sir Alexander Shendryn ( Ours , 1882), Hanway ( Odette , 1882) and finally Sir Anthony Absolute in The Rivals (1884) as part of a starry cast that included Squire Bancroft, Johnston Forbes-Robertson , Lionel Brough and Julia Gwynne . Pinero received mixed notices, some unfavourable, and others among
Arthur Wing Pinero - Misplaced Pages Continue
4074-625: The Pinheiro family, described by Pinero's biographer John Dawick as "a distinguished family of Sephardic Jews who rose to prominence in medieval Portugal before suffering the persecutions of the Inquisition". Pinero's branch of the family fled to England. His grandfather abandoned the Jewish faith, became a member of the Church of England , married a Christian Englishwoman, Margaret Wing, and became
4171-684: The Russian Count Ivan Skavinsky Skavar, that "he could imitate Irving". In the 1995 film A Midwinter's Tale by Kenneth Branagh , two actors discuss Irving, and one of them, Richard Briers does an imitation of his speech. In the play The Woman in Black , set in the Victorian era, the actor playing Kipps tells Kipps 'We'll make an Irving of you yet,' in Act 1, as Kipps is not a very good actor due to his inexperience. In
4268-489: The audience, providing two separate exits for every section of the audience, improved stage construction including a smoke flue, and fire-resistant construction throughout. The first theatre built to these principles was the rebuilt New Theatre Royal in Exeter. From 1878, Bram Stoker worked for Irving as a business manager at the Lyceum. Stoker idolised Irving to the point that "As one contemporary remarked, 'To Bram, Irving
4365-408: The author addressed his regular topics of class and inexorable change, to which he added a study of the enduring power of the theatre. The play shows a popular actress in mid-Victorian melodramas marrying into the aristocracy, regretting it, returning to the stage and finding that she can no longer make the old style of plays work, successfully switching to works in the new realistic style. Wearing calls
4462-695: The best of his acting career. This was his last professional engagement as an actor. During his time at the Haymarket Pinero married Myra Emily Wood (c. 1852–1919), who had acted under the stage name of Myra Holme, a widow with two children, Angus and Myra, from her first marriage. The wedding took place on 19 April 1883. There were no children of the marriage to Pinero. With the exception of two adaptations of serious French works, The Ironmaster (1884) and Mayfair (1885), Pinero's output between 1884 and 1893 consisted of six farces and five comedies. During this period he became particularly associated with
4559-542: The book, the academic Robert Ronning agreed that the farces were Pinero's most enduring works: In 2012 the director Stephen Unwin wrote: Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb , sometimes known as J. H. Irving , was an English stage actor in the Victorian era , known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility (supervision of sets, lighting, direction, casting, as well as playing
4656-562: The character he was representing with remarkable facility. He gained recognition by degrees, and in 1866 Ruth Herbert engaged him as her leading man and sometime stage director at the St. James's Theatre , London, where she first played Doricourt in The Belle's Stratagem . One piece that he directed there was W. S. Gilbert 's first successful solo play, Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and
4753-664: The characters of Wolsey in Henry VIII and of the title character in King Lear were followed in 1893 by a performance of Becket in Tennyson 's play of the same name . During these years, too, Irving, with the whole Lyceum company, paid several successful visits to the United States and Canada, which were repeated in succeeding years. As Terry aged, there seemed to be fewer opportunities for her in his company; that
4850-660: The dramatist were: In 2012 The Times remarked on a revival in interest in Pinero, with new productions of The Second Mrs Tanqueray at the Rose Theatre , The Magistrate at the National Theatre, starring John Lithgow in the title role, Trelawney of the "Wells" at the Donmar , and Dandy Dick , with Patricia Hodge and Nicholas Le Prevost . The paper commented, "Like Terence Rattigan in recent years, Pinero
4947-536: The expression of his ideas. Irving's idiosyncratic style of acting and its effect on amateur players was mildly satirised in The Diary of a Nobody . Mr Pooter's son brings Mr Burwin-Fosselton of the Holloway Comedians to supper, a young man who entirely monopolised the conversation, and: "...who not only looked rather like Mr Irving but seemed to imagine he was the celebrated actor... he began doing
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#17327986212725044-533: The family income, Pinero continued to work as a solicitor's clerk, earning £1 a week. In the evenings he studied elocution at the Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution . He and his fellow students staged several productions of plays, and Pinero became irresistibly drawn to the theatre. In May 1874 he abandoned the legal profession and joined R. H. Wyndham at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh , as
5141-600: The first ever accorded an actor. He was also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Dublin ( LL.D 1892), Cambridge ( Litt.D 1898), and Glasgow ( LL.D 1899). He also received the Komthur Cross, 2nd class, of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Saxe-Meiningen . His acting divided critics; opinions differed as to the extent to which his mannerisms of voice and deportment interfered with or assisted
5238-455: The first of his Court farces, The Magistrate , he had tried "to raise farce a little from the low pantomime level". Instead of relying on the Parisian stereotype, revolving around potentially adulterous liaisons, he tried to create believable characters in credible situations. The piece played for 363 performances in its first run, the first play in the history of the Court to run for more than
5335-442: The forefront of British playwrights. His comedy of manners Iris (1901) ran for 115 performances, and in 1906 he had one of his biggest successes, with His House in Order , another work for Alexander and the St James's. This piece is a drama about a put-upon second wife who eventually triumphs over the domineering family of her husband's dead first wife and wins his undivided love. It was a triumph for Irene Vanbrugh and Alexander in
5432-671: The founder of Keep Britain Tidy. In November 1882 Irving became a Freemason , being initiated into the prestigious Jerusalem Lodge No 197 in London. In 1887 he became a founder member and first Treasurer of the Savage Club Lodge No 2190, a Lodge associated with London's Savage Club . He eventually took over the management of the Lyceum Theatre and brought actress Ellen Terry into partnership with him as Ophelia to his Hamlet, Lady Macbeth to his Macbeth , Portia to his Shylock , Beatrice to his Benedick, etc. Before joining
5529-427: The house were at a low ebb when the tide was turned by Irving's sudden success as Mathias in The Bells , a version of Erckmann-Chatrian 's Le Juif polonais by Leopold Lewis , a property which Irving had found for himself. The play ran for 150 nights, established Irving at the forefront of the British drama, and would prove a popular vehicle for Irving for the rest of his professional life. With Bateman, Irving
5626-439: The idea that playwrights needed a titled figure to lead their campaigns, and lobbied the British government to secure a knighthood for Pinero. Whether because of Shaw's canvassing or not is unknown, but Pinero was knighted in 1909, only the second dramatist to receive the honour (Gilbert having been knighted two years earlier). Pinero rarely used the title, but shortened his signature from "Arthur W. Pinero" to "Arthur Pinero". In
5723-527: The laughter is hushed, where smiles give way to tears, and where mirth is merged in heartfelt sympathy". Plays in a similar vein to Sweet Lavender – The Weaker Sex (1888) and Lady Bountiful (1891) – did not match its success, running for 61 and 65 performances respectively. Nonetheless Pinero's attention continued to turn more to serious than to farcical topics. Wearing comments that Pinero began to write "problem plays", considering "the double standard of morality, applied unequally to men and women". His first
5820-431: The lead roles, and for Pinero; it ran for 430 performances and took more than £78,000 at the box-office. The alliance between Alexander had by now become a firm friendship, punctuated by occasional arguments between the actor-manager and the author, who became extremely prescriptive about the staging of his plays and the delivery of his lines. Another of Pinero's friends was Shaw. As authors they held very different views of
5917-538: The leading roles) for season after season at the West End 's Lyceum Theatre , establishing himself and his company as representative of English classical theatre. In 1895 he became the first actor to be awarded a knighthood , indicating full acceptance into the higher circles of British society. Irving was born to a working-class family in Keinton Mandeville in the county of Somerset . W.H. Davies ,
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#17327986212726014-483: The libretto as "a verbose mess ... suffused with a fussy air of arch medievalism". At its premiere, on 28 May 1898, the piece ran for four hours, and Pinero and Carr had to accept some drastic cuts to their words, which also meant sacrificing some of Sullivan's best music. The reviews for the music ranged from polite to enthusiastic; for the libretto they ranged from polite to damning. Max Beerbohm , who had succeeded Shaw as theatre critic of The Saturday Review and who
6111-620: The life of Irving, Terry and Terry's children, Edith Craig and Edward Gordon Craig . In 1906, Bram Stoker published a two-volume biography about Irving called Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving . Ada Cavendish Ada Cavendish (1847 – 5 October 1895) was an English actress known for her Shakespearean roles and for popularising the plays of Wilkie Collins in America . After her stage debut in April 1863, Cavendish became known for playing such Shakespearean heroines as Juliet, Beatrice and Rosalind. She also famously played
6208-407: The manager for the company. In 1878, Irving entered into a partnership with actress Ellen Terry and re-opened the Lyceum under his own management. With Terry as Ophelia and Portia, he revived Hamlet and produced The Merchant of Venice (1879). His Shylock was as much discussed as his Hamlet had been, the dignity with which he invested the vengeful Jewish merchant marking a departure from
6305-431: The nature and purpose of drama. Although both addressed social problems in their plays, Shaw, who held that all good art is didactic, concentrated on the problem itself, whereas Pinero focused more on the people affected by it, which Shaw felt weakened the argument. Nevertheless, they were on good terms and both were prominent in campaigns for a national theatre and the reform or abolition of theatre censorship. Shaw conceived
6402-667: The outbreak of war the following year appalled Pinero. Following the sinking of RMS Lusitania by a German U-boat on 7 May 1915, he wrote to The Times calling on naturalised British citizens of German origin to make public statements of their loyalty to the King and reject Germany's methods of warfare. In the following days, numerous letters were received by the newspaper from naturalised Britons affirming their loyalty, including public figures such as Sir Ernest Cassel , Sir George Henschel , Sir Carl Meyer and Sir Felix Schuster . Among others who came under public pressure because of
6499-437: The part he created in 1893; Trelawny of the "Wells" (1916); Sweet Lavender (twice: in 1915 and 1920 ); Iris (twice: 1916 and as A Slave of Vanity , 1920); The Profligate (1917); The Gay Lord Quex (twice: 1917 and 1919 ); Mid-Channel (1920); His House in Order (1920) and The Enchanted Cottage (1924). After the days of silent films there were adaptions of His House in Order (1928) Trelawny of
6596-402: The play Pinero's homage to Tom Robertson , whose pioneering theatrical realism influenced two generations of writers including W. S. Gilbert and Bernard Shaw as well as Pinero. The critics were confused by the play. Pinero commented that they seemed "divided as to whether the piece is a weak farce or an imperfect realistic drama". It had a good, though not outstanding, run of 135 performances at
6693-553: The play are "O Lord, into thy hands," but, as a correspondent noted, "Then the curtain falls, and within a very short time, having just reached his hotel, the great actor breathed his last." The chair that he was sitting in before he died is now at the Garrick Club . He was cremated and his ashes buried in Westminster Abbey , thereby becoming the first person to be cremated prior to interment at Westminster. There
6790-412: The play would, and did, end in tragedy. This was his best-known serious work, The Second Mrs Tanqueray (1893). While he was planning it, several plays of Henrik Ibsen were presented in London for the first time, regarded by much of polite society as avant garde , blunt and shocking. Seeing Ghosts led Pinero to reconsider his approach to playwriting, which now seemed old-fashioned by comparison. He
6887-555: The poet, was a cousin. Irving spent his childhood living with his aunt, Mrs Penberthy, at Halsetown in Cornwall . He competed in a recitation contest at a local Methodist chapel where he was beaten by William Curnow , later the editor of The Sydney Morning Herald . He attended City Commercial School for two years before going to work in the office of a law firm at age 13. When he saw Samuel Phelps play Hamlet soon after this, he sought lessons, letters of introduction, and work in
6984-449: The point that the figure of Dracula—which Stoker began to write notes for in 1890—was inspired by Henry Irving himself. … Stoker's numerous descriptions of Irving correspond so closely to his rendering of the fictional count that contemporaries commented on the resemblance. … But Bram Stoker also internalized the fear and animosity his employer inspired in him, making them the foundations of his gothic fiction. The chief remaining novelties at
7081-631: The political sitcom Yes, Prime Minister (sequel to Yes Minister ), in the episode "The Patron of the Arts", first aired on 14 January 1988, the Prime Minister is asked what was the last play he'd seen, and replies "Hamlet." When asked "Whose?" – specifically, who played Hamlet, not who wrote it – he is unable to remember and is prompted with the suggestion "Henry Irving?" to audience laughter. A play by David Hare , to premiere in 2025 and starring Ralph Fiennes as Irving, Grace Pervades , explores
7178-410: The relief fund for survivors and orphans, sending £100. The fire caused Irving to become involved in ensuring better safety for theatres, and he developed the "Irving Safety Theatre" principles, working with eminent architect Alfred Darbyshire . These principles included making the theatre site isolated, dividing the auditorium from the back of house, a minimum height above street level for any part of
7275-472: The second decade of the century Pinero had his last two real successes. The comedy The "Mind the Paint" Girl ran at the Duke of York's Theatre for 126 performances in 1912, and The Big Drum , his last play for Alexander had 111 performances at the St James's in 1915. The First World War badly affected his wish and ability to write. He had suffered an emotional blow in 1913 when his stepson killed himself, and
7372-898: The supporting cast for Irving's forthcoming provincial tour. Although the tour was uncongenial, and Pinero gathered some highly critical notices, he continued to work as a supporting actor to Irving for five years. He first appeared at the Lyceum , Irving's London base, in December 1876 and played a total of 21 parts there between then and 1881. His Shakespearean roles were Lord Stanley in Richard III (1877), Rosencrantz in Hamlet (1878), Guildenstern in Hamlet (1879), Salarino in The Merchant of Venice (1879), and Roderigo in Othello (1881). In
7469-416: The theatre, old and new, and The Gay Lord Quex , about a reformed roué and a feisty young woman. A venture into opera, with a libretto for The Beauty Stone (1898), was not a success, and Pinero thereafter generally stuck to his familiar genre of society dramas and comedies. Although he continued to write throughout the first three decades of the 20th century and into the fourth, it is Pinero's work from
7566-401: The theatrical paper The Era as "a genuine triumph"; the play transferred from Liverpool to the West End , and Pinero retained his role as an elderly solicitor. The production was not the hoped-for success in London, but Pinero received good notices for his performance, and when the run finished after ten weeks he was immediately engaged by Henry Irving 's manager, Mrs Bateman, as a member of
7663-666: The title role of Miss Gwilt in the stage adaptation of Armadale and Mercy Merrick in The New Magdalen , both by Wilkie Collins . This list is derived from the ODNB unless otherwise noted . The ODNB noted that: During her stage career Ada Cavendish was variously described as a sprightly, fair-haired burlesque actress with good gifts in comedy and serious drama, especially Shakespeare; dignified and refined, she earned many laudatory notices. The York Herald went further: No actress but Miss Terry or Mrs Bancroft
7760-804: The traditional interpretation of the role. After the production of Tennyson's The Cup and revivals of Othello (in which Irving played Iago to Edwin Booth 's title character) and Romeo and Juliet , there began a period at the Lyceum which had a potent effect on the English stage. Much Ado about Nothing (1882) was followed by Twelfth Night (1884); an adaptation of Goldsmith 's Vicar of Wakefield by W. G. Wills (1885); Faust (1885); Macbeth (1888, with incidental music by Arthur Sullivan ); The Dead Heart , by Watts Phillips (1889); Ravenswood by Herman, and Merivales' dramatic version of Scott 's Bride of Lammermoor (1890). Portrayals in 1892 of
7857-498: The war was Shaw, who opposed it strenuously, and was much vilified by the public and even by his colleagues. Pinero refused to join in the chorus of disapproval, and his friendship with Shaw endured, although they saw less of each other after Shaw resigned from the Dramatists' Club under pressure from its pro-war members led by Henry Arthur Jones . Pinero's wife died in 1919, having been an invalid for some time. Although her death
7954-499: Was The Profligate (1889), in which past misdeeds come to haunt a seemingly respectable man. It was chosen to inaugurate the new Garrick Theatre , but the lessee, John Hare, persuaded a reluctant Pinero to tone down the ending to avoid alienating his respectable society audience: in the final version the protagonist does not kill himself, as Pinero had written, but is forgiven by his wife. The play ran for 129 performances. When his next such drama came to be produced Pinero remained firm:
8051-517: Was a Star of the highest degree-- He has acted with Irving, he's acted with Tree . These verses appear in the lyrics of the homonymous song in Andrew Lloyd Webber 's 1981 musical Cats . In the 1963 West End musical comedy Half a Sixpence the actor Chitterlow does an impression of Irving in The Bells . Percy French 's burlesque heroic poem " Abdul Abulbul Amir " lists among the mock-heroic attributes of Abdul's adversary,
8148-566: Was advised to submit the letter to the Home Office to ensure Prince's continued incarceration, which Irving declined to do. In 1898 Irving was Rede Lecturer at the University of Cambridge . The new regime at the Lyceum was signalled by the production of Sardou's Robespierre in 1899, in which Irving reappeared after a serious illness, and in 1901 by an elaborate revival of Coriolanus . Irving's only subsequent production in London
8245-599: Was as Sardou's Dante (1903) at the Drury Lane. On 13 October 1905, at 67 years old, Irving had completed a performance and suffered a stroke after returning to his lodging at the lobby of the Midland Hotel, Bradford , where he died before medical attention could arrive. A more dramatic, but untrue story, would later be written by Thomas Anstey Guthrie in his 'Long Retrospect': "Within three months, on 13 October 1905, Henry Irving, when appearing as Becket at
8342-451: Was far from uncritical of Ibsen's plays, but recognised that if he was to be a serious dramatist he must treat social problems and human misconduct frankly. The Second Mrs Tanqueray centred on "a woman with a past". Hare declined to present it, and George Alexander , the actor-manager running the St James's Theatre , to whom Pinero then offered the play, said, "Sorry, I daren't do it". He had second thoughts, and accepted it. The production
8439-435: Was foreseen it caused Pinero deep distress, and after it he was often despondent, despite the devoted attention of his stepdaughter. During the last years of his life Pinero gradually ceased to be a figure of importance in the theatre. After the end of the war he wrote eight more plays; two of them remained unstaged and of the four that were produced in London the longest-running lasted for 64 performances. His heart weakened by
8536-511: Was one reason she eventually left, moving on into less steady but nonetheless beloved stage work, including solo performances of Shakespeare's women. In 1887, the Exeter Theatre Royal fire claimed the lives of 186 people, injuring dozens more, during a performance of The Romany Rye being staged by fellow actor-manager Wilson Barrett at the Theatre Royal, Exeter . Irving was one of the first high-profile people to donate to
8633-404: Was outstripped by that of the gentler comedy Sweet Lavender , which ran at Terry's Theatre for 684 performances from March 1888 to January 1890. This piece concerns an impoverished clerk, a bibulous but wise barrister, fraudulent bankers, a long-lost sweetheart and happy endings all round. It was billed as "a domestic drama", and was mainly comic, but, The Era reported, "there are scenes where
8730-408: Was regarded as daringly unconventional and a risky venture, but it caught on with the public, particularly for the character Baron Croodle, a "disreputable but delightful old reprobate and card-shark" played by John Hare . The following year Pinero wrote the first of eleven more plays for the St James's, The Squire (1881). It caused controversy by its supposed similarity to Thomas Hardy 's Far from
8827-436: Was romantic as well as professional has been the subject of much historical speculation. Most of their correspondence was lost or burned by her descendants. According to Michael Holroyd 's book about Irving and Terry, A Strange Eventful History : Years later, when Irving was dead, Marguerite Steen asked Ellen whether she really had been Irving's lover, and she promptly answered: 'Of course I was. We were terribly in love for
8924-460: Was scheduled to replace Oscar Wilde 's Lady Windermere's Fan , which also focused on a woman with a far from respectable past. Unlike Pinero's play, Wilde's ended happily, and was seen by the respectable habitués of the St James's as mildly shocking but acceptable. In Pinero's play Paula Tanqueray kills herself. In Wearing's words, "although not as avant-garde as Ibsen's plays, Tanqueray confronted its fashionable St James's audiences with as forceful
9021-862: Was seen in W. G. Wills ' Charles I and Eugene Aram , in Richelieu , and in 1874 in Hamlet . The unconventionality of this last performance, during a run of 200 nights, aroused keen discussion and singled him out as the most interesting English actor of his day. In 1875, again with Bateman, he was seen as the title character in Macbeth ; in 1876 as Othello , and as Philip in Alfred Lord Tennyson 's Queen Mary ; in 1877 in Richard III ; and in The Lyons Mail . During this time he became lifelong friends with Bram Stoker, who praised him in his review of Hamlet and thereafter joined Irving as
9118-489: Was sent for by the man who attended Sir Henry from the theatre, who told me that he had fainted or collapsed on entering the Midland Hotel. Hurrying down, I found Sir Henry lying in the passage— dead." Stoker added, "Had he died on the stage, as might have happened, it would have given shock and bitter memory to many tender hearts." Guthrie's confusion may have come from the fact that the character Becket's last words in
9215-526: Was the chief inspiration for the title character . In his 2002 paper for The American Historical Review , "Buffalo Bill Meets Dracula: William F. Cody, Bram Stoker, and the Frontiers of Racial Decay", historian Louis S. Warren writes: Scholars have long agreed that keys to the Dracula tale's origin and meaning lie in the manager's relationship with Irving in the 1880s. … There is virtual unanimity on
9312-496: Was to become a persistent irritant to Pinero, was particularly waspish. Besides the shortcomings of the libretto, the uncomic, romantic style of the piece was not in keeping with the traditions of the Savoy or the expectations of its audience, and the opera closed on 16 July after 50 performances – the worst run for any of Sullivan's operas. Within a year of the disappointment of The Beauty Stone Pinero returned to successful form with
9409-448: Was used to Gilbert's skill and flexibility, quickly found his new collaborators inept: "gifted and brilliant men, with no experience in writing for music, and yet obstinately refusing to accept any suggestions from me as to form and construction". He later wrote in his diary, "heartbreaking to have to try to make a musical piece out of such badly constructed (for music) mess of involved sentences". The musical analyst William Parry describes
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