A repertory theatre , also called repertory , rep , true rep or stock , which are also called producing theatres, is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation.
87-462: The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman . The company produced theatrical presentations, radio programs and motion pictures. The Mercury also released promptbooks and phonographic recordings of four Shakespeare works for use in schools. After a series of acclaimed Broadway productions,
174-425: A Pulitzer Prize (1982), a Tony Award (1986), and a Jujamcyn Award (1985). In Russia and much of Eastern Europe , repertory theatre is based on the idea that each company maintains a number of productions that are performed on a rotating basis. Each production's life span is determined by its success with the audience. However, many productions remain in repertory for years as this approach presents each piece
261-452: A British movement started in the early 1900s that focused on shorter runs of a single new work, rather than having several plays ready to perform at any given time. For weekly rep and for a typical three-act play, the actors' week would start on Tuesday, and go as follows: Today, repertory theatres employ a wide range of actors, who can play a variety of types. Before the modern repertory system, acting ensembles were normally made up of
348-501: A big comeback in cities such as Little Rock, AR , Washington, DC , Minneapolis , Indianapolis , Milwaukee , Cincinnati , Chicago , Los Angeles , Nashville , New York , Houston , Boston , San Francisco , San Diego , Buffalo , Kansas City , and Seattle . Festival theatre now provides actors with work in the summer. There are many ways to rehearse repertory theatre. The most prolific American repertory theatres are an example of that. Utah Shakespeare Festival rehearses two plays
435-518: A childhood favorite of his which he had already adapted for the radio. It portrayed the decline and fall of a proud Midwestern American family of the 19th century, as the motor car in the 20th century makes them obsolete. Welles's relations with RKO grew strained during the making of this film. His stock had fallen considerably after Kane had commercially flopped. Whereas studio head George Schaefer had given Welles carte blanche over Kane , he closely supervised Ambersons , sensing that his own position
522-507: A co-writer credit. However, in 1985, film historian Robert Carringer showed that Kael had only reached her conclusion by comparing the first and last drafts of the Citizen Kane script, whereas Carringer examined every intermediate draft by Mankiewicz and Welles, and concluded that a co-writer credit was justified, with each man writing between 40% and 60% of the script. He additionally concluded that Houseman's claims to have contributed to
609-547: A conversation June 20, 1983. "All of the money I had made on radio was spent on the Mercury, but I didn't make enough money to finance the entire operation. Hollywood was really the only choice. … I think all acting companies have a lifespan. My partnership with John Houseman came to an end with the move to California. He became my employee, expensive and not particularly pleasant or productive. Our mutual discomfort led to his decamping California and returning to New York." Although
696-529: A day split between an eight hour period. This is common. Some theatres only rehearse one play a day and add shows into rotation as the season progresses, like The American Shakespeare Center. They rehearse one play for a little over two weeks before it opens; then, they begin the next one. The length of rehearsal also varies. American Players Theatre has a six-week-long rehearsal period compared to Oregon Shakespeare Festival 's eleven-week-long one. America's oldest resident repertory theatre, Hedgerow Theatre ,
783-452: A few times in a given season, not enough to exhaust the potential audience pool. After the fall of the Soviet regime and the substantial diminution of government subsidy, the repertory practice has required re-examination. Moscow Art Theatre and Lev Dodin 's Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg are the world's most notable practitioners of this approach. Rotation Repertory system is still
870-483: A further season. Orson Welles's notoriety following "The War of the Worlds" broadcast earned him Hollywood's interest, and RKO studio head George J. Schaefer 's unusual contract. Welles made a deal with Schaefer on July 21, 1939, to produce, direct, write, and act in three feature films. (The number of films was later changed - see below.) The studio had to approve the story and the budget if it exceeded $ 500,000. Welles
957-629: A low-risk, low-budget film. The other project was first suggested by David Rockefeller , and since Welles was qualified as medically unfit for war service, it was suggested he could render service to the war effort by making a film to encourage Pan-American sentiment, since the US State Department was worried about fascist sympathies in some Latin American countries. The film's concept was loosely defined as an anthology of stories about different Americans being united against fascism, and it
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#17327723651101044-543: A lukewarm preview screening in Pomona, California , when the film ran second in a double-bill with a romantic comedy. Around 55% of the audience strongly disliked the film (although the surviving audience feedback cards show that the remaining minority gave fulsome praise, using words such as "masterpiece" and "cinematic art"). Welles was in Brazil filming It's All True (see below), so the studio decided to trim over 40 minutes of
1131-573: A month from August 3, 1943, before touring nationwide. By 1938, Orson Welles had already worked extensively in radio drama, becoming a regular on The March of Time , directing a seven-part adaptation of Victor Hugo 's Les Misérables , and playing the title character in The Shadow for a year, as well as a number of uncredited character roles. After the theatrical successes of the Mercury Theatre, CBS Radio invited Welles to create
1218-540: A more profound sense, that credit is, in fact, the only accurate description of a Welles production. The concepts that animated each of them originated with him and, moreover, were executed in such a way as to be subject to his absolute control." Welles and Houseman secured the Comedy Theatre , a 687-seat Broadway theatre at 110 West 41st Street in New York City, and reopened it as the Mercury Theatre. It
1305-412: A period, and beginning on December 9, 1938, the show was retitled The Campbell Playhouse . The Mercury Theatre continued broadcasting 60-minute episodes in 1938–40, now sponsored by Campbell's Soup and punctuated by commercials. The company moved to Hollywood for their second season, and Hollywood stars began to be featured in guest roles. The programme was billed as "The Campbell Playhouse presents
1392-509: A scaled-back version which never made use of the filmed sequences. Long considered lost, the footage for Too Much Johnson was rediscovered in 2013. A production of Georg Büchner 1835 play Danton's Death , about the French Revolution, was the next Mercury stage production. It opened on November 2, 1938, but met with limited success and only ran to 21 performances, closing November 19. The commercial failure of this play forced
1479-437: A screenplay about a public figure, perhaps a gangster, whose story would be told by the people that knew him. Welles claimed it was his idea to write about Hearst, while film critic Pauline Kael (in her widely publicised 1971 essay " Raising Kane ") and Welles's former business partner John Houseman claim that it was Mankiewicz's idea. Kael further claimed that Welles had written nothing of the original script, and did not deserve
1566-472: A summer show. The series began on July 11, 1938, with the formula that Welles would play the lead in each show. . Welles insisted his Mercury company — actors and crew — be involved in the radio series. This was an unprecedented and expensive request, especially for one so young as Welles. Most episodes dramatized works of classic and contemporary literature. It remains perhaps the most highly regarded radio drama anthology series ever broadcast, most likely due to
1653-521: A total of 157 performances. The cast included Joseph Holland ( Julius Caesar ), George Coulouris ( Marcus Antonius ), Joseph Cotten (Publius), Martin Gabel ( Cassius ), Hiram Sherman ( Casca ), John A. Willard ( Trebonius ), Grover Burgess ( Ligarius ), John Hoysradt ( Decius Brutus ), Stefan Schnabel ( Metellus Cimber ), Elliott Reid ( Cinna ), William Mowry ( Flavius ), William Alland ( Marullus ), George Duthie (Artemidorus), Norman Lloyd ( Cinna,
1740-679: Is also produced by the Summer Theatre season at Frinton-on-Sea . Organizations in Canada include North America's largest classical repertory theatre company, the Stratford Festival , founded in 1953 primarily to present productions of William Shakespeare 's plays. Canada also hosts North America's second largest repertory theatre company, the Shaw Festival , founded in 1962, which presents plays written by or set during
1827-574: Is located in Rose Valley, Pennsylvania . It was founded by actor Jasper Deeter in 1923. The present producing artistic director is actress and director Penelope Reed. Other notable repertory theatres include the Guthrie Theater , which was set up as a regional repertory theatre concept that is free from commercial constraints in the choice of repertoire. It is aligned in objectives to the repertory and resident theatre movement that emerged in
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#17327723651101914-423: Is now occupied by an office building. In 2009 a plaque was dedicated there to mark the location of the historic Mercury Theatre. Richard Linklater 's 2008 film, Me and Orson Welles , is a romantic comedy set during the days before the opening of Caesar at the Mercury Theatre. "Like most Welles stage shows, alas, this one left few traces," wrote Wall Street Journal drama critic Terry Teachout . "No part of
2001-509: Is still seen in large cities. Actors now have the luxury of at least three weeks of rehearsal , however. Repertory can still be found in the UK in a variation of guises: in Sidmouth (12 plays), Wolverhampton (eight), and Burslem and Taunton (four each). The Sheringham Little Theatre produces an in-house repertory season each summer, running from June until September. Weekly repertory theatre
2088-873: The Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Horniman's Gaiety Theatre opened its first season in September 1908. The opening of the Gaiety was followed by the Citizens' Theatre in Glasgow and the Liverpool Repertory Theatre . Previously, regional theatre relied on mostly London touring ensembles. During the time the theatre was being run by Annie Horniman, a wide variety of types of plays were produced. Horniman encouraged local writers who became known as
2175-649: The Arthur Brough Players in Folkestone in the South. When an actor joined one of their companies, it could mean "twice-nightly" shows, and a new play to learn every week. Actress Rosemary Harris has told of her 50 consecutive weeks of doing that at Bedford rep. However, this is no longer possible, owing to restrictions from British Equity , which came to mandate just eight shows a week, including perhaps two matinées. The practice of repertory ("rep")
2262-594: The Manchester School of playwrights. They included Allan Monkhouse , Harold Brighouse —writer of Hobson's Choice —and Stanley Houghton , who wrote Hindle Wakes . Actors who performed at the Gaiety early in their careers included Sybil Thorndike and Basil Dean . From the 1930s to the 1960s, two impresarios dominated the field of British rep, mostly in the North. They were Harry Hanson and his Court players, and Frank H. Fortescue's Famous Players, with
2349-666: The Negro Theatre Unit in New York, invited his recent collaborator, 20-year-old Orson Welles , to join the project. Their first production was an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Macbeth with an entirely African-American cast. It became known as the Voodoo Macbeth because Welles changed the setting to a mythical island suggesting the Haitian court of King Henri Christophe , with Haitian vodou fulfilling
2436-615: The Comedy Theatre, and Ruth Draper also made her debut there. Eugene O'Neill 's first Broadway play, In the Zone , opened at the Comedy Theatre in 1917. With its narrow orchestra pit and a booth for follow spots at the rear of the second balcony, the theatre was also used for small musical shows. The Comedy Theatre was shuttered in 1931, in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 . It reopened in 1937 as
2523-473: The Mercury Theatre and ran for six weeks, closing June 11. Shaw insisted that none of the text be altered or cut, resulting in a longer and more conventional production that limited Welles's creative expression. It was chosen to demonstrate that the Mercury's style did not depend upon extensive revision and elaborate staging. Geraldine Fitzgerald , a fellow member of the Gate Theatre company while Welles
2610-605: The Mercury Theatre progressed into its most popular incarnation as The Mercury Theatre on the Air . The radio series included one of the most notable and infamous radio broadcasts of all time, " The War of the Worlds ", broadcast October 30, 1938. The Mercury Theatre on the Air produced live radio dramas in 1938–1940 and again briefly in 1946. In addition to Welles, the Mercury players included Ray Collins , Joseph Cotten , George Coulouris , Martin Gabel , Norman Lloyd , Agnes Moorehead , Paul Stewart , and Everett Sloane . Much of
2697-470: The Mercury Theatre". A full list of the 56 episodes can be found at The Campbell Playhouse . The Campbell Playhouse briefly continued after Welles's final performance in March 1940, with a truncated third season broadcast thereafter without the Mercury Theatre, but it was not a success. The Mercury troupe had disbanded by the time Welles made this series, commonly known as The Mercury Summer Theatre , in
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2784-469: The Mercury Theatre, leased by John Houseman and Orson Welles for their new repertory theatre company, the Mercury Theatre . Houseman later described the venue as "an intimate, rococo, two-balcony theatre [that] was for many years one of Manhattan's most elegant smaller playhouses." The Mercury company was able to lease the Comedy Theatre for three years at $ 187.50 a week. The intermediary for
2871-469: The Mercury Theatre. The name was inspired by the title of the iconoclastic magazine, The American Mercury . "All the Mercury offerings bore the credit line, 'Production by Orson Welles,'" wrote critic Richard France , "implying that he functioned not only as the director, but as designer, dramatist, and, most often, principal actor as well. To be sure, this generated a good bit of resentment among his collaborators (the designers, in particular). However, in
2958-503: The Mercury to significantly scale back on the number of plays planned for their 1938–39 season. Danton's Death was the last Mercury production at the Mercury Theatre, which had been leased until 1942. The company relinquished the theatre in June 1939. The final full-length Mercury production before the troupe headed to Hollywood in 1939 was Five Kings (Part One) . This was an entirely original play by Welles about Sir John Falstaff , which
3045-426: The Mercury troupe technically dissolved either in 1941 (when Welles and Houseman parted) or 1942 (when the entire Mercury unit was sacked by RKO - see below), Welles produced and directed this morale-boosting variety show for US troops in 1943, featuring a number of Mercury actors including Joseph Cotten and Agnes Moorehead . The show was based in a 2,000-seater tent on Cahuenga Boulevard , Hollywood, where it ran for
3132-420: The Mercury. Ticket prices ranged from 55 cents, for seats in the top balcony, to $ 2.20 for front row orchestra seats. It was the venue for most of the Mercury's productions from November 1937 to November 1938. The first was Caesar , Welles's modern-dress adaptation of William Shakespeare 's Julius Caesar , streamlined into a critically acclaimed anti-fascist tour de force. Its last production there
3219-600: The RKO lot that the Orson Welles deal will end up without Orson ever doing a picture there." First, Welles tried to adapt Heart of Darkness , but there was concern over the idea to depict it entirely with point of view shots, as Welles was unable to come up with an acceptable budget. Welles then considered adapting Cecil Day-Lewis ' novel The Smiler with the Knife , but realized that this relatively straightforward pulp thriller
3306-505: The United States in the 1960s. This sought to establish an alternative and decentralized theatre network outside of New York, one which would have non-profit-making status and would be focused on the art of the theatre as well as the development of artists, craftsmen, and administrators. Publicly funded theatres that belong to this type have been receiving erratic support since the 1980s. The Association of Producing Artists (APA)
3393-464: The United States, the repertory system has also found a base to compete with commercial theatre. Many summer stock theatre companies are repertory in nature. College students and young professionals making up much of the acting company are supported by guest stars or actors who are further along in their careers. Repertory theatre with mostly changing casts and longer-running plays, perhaps better classed as "provincial" or "non-profit" theatre, has made
3480-427: The Worlds . Possibly thousands of listeners thought Martians were in fact invading the earth, due to the faux-news quality of most of the broadcast. Significant publicity was generated, and The Mercury Theatre on the Air quickly became one of radio's top-rated shows. The notoriety of "The 'War of the Worlds" had a welcome side effect of netting the show the sponsorship of Campbell's Soup , guaranteeing its survival for
3567-463: The Worlds" radio broadcast. Welles's RKO contract had given him complete control over the production of the film when he signed on with the studio, something that he never again was allowed to exercise when making motion pictures. According to an RKO cost sheet from May 1942, the film cost $ 839,727 compared to an estimated budget of $ 723,800. When the film was released, pressure from William Randolph Hearst led to many cinemas refusing to screen it, and it
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3654-419: The actors from the Mercury's theatre and radio productions, as well as numerous technicians, (such as composer Bernard Herrmann ), who were brought in from New York. Few of them had any film experience. Welles spent the first five months of his RKO contract learning the basics of making films, and trying to get several projects going with no success. The Hollywood Reporter said, "They are laying bets over on
3741-581: The creativity of Orson Welles. The Mercury Theatre on the Air was an hour-long program. Houseman wrote the early scripts for the series, turning the job over to Howard E. Koch at the beginning of October. Music for the program was composed and conducted by Bernard Herrmann . Their first radio production was Bram Stoker 's Dracula , with Welles playing both Count Dracula and Doctor Seward. Other adaptations included Treasure Island , The Thirty-Nine Steps , The Man Who Was Thursday and The Count of Monte Cristo . Originally scheduled for nine weeks,
3828-534: The early 1950s. There are many noted Resident companies or repertory companies , such as the Artists Repertory Theatre . Murray, Stephen. Taking Our Amusements Seriously . LAP, 2010. ISBN 978-3-8383-7608-0 . Comedy Theatre (New York City) The Comedy Theatre was a Broadway theatre located at 110 West 41st Street in Manhattan that opened in 1909. It presented
3915-484: The film's two-hour running time. The first half of the film, portraying the happy times of the Ambersons in the 19th century, was largely unaffected. However, the vast majority of the second half of the film, portraying the Ambersons' fall from grace, was largely discarded as too depressing. Actors were drafted in for reshoots by other directors, who shot new scenes, including an upbeat, optimistic ending out of key with
4002-495: The first Broadway appearances of Katharine Cornell and Ruth Draper , as well as Eugene O'Neill 's first Broadway play. Shuttered in the wake of the Depression, it reopened in 1937 as the Mercury Theatre — the venue for Orson Welles 's groundbreaking adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and other productions for the Mercury Theatre repertory company. In 1939 it began presenting classic Yiddish theatre . The building
4089-415: The form of a film insert. The show was performed as often as four times a day. The Mercury Theatre had moved to Hollywood late in 1939, after Welles signed a film contract which would eventually result in his debut, Citizen Kane , in 1941. In the intervening period, the troupe focused on their radio show, which had begun in 1938 and continued until March 1940. Their last full play after moving to Hollywood
4176-412: The grid, new rigging and power lines and a new stage floor to replace the rotting planks through which huge, fearless rodents could be seen emerging on their hunting excursions." The repairs, which also included cleaning the rusty, grimy exterior, had to be made within a month. At the end of October 1937, press agent Henry Senber oversaw a ceremony unveiling the new electric sign identifying the theatre as
4263-436: The high costs of Citizen Kane by delivering two further films with lower budgets. One of these was the straightforward espionage thriller Journey into Fear , based on a novel by Eric Ambler . Welles wrote and produced the film, but opted not to be the main director, not least as the film was on a tight schedule, filming back-to-back with The Magnificent Ambersons . The project appealed to RKO, especially as it seemed to be
4350-566: The lifetime of Bernard Shaw , or that follow Shaw's ideal of socially provocative theatre. However, Canadian repertory companies follow a model that differs somewhat from the years-long rotation repertory system found in Europe. In Canada, productions often stay on the repertory for one season, running in repertory with other productions in the same year. The actors are not employed full time long term, but instead work on contracts usually maximum 8 months long. The Vagabond Repertory Theatre Company
4437-608: The most commonly used business model of live theatre in Eastern and Central Europe, specifically in countries such as Austria, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Czech Republic. In Germany, Schaubuhne and some other theatres run on a repertory system. A combination company was a touring theater company which performed only one play . Unlike repertory companies, which performed multiple plays in rotation, combination companies used more elaborate and specialised scenery in their productions. A similar term, "weekly rep," denotes
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#17327723651104524-540: The network extended the run into the autumn, moving the show from its Monday night slot, where it was the summer substitute for the Lux Radio Theater , to a Sunday night slot opposite Edgar Bergen 's popular variety show. The early dramas in the series were praised by critics, but ratings were low. A single broadcast changed the program's ratings: the October 30, 1938 adaptation of H. G. Wells ' The War of
4611-537: The origin of the repertoire tradition. One of the earliest examples of this system is the Moscow Art Theatre circa 1898. An even earlier example are the theatres of Germany. See the Deutsches Theater, a privately owned German theatre founded in 1883 to produce plays in rep. While variations appeared before, the modern repertory system did not become popular until the twentieth century. In
4698-416: The owner, reputedly a Chicago gangster, said that the owner would not pay a cent for any repairs or maintenance, but he did not care what was done to the building as long as the first three months' rent was paid in advance. When the Mercury took over the theatre, production manager Jean Rosenthal presented Houseman with "a formidable list of absolute and immediate necessities, which included major repairs to
4785-644: The play (retitled Chimes at Midnight ) in Belfast and Dublin in 1960, and would eventually make a film of it , which he came to regard as his favourite of his own films. In July and August 1939, after having signed a contract with the RKO film studio, the Mercury Theatre toured the RKO Vaudeville Theatre circuit with an abbreviated, twenty-minute production of the William Archer melodrama The Green Goddess , five minutes of which took
4872-548: The poet ), Arthur Anderson (Lucius), Evelyn Allen ( Calpurnia, wife to Caesar ), Muriel Brassler ( Portia, wife to Brutus ), and John Berry (extra). At the National Theatre, Polly Rowles took the role of Calpurnia and Alice Frost played Portia. From January 20, 1938, a roadshow version of Caesar with a different cast toured the United States. The company included Tom Powers as Brutus, and Edmond O'Brien as Marc Antony. The Mercury Theatre's second production
4959-561: The power to retaliate within Hollywood so Welles had Mankiewicz work on the script outside of the city. Because of the writer's drinking problem, Houseman went along to provide assistance and make sure that he stayed focused. Welles also sought inspiration from Howard Hughes and Samuel Insull (who built an opera house for his girlfriend). Although Mankiewicz and Houseman got on well with Welles, they incorporated some of his traits into Kane, such as his temper. During production, Citizen Kane
5046-594: The production was filmed, and nothing else survives but the design sketches and some still photographs taken in 1937. … What makes Me and Orson Welles uniquely interesting to scholars of American drama is that Mr. Linklater's design team found the Gaiety Theatre on the Isle of Man . This house closely resembles the old Comedy Theatre on 41st Street, which was torn down five years after Julius Caesar opened there. Using Samuel Leve's original designs, they reconstructed
5133-508: The rest of the film. The discarded 40 minutes of scenes by Welles were burned, and detailed, telegraphed instructions from him suggesting further compromises to save the film were thrown away, unread. This truncated version of The Magnificent Ambersons had a limited released in two Los Angeles cinemas in July 1942, where it did indifferently, and like Citizen Kane , the film lost RKO hundreds of thousands of dollars. Later in 1942, George Schaefer
5220-524: The rôle of Scottish witchcraft . The play opened April 14, 1936, at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem and was received rapturously. That production was followed by an adaptation of the farce Horse Eats Hat and, in 1937, Marlowe 's Doctor Faustus and Marc Blitzstein 's socialist musical The Cradle Will Rock . The latter received much publicity when on the eve of its preview the theatre
5307-443: The screenplay for Welles's film. The writer had only received two screenplay credits between 1935 and his work on Citizen Kane and needed the job, his reputation having plummeted after he descended into alcoholism in the late 1930s. In the 1970s and 1980s, there was a dispute amongst historians regarding whose idea it was to use William Randolph Hearst as the basis for Charles Foster Kane. For some time, Mankiewicz had wanted to write
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#17327723651105394-558: The script were largely unfounded. Mankiewicz had already written an unperformed play entitled, The Tree Will Grow about John Dillinger . Welles liked the idea of multiple viewpoints but was not interested in playing Dillinger. Mankiewicz and Welles talked about picking someone else to use a model. They hit on the idea of using Hearst as their central character. Mankiewicz had frequented Hearst's parties until his alcoholism got him barred. The writer resented this and became obsessed with Hearst and Marion Davies . Hearst had great influence and
5481-597: The standard stock company and later the touring company. The stock company would usually consist of a leading man and lady, a character actor and actress, younger actors to play romantic roles, and the rest of the actors would be a variety of ages and body types. The acting ensemble was typically around twelve. This was most popular prior to the Restoration. Post Restoration and into the nineteenth century, stock companies remained, but they were joined and then replaced by traveling companies. These ensembles consisted of
5568-571: The stars and actors hired to play a very specific role as a single production toured around. Examples of rep performers who went on to become well-known are John Gielgud , Ralph Richardson , Laurence Olivier , Rosemary Harris , Christopher Plummer , Harold Pinter , Peter O'Toole , Jeremy Brett , Geraldine McEwan , Vanessa Redgrave , Judi Dench , Ian McKellen , Michael Gambon , Imelda Staunton and Patrick Stewart . Dirk Bogarde wrote about his start at Amersham rep in 1939, and Michael Caine has recounted his time spent at Horsham rep in
5655-409: The summer of 1946. Nonetheless, it carried the Mercury name, was produced, written, directed and presented by Welles (and often starred or co-starred him), and it combined abridged scriptings of old Mercury performances with new shows. Occasionally, former members of the troupe would guest star in the 30-minute program. The series had limited success, it only lasted 15 episodes, and it was not renewed for
5742-417: The title suggests, the play was intended to be the first of a two-part production, but although it opened in three other cities, poor box-office receipts meant that plan had to be abandoned, and Five Kings (Part One) never played in New York, while Five Kings (Part Two) was never produced at all. Five Kings was an intensely personal project for Welles, who would revive a substantially rewritten version of
5829-680: The troupe would later appear in Welles's films at RKO , particularly Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons . Part of the Works Progress Administration , the Federal Theatre Project (1935–39) was a New Deal program to fund theatre and other live artistic performances and entertainment programs in the United States during the Great Depression . In 1935, John Houseman , director of
5916-571: Was Danton's Death (1938). The Mercury Theatre productions are regarded as the greatest successes of the venue's history. In June 1939 the theatre began its final transition when Welles and Houseman leased the Mercury Theatre to the newly formed Dramatic Art Theatrical Association and the Artef Players, a well-known Yiddish theatre company. The facility operated as the Artef Theatre from 1940 until its demolition in 1942. The site
6003-518: Was a stage adaptation of Richard Wright 's anti-racism novel Native Son . It opened at the St. James's Theatre, New York, on March 24, 1941 (just a month before Citizen Kane premiered), and received excellent reviews, running to 114 performances. This was the final Mercury production which Welles and Houseman collaborated upon. "The Mercury Theatre was killed by lack of funds and our subsequent move to Hollywood," Welles told friend and mentor Roger Hill in
6090-455: Was a staging of Thomas Dekker 's Elizabethan comedy The Shoemaker's Holiday , which attracted "unanimous raves again". It premiered on January 1, 1938, and ran to 64 performances in repertory with Caesar , until April 1. It then moved to the National Theatre through April 28. The first season of the Mercury Theatre concluded with George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House , which again attracted strong reviews. It premiered April 29, 1938, at
6177-410: Was allowed to develop the story without interference, cast his own actors and crew members, and have the privilege of final cut, unheard of at the time for a first-time director. (Welles later claimed that nobody in Hollywood had enjoyed this level of artistic freedom since Erich von Stroheim in the early 1920s.) Additionally, as part of his contract, he set up a "Mercury Unit" at RKO; containing most of
6264-466: Was created by mixing and re-arranging dialogue from five different Shakespeare plays (primarily taken from Henry IV, Part I , Henry IV, Part II , and Henry V , but also using elements of Richard II and The Merry Wives of Windsor ), to form a wholly new narrative. It opened on February 27, 1939, at the Colonial Theatre, Boston , in a five-hour version playing from 8pm to 1am. As
6351-623: Was demolished in 1942. Architect D. G. Malcolm designed the Comedy Theatre, a Broadway theatre located at 110 West 41st Street in Manhattan, for The Shubert Organization . Its first production, The Melting Pot , opened September 6, 1909. The 687-seat theatre was a venue for more intimate productions, and was often leased to producers including William Collier, Cecil B. DeMille , and the Washington Square Players . Katharine Cornell made her first Broadway appearance at
6438-412: Was dismissed as studio head. One of the first changes initiated by his successor, Charles Koerner, was to fire Welles from RKO, and his entire Mercury unit was removed from the studio and closed down. Welles's RKO contract was renegotiated after the commercial failure of Citizen Kane . Instead of delivering three major "A-pictures" for the studio, Welles would instead deliver two, and would compensate for
6525-622: Was formed in March 2009 by artistic directors Nathaniel Fried and Ryan LaPlante, and currently resides and performs in Kingston, Ontario . It shuttered in 2019. The old English-style repertory theatres such as Ottawa 's CRT (Canadian Repertory Theatre) and Toronto 's Crest Theatre no longer exist—although they did have a version of summer theatre in smaller holiday districts, such as the "Straw Hat" players of Gravenhurst and Port Carling at Ontario 's vacation Muskoka Lakes area. State-subsidized theatres on continental Europe have been suggested as
6612-417: Was heavily overlength, and Welles soon realized he would need an experienced co-writer to help redraft it—preferably one with experience of working with tycoons. In 1940, screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz was a former Hearst journalist recuperating from a car accident, and was in between jobs. He had originally been hired by Welles to work on The Campbell Playhouse radio program and was available to work on
6699-477: Was hoped that a Pan-American song-and-dance number could be recorded. In February 1942, Brazil's carnival season was rapidly approaching, so it was decided to quickly send Welles over with technicolour cameras to film the carnival, and he could decide how to use the film later. Repertory theatre Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawing her support from
6786-472: Was in Dublin, was brought over from Ireland for her American debut as Ellie Dunn. Welles played the octogenarian Captain Shotover. Other cast were Brenda Forbes (Nurse Guinness), Phyllis Joyce (Lady Utterword), Mady Christians (Hesione Hushabye), Erskine Sanford (Mazzini Dunn), Vincent Price (Hector Hushabye), John Hoysradt (Randall Utterword) and Eustace Wyatt (The Burglar) The fourth Mercury Theatre play
6873-458: Was in danger (which indeed it was - Schaefer was fired as head of RKO shortly after Ambersons was completed, and a commonly-attributed reason was for his having hired Welles with such a generous contract). RKO itself was in serious financial trouble, running a deficit. Welles himself considered his original cut of The Magnificent Ambersons to have been one of his finest films - "it was a much better picture than Kane ". However, RKO panicked over
6960-506: Was not yet adequately equipped to project the film segments) meant that it had to be postponed. It was due to run in repertory with Danton's Death in the fall of 1938, but after that production suffered from numerous budgetary over-runs, a New York run of Too Much Johnson was abandoned altogether. The play ran for a two-week trial at the Stony Creek Summer Theatre , Stony Creek, Connecticut , from August 16, 1938, in
7047-598: Was one of the most successful repertory theatres in the United States, touring for four years and holding residencies in several cities before finally joining the Phoenix Theatre in New York City, where it was known for staging plays with modest prices. Currently, the American Repertory Theatre is considered one of the most distinguished repertory theatres in the United States. Since its foundation in 1979, it has earned several awards including
7134-588: Was padlocked by the WPA . Welles invited the waiting audience to walk several blocks to a neighboring theatre where the show was performed without sets or costumes. Blitzstein played a battered upright piano while the cast, barred from taking the stage by their union, sat in the audience and rose from their seats to sing and deliver their dialogue. Welles and Houseman broke with the Federal Theatre Project in August 1937 and founded their own repertory company, which they called
7221-435: Was planned to be a staging of Too Much Johnson , an 1894 comedy by William Gillette . The production is now remembered for Welles's filmed sequences, one of his earliest films. There were to be three sequences: a 20-minute introduction, and 10-minute sequences transitioning into the second and third acts. The production was meant to be a summer show on Broadway in 1938, but technical problems (the Mercury Theatre in New York
7308-471: Was referred to as "RKO 281". Filming took place between June 29, 1940, and October 23, 1940, in what is now Stage 19 on the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood, and came in under schedule. Welles prevented studio executives of RKO from visiting the set. He understood their desire to control projects and he knew they were expecting him to do an exciting film that would correspond to his "The War of
7395-429: Was screened in so few places that RKO made a substantial loss on the film on its original release. As a consequence of this, Welles's RKO contract was renegotiated, and he lost the right to control a film's final cut—something which would have major consequences for his next film, The Magnificent Ambersons. Welles's follow-up to Citizen Kane was an adaptation of Booth Tarkington 's novel The Magnificent Ambersons ,
7482-463: Was the venue for virtually all their productions from November 1937 through November 1938. The Mercury Theatre began with a groundbreaking, critically acclaimed adaption of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar that evoked comparison to contemporary Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. It premiered on Broadway on November 11, 1937. The production moved from the Mercury Theatre to the larger National Theatre on January 24, 1938. It ran through May 28, 1938, for
7569-439: Was unlikely to make much impact for his film debut. He concluded that to challenge himself with a new medium, he had to write an original story. As Welles decided on an original screenplay for his first film , he settled on a treatment he wrote, entitled American . In its first draft, it was only partially based on William Randolph Hearst , and also incorporated aspects of other tycoons such as Howard Hughes . However, American
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