The Ideal of Ensemble Practice in Twentieth-Century British Theatre, 1900-1968 Philippa Burt Goldsmiths, University of London P

The Ideal of Ensemble Practice in Twentieth-century British Theatre, 1900-1968 Philippa Burt Goldsmiths, University of London PhD January 2015 1 I hereby declare that the work presented in this thesis is my own and has not been and will not be submitted, in whole or in part, to any other university for the award of any other degree. Philippa Burt 2 Acknowledgements This thesis benefitted from the help, support and advice of a great number of people. First and foremost, I would like to thank Professor Maria Shevtsova for her tireless encouragement, support, faith, humour and wise counsel. Words cannot begin to express the depth of my gratitude to her. She has shaped my view of the theatre and my view of the world, and she has shown me the importance of maintaining one’s integrity at all costs. She has been an indispensable and inspirational guide throughout this process, and I am truly honoured to have her as a mentor, walking by my side on my journey into academia. The archival research at the centre of this thesis was made possible by the assistance, co-operation and generosity of staff at several libraries and institutions, including the V&A Archive at Blythe House, the Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, the National Archives in Kew, the Fabian Archives at the London School of Economics, the National Theatre Archive and the Clive Barker Archive at Rose Bruford College. Dale Stinchcomb and Michael Gilmore were particularly helpful in providing me with remote access to invaluable material held at the Houghton Library, Harvard and the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, Austin, respectively. Special thanks must go to Michael Meredith at Eton College Library, who generously shared both his passion for Edward Gordon Craig and a host of original material, and to Steven Dryden at the British Library Sound Archives, who made previously inaccessible recordings and interviews available to me. Thanks also to the Edward Gordon Craig Estate, the Society of Authors on behalf of the Harley Granville Barker Estate and Arts Council England for allowing me to cite the relevant material. 3 I owe a debt of gratitude to the directors and practitioners who gave me their time and their invaluable first-hand insight into the reality of attempts to create ensemble companies. Michael Boyd’s candour in our interview at the start of my research, when he was attempting to create an ensemble at the Royal Shakespeare Company and experiencing first hand the resistance to it in Britain, pointed me in fruitful directions. Both Jean Newlove and Philip Hedley kindly shared their experience of working with Joan Littlewood at Theatre Workshop and answered my questions on her training methods and her work with actors. Roger Howells’s recollections of working at the RSC in the 1960s were similarly useful in giving me a sense of the general atmosphere of the company. Discussions with my peers and fellow PhD students both within and outside Goldsmiths have proved interesting and enlightening, and I extend my warm thanks to Sophie Jump for her collegiality and generosity in sharing her thoughts on Michel Saint-Denis and the London Theatre Studio with me. I am also grateful to my fellow shire horses in the Sociology of Theatre and Performance Research Group for the numerous stimulating conversations, academic support and friendship that they offered. Thank you also to my friends and family who helped me to maintain my perspective, good humour and sanity. Finally, my deepest love and thanks goes to my parents, Jacqui and Michael Burt, and my husband, Stuart Stubbs, who continued to believe in me even when I did not believe in myself. I am eternally grateful for their unwavering support, patience and love throughout this process, without which this project would not have been possible. 4 Abstract The central purpose of this thesis is to chart the ideal of ensemble theatre in Britain and its development in the country throughout the twentieth century, referring specifically to selected directors. The Stanislavskian model of the ensemble, as exemplified by the Moscow Art Theatre, served this ideal, pursued by Edward Gordon Craig, Harley Granville Barker, Theodore Komisarjevsky, Joan Littlewood and Peter Hall, who are the focus of the argument. Craig and Barker’s understanding of ensemble work was significantly influenced by their meetings with Stanislavsky in 1908 and 1914 respectively, while Littlewood and Hall were influenced by his writings on the theatre. Following Stanislavsky, the thesis offers a definition of ensemble as a permanent group based on shared values. The chosen directors are the most representative of attempts to establish ensemble companies in Britain in the twentieth century. They are also landmark cases in the sense that they initiated change in the perception of what a theatre company could be. The thesis argues, however, that the continued domination of the commercial theatre over the art theatre has been an impediment to each director’s attempts. Each chapter of the thesis is dedicated to a specific director, and, with the exception of Craig’s work at the Moscow Art Theatre, analysis is confined to the directors’ work in Britain. Methodologically rooted within the sociology of the theatre, the thesis maps the progression of ensemble practices in British society. It interweaves extensive archival research with an exploration of the sociological, economic and political factors that underpin both the attempts to establish a permanent company and the resistance to it. The thesis explores the pervasive influence of individualism and commercialism in all areas of British life, arguing that their principles generate a theatre climate that was not conducive to the establishment of a permanent ensemble company and was even antithetical to it. Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of culture, and Maria Shevtsova’s development of Bourdieu’s theory in relation to theatre, provides the theoretical frame of the thesis. 5 Table of Contents Page Introduction 8 Chapter One: The ensemble as an obedient family: Edward Gordon Craig, 1900-1914 20 1. Mapping the Field 27 2. Discipline and Obedience in the Art of the Theatre 41 3. The Devoted Amateurs of the Purcell Operatic Society 48 4. Craig and the Actors of the Moscow Art Theatre 59 5. The School for the Art of the Theatre 69 Chapter Two: The ensemble as a model of collectivism: Harley Granville Barker, 1904-1914 79 1. The Fabian Society and Habitus 88 2. Teamwork and Co-operation at the Court 98 3. The Ensemble in Barker’s Shakespeare Productions 115 4. The Threat to Individuality 121 5. Barker’s Departure from the British Stage 129 Chapter Three: The ensemble and the Russian émigré: Theodore Komisarjevsky, 1919-1939 134 1. Entering the Field of Theatre in Post-war Britain 142 2. A Theatre of Synthesis 158 3. The Chekhovian Ensemble at Barnes 164 4. The Russian ‘Invasion’ at Stratford 175 5. Exile from the Field 188 Chapter Four: The ensemble in training: Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop, 1945-1961 192 1. The Artistic Landscape after 1945 204 2. The Changing Context of Training: Michel Saint-Denis 210 6 3. Finding Unity Through Training 215 4. The Training Programme in Action 219 5. The Struggle to Survive 233 6. The Breakdown of the Group 244 Chapter Five: The ensemble realised? Peter Hall and the Royal Shakespeare Company, 1961-1968 251 1. Establishing the Royal Shakespeare Company 262 2. The Royal Shakespeare Company as a Committed Ensemble 270 3. The Problem of Permanency 282 4. Consecration and Competition for the National Theatre 296 5. The Departure of Peter Hall 307 Conclusion 311 Endnotes 316 Bibliography 323 7 Introduction While the growth of ensemble theatre in Europe over the course of the twentieth century is well acknowledged, little attention has been given to its development in Britain. This thesis, by contrast, charts the interest in ensemble theatre shown with great commitment by Edward Gordon Craig, Harley Granville Barker, Theodore Komisarjevsky, Joan Littlewood and Peter Hall, the leading figures in Britain who attempted to establish such a theatre, largely inspired in their endeavour by Stanislavsky and the Moscow Art Theatre. This was direct in the case of Craig, Barker and Komisarjevsky and via indirect routes in the case of Littlewood and Hall. The model in all cases was a theatre home and a permanent and closely-knit group founded on shared values that is distinct from the looser idea of teamwork and actors brought together on a project-based remit. The five chosen directors were all committed to the ideals of actor-centred permanency, even playing and the constant interrelation between training and acting that underpin this model, although each demonstrated a nuanced understanding of the term ‘ensemble’ and a different way of working with actors. Craig, for example, acted as an authoritarian in rehearsals and sought an ensemble of disciples, while Barker and Littlewood encouraged a more collaborative approach. This thesis, therefore, identifies the ensemble as an ideal of the British theatre. Further, its chronological structure shows this ideal being passed down and varied from director to director and so traces the ensemble lineage in its various manifestations through the twentieth century. At the same time, the thesis examines key aspects of the British theatre in the context of British society both of which prove to have been unfavourable to ensemble practice. It charts the pervasive influence of individualism and commercialism and the underlying atmosphere of competition

Load more