Lives of Shakespearian Actors, Part V:
Beerbohm Tree, Henry Irving and Ellen Terry by their Contemporaries
Series Editor: Gail Marshall
Consulting Editor: Tetsuo Kishi
Volume Editors: Katharine Cockin, Victor Emeljanow and Denis Salter
Lives of Shakespearian Actors
978 1 85196 931 9: 234x156mm: £275.00/$495.00
Herbert Beerbohm Tree, born Herbert Draper Beerbohm was as talented a manager and producer as he was an actor. He enjoyed success in London from his first appearance on the stage, but achieved his greatest distinction as manger of first the Haymarket Theatre and then Her Majesty's Theatre, which he funded and opened in 1897. After successful tenures at both theatres, in which Tree became famous for his productions of Shakespeare and elaborate stage settings, he founded the first Academy of Dramatic Art, now RADA.
Henry Irving was an equally accomplished actor-manager; taking complete responsibility for season upon season at the Lyceum Theatre. Known as "The Governor" to those under his supervision at the Lyceum, Irving was a self-made man and completely devoted to his art- reportedly leaving his wife for her criticism of his profession. Tall, dark, and frequently haunting in his characterizations, Irving is thought to have been the inspiration for the title character in (Lyceum manager) Bram Stoker's, Dracula.
Born into a theatrical family, Ellen Terry enjoyed enormous success on the stage. She toured America and Australia and was adored by the public, despite the numerous controversies of her private life: elopement, cohabitation, single-motherhood and multiple marriages. Brought into partnership with Irving at the Lyceum, she spent two decades as his leading lady, playing roles such as Portia, Beatrice, Ophelia and Lady Macbeth. Speculation as to the nature of her relationship with Irving continued long after his death, when Terry allegedly confessed that they had been “terribly in love for a while”.