John Barrymore, Shakespearean ActorJohn Barrymore's Richard III and Hamlet, first seen in New York during the 1919-20 and 1922-23 seasons, stand as high-water marks of twentieth-century Shakespearean interpretation. Michael Morrison reconstructs these historic performances through analysis of the production preparation, audience response, reviews, and memoirs. Tracing the Victorian and Edwardian antecedents of Shakespearean performance, this book situates Barrymore's distinctive contribution in light of past and ensuing tradition. As well, it provides a biographical sketch of one of the most revered and tragic actors of the twentieth century. "This young artist, profiting by the lessons of tradition...casts it boldly aside and emerges into the rarefied atmosphere of a new art, greater because it is new, stronger because it is built upon an old foundation." Brooklyn Times, March 9, 1920 |
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Page ii
... Critic and Dramaturge , New York City Bruce A. McConachie , University of Pittsburgh Brenda Murphy , University of ... critics of the arts . Long a field for isolated research , yet too frequently marginalized in the academy , the ...
... Critic and Dramaturge , New York City Bruce A. McConachie , University of Pittsburgh Brenda Murphy , University of ... critics of the arts . Long a field for isolated research , yet too frequently marginalized in the academy , the ...
Page xii
... critics , theatre artists , and other witnesses to his portrayals are to be trusted - and I have given them ample room to speak in the pages that fol- low - he stands as an original , an innovator among actors of Shakespeare , a ...
... critics , theatre artists , and other witnesses to his portrayals are to be trusted - and I have given them ample room to speak in the pages that fol- low - he stands as an original , an innovator among actors of Shakespeare , a ...
Page 3
... critics of the day as the be- ginning of a new era for Shakespeare on the American stage . Two years later , Barrymore again joined forces with Hopkins and Jones to present Hamlet . The production opened on 16 November 1922 to near ...
... critics of the day as the be- ginning of a new era for Shakespeare on the American stage . Two years later , Barrymore again joined forces with Hopkins and Jones to present Hamlet . The production opened on 16 November 1922 to near ...
Page 4
... critics to proclaim him as one of the greatest of the Hamlets seen in New York . Barrymore won further laurels in 1925 when he brought his Hamlet to the Haymarket Theatre in London - a city where American tragedians had in the past ...
... critics to proclaim him as one of the greatest of the Hamlets seen in New York . Barrymore won further laurels in 1925 when he brought his Hamlet to the Haymarket Theatre in London - a city where American tragedians had in the past ...
Page 6
... critic J. T. Grein was entirely correct in assessing his style as “ an amalgam of modernity and tradition . " 4 Yet Barrymore , like Garrick and Kean , broke with tradition to in- troduce a more " natural " method of performing the time ...
... critic J. T. Grein was entirely correct in assessing his style as “ an amalgam of modernity and tradition . " 4 Yet Barrymore , like Garrick and Kean , broke with tradition to in- troduce a more " natural " method of performing the time ...
Contents
The Education of an Actor 18821919 | 32 |
The Productions | 67 |
Richard III 1920 | 69 |
Hamlet 19221924 | 122 |
The London Hamlet 1925 | 242 |
Aftermath | 261 |
Shakespeare in Hollywood 19251942 | 263 |
Epilogue | 299 |
Appendixes | 307 |
The Casts | 309 |
The Texts | 323 |
Notes | 331 |
385 | |
393 | |
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Common terms and phrases
17 November acting actor Adams Alexander Woollcott American appeared April Arthur Hopkins artistic audience Barry Barrymore's Barrymore's performance Blanche Yurka Broadway cast chair character Clown comedy costumes critics debut decade December drama Edwin Booth exit Fay Compton February film Forbes-Robertson Fowler Gene Fowler Ghost Guildenstern Hamlet Hampden Henry Hollywood Hopkins's Horatio house curtain Irving January John Barrymore Jones's King Laertes left center letter to Michael lights Lincoln Center lines London lord Macbeth mainstage mance Marcellus March Margaret Carrington Michael Strange noted Ophelia Osric platform play Player Polonius production promptbook Queen radio rehearsals repertory replies revival Richard Richard III right center Robert Edmond Jones role Rosencrantz scene second season Shakespeare Shakespearean Sheldon soliloquy Soon afterward Sothern and Marlowe speak speech steps Studybook Sweet Prince Taylor tells Theatre Collection theatrical throne tion tour tradition turns UCB/SC upstage voice weeks William Woollcott wrote York