~~ !Jf-~~ ~-~ ;;J> v~ 7~/ Jr. .;: :.v. ~- 9 - . R c;:. THE SOCIETY FOR CULTURAL RELATIONS BETWEEN THE PEOPLES OF THE BRITISH S C COMMONWEALTH AND THE U.S.S. R.
THE THEATRE SECTION FJ-: Exhibition on the iistory of President: DAME EDITH EVANS SHAKESPEAREAI~ PRODUCTIONS IN ENGU11"D Vice-Presidents: Or ganieed under +he joint e.usp i.ce s John Burrell Sir Lewis CaHon of Valerie Hobson The Arts Council of Great Britain and t:1e S,O.R. Joseph Macleod
Committee: Peggy Ashcroft The Society for Cultural Relations witl1 t:1e USSR Lawrance Collingwood Fran kll n Dy all and The Arts Council of Great Britain have entrusted Beatrix Lehmann rre with the preparation and arrangement of an Michael MacOwan Ex:1ibition designed. to illustra.te the history of Miles Malleson Herbert Marshall SHAKESPEAREAN PRODUCTION IN ENGLA.lfil, I am non Mary Merrall collecting the necessary material, as Tl1e Arts Council Stephen Potter propose to tour the .Exl1ibition in Engla.nd...'1..t tke ~ Michael Redgrave Llewellyn Rees begiHning of' 1947. ·lf· In April 1948 it will represent 1 Ninette de Valois th is country s c ontr i but ion to the ~Annual Geoffrey Whitworth Shakespearean Conference of the All-Russian Theatre Society in Moscow; and whe n the collection returns to Supporters : England it will become the peruanent possession of Arthur Askey The Arts Council, and will be available for exhibition Sir Kenneth Sarnes Ivor Brown purposes, etc. C. B. Cochran Neville Coghill I am anxious therefore, to acquire on behalf of Fay Compton Robert Donat t;1ese two Societies, a representative collection of Elizabeth Frank photographs of our best modern Eng l i.ah Shakespearean Ronald Frankau work, that will indicate as fully and as effectively Andre Van Geyseghem John Gielgud as possible the various trends, experiments, and Tyrone Guth~le ach i.eve merrt a . Walter Hudd Alick Johnstone Deborah Kerr Full acknonledgeruents will be made to all owne r a Roger Livesey of copyr t ght,s , and the ~Jrints paid for at the usual Laurence Olivier rates, unless in any particular instances indiv·iduals W. Maqueen Pope Alfred Reynolds shoul.d w i.sh to be associated 'Jit:1 t:1e collection as Ralph Richardson donors. W~1ere it ie not practicable for owners to George H. Rylands have pr Lrrt a made, I ehoul.d greatly appreciate the loan Dame Sybil Thorndike Tommy Trinder of negatives or of prints for re-p>otographing. This Dame Irene Vanbrugh work would be oa rr Le d out by ivJessrs R. B.Fleaing &, Co., Donald Wolfit Technical Phot.ogre phe r s , 1160 are compl e t e Ly accustomed Diana Wynyard to hand l i.ng valuable ma te r ia L, Jr;,, ~ ~ ~ J/Au~ fa u:;:- ~ ~£:~ ...... 1111111 - - .. THE SOCIETY FOR THEATRE RESEARCH President: Professor EDWARD ]. DENT
Chairman : MURIEL ST. CLARE BYRNE Hon. Treasurer r BASIL FRANCIS, I 15 KENILWORTH COURT, LONDON, S.W,15 Hon. Secretaries: SYBIL ROSENFELD and BERTRAM SHUTTLEWORTH, 7 ASHBURNHAM MANSIONS, LONDON, S.W.10
February 1952.
'.'7ILLIA.H POEL CENTENARY COMMITTEE Dear Mr. Watkins,
To commemorate his centenary which falls in July 1952 the Society for Theatre Research is arranging a programme of "Homage to v.rilliam Poel". As Sir Lewis Casson has recently said, "there is hardly a single production of Shakespeare in this country today that does not in some measure show his influence"; and we consider t:r..at the centenary is a proper occasion for revivifying older memories and passing on to younger generations the first-hand exper i ence of some of the p/clyers who were originally concerned in his productions. At a preliminary meeting with representatives of the Society members of the theatrical profession and other friends agreed to join with the Society in forming an organising committee. In the belief that you will like to be associated with tribute Ia211e Edi th Evans and the Centenary Committee hope you will allow us to include your name in our list of distinguished patrons, as your support would be greatly valued. Patrons ate not asked for financial assistance, but help in making the project Jmown to othere who might be interested would be much appreciated. L brief report of the proposals discussed at the preliminary meeting is enclosed.
(Signed on behalf of ])a.me Edith.Evans and ~ne Centenary Committee) f.t. -1lll~- ~
( Chairma.n, Society for Theatre- Research) Ronald Ua tkins Esq. , Elmfii£(1, Harrow'on the Hill. ·"
WILLI.Al"'\i POEL CErJTEN.ARY C O~;J:;.'.I~1TEE -- .. ~------~-~~~------. - - ~ - Chairnan Dame Edith Evans ------Sir Kenneth Bdrnes Lady Keeble Dr. F.SoBoas S.R • .Littlewooa Martin Browne Ernest Milton ·:k.M. St. Clare Byrne Nugent lJonck Sir Lewis Casson Esm0' J?ercy *Professor EoJ.Dent iSybil Rosenfela ·~Basil Francis :XBertr312 Shuttleworth Allan Gomme ~Richard Southern .±Phyllis H~rtnoll ·Robert Speaight ·XProf.(essor J. Es aae a Dame Sybil Thorndike "sir B~rry Jackson ~Gwynneth Thurburn . ' (0(, Representatives of the Society.) ------...... --~ ·------··- --- Re :e._o_I t o_2'"'__])_! _~~-imin ar;r_ _!:~e-~~-ngi , J:L _~E'..1?..!_U_3._r_y_l_9. 5_§_ ._ During the first fortnicht in July we hope to vresent a matinee performance, o rgant s e d by I:Ir" Robert Atkins, in which scenes from some of Poel's outst3nGing productions will be revived under the direction of actors and actresses who originally t ook pa r t in t hem, The programme will also inc1ude an 3.pprecio.tion of Poel's work by a distinguished sp eake r , I.!:rn .::\.-:~1,:ins hopes to secure a theatre or ha I I which will give pl J.tform-staGe conditions. Its capacity 2ust be sufficient to provide for the audience that may reasonably be expected to attend a performance of this kincl, and must further enable us to make a number of cheap seats available for students from colleges and drama.tic schools •
.Among the plc:i.ys under consider9.tion o.re : Hamlet (1st quarto), Fratricide Bunislled, Ev e r yman , Sejanus;-- Edward 111, Trail tis--ai1cf(fre-s-:s:CcE.:t~--co-r1oTan_u_s - -- - - Mr.-J.\J-ugeri"'f-l!Y6iic)k_---h-3s-··or-:f'Efr7"8-cf--to-iir-cfrfo_-c-c_·sG..'i1_c iT1 group of his Norwich Pls.yers in 311 o x t r ao t fro~·,1 Z"..'-:._e_ry~~mi: he possesses many of Pool 'S o:rie;,in--'l c o s t ume s :1nd some of the sc cne ry , Mr. Hobert Atkins 110.s of:lcrcd to pr o duc e the Countess scenes from EauJrd III. A list of scenGs and their producers w i l I be ser:i1;---:f0---s-upp.ortcrs '.ls soon a s the c omp Lo t o pr ogr amme is ar r angc.d .
-:-.-:-:-:-
' 28, ST. J OHN's Woo D .,.,1ERRACE N.W.8. '
P:R.IMROSE 0967 • ~---- TU 7, .L. z ,
1r THE s6cIETY FOR THEATRE RESEARCH Presidmr : Professor EDWARD J. DENT Chairman : MURIEL ST. CLARE BYRNE Hon. Treasurer r BASIL FRANCIS, 115 KENILWORTH COURT, LONDON, S.W.15 Hon. Secretaries: SYBIL ROSENFELD and BERTRAM SHUTTLEWORTH, 7 ASHBURNHAM MANSIONS, LONDON, S.W.10 1iarch, 19 52
William Poel Cent enar;y Coramittee
I am so grateful for your kindness in consenting to beco~e one of our patrous, and I want to thank you on behalf of the Centenary Committee for the encouragement you have given
us by your interest and support. ) ----< _,,/.e__.c..--- -- .._____...._-"\' g~ 28, ST. JOHN'S WOOD TERRACE, N.W.8.
PRIMROSE 0967 •