Actors still have great awareness of language and its use in the theatre by writers of their own time. After Harold Pinter died there was a celebration of his work in a performance at the National Theatre. A group of some twenty actors sat in a great arc across the width of the Olivier stage and got up to play scenes from Pinter’s plays, most of which had been memorised, but with minimal staging. Many of the actors had played the parts in productions but they all brought a love of the writer’s work and a responsibility to its performance on the stage that one rarely sees. This was a celebration of a writer’s language with no intellectual concept to get in the way. It was a demonstration of what Beckett meant when he said that a theatre stage is an area of maximum verbal presence and maximum corporeal presence. In a writer of their own time the actors had all the authority of Gielgud or Olivier or Evans. Whether they could display the same authority in a classical text is another matter, but it was heartening to see theatre in which words had so much value and yet the actors were so physically alive.
There is a tendency to speak of ‘text-based work’ as if it were a small and decaying part of theatre. All plays are ‘text-based’ and whatever the changes in language, they always will be. You cannot have a theatre without words and ideas. ‘Physical theatre’ should not mean mindless theatre. Audiences will always find it easier to watch spectacle than think, but would feel starved if deprived of ideas indefinitely. Much recent work has absorbed mime, music and technology into a mixed-media experience, sometimes very imaginatively and successfully, but a theatre needs plays. A play is still a structure in which characters move through a series of actions, speaking words to each other to make a meaningful experience.
We cannot return to Shakespeare’s collective when writer and actors were equal shareholders in the theatre venture and did not include a director. We cannot live forever in the shadow of Beckett and Brecht. Theatre workers need their freedom. We have to find the writer/actor/director balance for our own time. Certainly my best work at the Royal Court, the National Theatre and most of all with the Joint Stock Theatre Group was when the work came nearest to that of a collective. Today the amount of talent in writing and acting is enormous, but not enough is focused or shared. We live in an individualistic, competitive society, but does it have to dominate our work?
Index
Alchemist, The ref1, ref2
Alexander, F.M. ref1
Alfreds, Mike ref1
Alice in Wonderland ref1
All That Fall ref1
Allio, René ref1
Almeida Theatre (London) ref1
Anderson, Lindsay ref1, ref2, ref3
Antony and Cleopatra ref1, ref2, ref3
Arden, John ref1, ref2, ref3
Aristotle ref1, ref2, ref3
Arts Theatre (London) ref1
As You Like It ref1
Ashcroft, Peggy ref1, ref2
Ayckbourn, Alan ref1
Baal ref1, ref2
Bagnold, Enid ref1
Barber of Seville, The ref1
Barrault, Jean-Louis ref1
Barter, Noriko ref1
Bartholomew Fair ref1
Barton, John ref1
Bateson, F.W. ref1
Beaumarchais, Pierre-Augustin ref1
Beaux’ Stratagem, The ref1
Beckett, Samuel ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13
Belasco, David ref1
Bells, The ref1
Benny, Jack ref1
Berger, John ref1, ref2, ref3
Berliner Ensemble ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Bernstein, Leonard ref1
Blackfriars Theatre (1609) ref1, ref2
Blair, Tony ref1
Blake, William ref1, ref2
Blakely, Colin ref1
Blin, Roger ref1
Bond, Edward ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Bourgeois gentilhomme, Le ref1
Brando, Marlon ref1
Brecht, Bertolt ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref4, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15
Bremner, Rory ref1
Bridie, James ref1
Britten, Benjamin ref1
Brook, Peter ref1, ref2
Bunyan, John ref1
Busch, Ernst ref1
Calder-Marshall, Anna ref1
Callas, Maria ref1
Candida ref1
Capriccio ref1
Carroll, Lewis (Charles Dodgson) ref1, ref2
Carver, Raymond ref1
Cathedral ref1
Caucasian Chalk Circle, The ref1, ref2, ref3
Central School of Speech and Drama ref1
Chalk Garden, The ref1
Changing Room, The ref1
Chaplin, Charlie ref1
Chekhov, Anton ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Cherry Orchard, The ref1, ref2
Churchill, Caryl ref1, ref2
Churchill, Winston ref1
Citizen Kane ref1
Cocktail Party, The ref1
Coghill, Nevill ref1
Coleridge, S.T. ref1, ref2
Comédie-Française ref1
Commedia dell’Arte ref1, ref2, ref3
Congreve, William ref1, ref2, ref3
Copeau, Jacques ref1, ref2
Coriolanus ref1, ref2
Coward, Noël ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Cromwell, Oliver ref1
Cymbeline ref1
Daldry, Stephen ref1
Dame aux camélias, La ref1
Dante Alighieri ref1
Da Ponte, Lorenzo ref1
Daphne Laureola ref1
Decroux, Étienne ref1
Delaney, Shelagh ref1
Devine, George ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Dexter, John ref1, ref2
Dickens, Charles ref1, ref2, ref3
D’Oyly Carte Opera ref1
Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? ref1
Duchess of Malfi, The ref1
Duck Soup ref1
Dumas, Alexandre, fils ref1
Early Morning ref1
East 15 (see Theatre Royal, Stratford East)
Eliot, T.S. ref1
Endgame ref1, ref2, ref3
English Stage Company ref1
Entertainer, The ref1, ref2
Erlkönig, Der ref1
Essay on Man, An ref1
Etherege, George ref1, ref2
Evans, Edith ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Exposed by the Mask ref1, ref2
Falstaff ref1
Fanshen ref1
Farquhar, George ref1
Faust ref1
Fergusson, Francis ref1
Fin de partie 10–11 (and see Endgame)
Fletcher, John ref1
Fogerty, Elsie ref1
Folio and Quarto texts (Shakespeare) ref1, ref2, ref3
Footfalls ref1, ref2, ref3
Forbidden Planet ref1
4.48 Psychosis ref1
Fraser, Neal ref1
Freud, Sigmund ref1
Garrick, David ref1
Geneva ref1
George Dandin ref1
Giacometti, Alberto ref1
Gielgud, John ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Gilbert and Sullivan ref1
Gill, Peter ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Globe Theatre (1599) ref1, ref2, ref3
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von ref1
Granville Barker, Harley ref1
Gray, Terence ref1
Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel ref1
Guide to English Literature, A ref1
Guinness, Alec ref1, ref2, ref3
Gunter, John ref1
Guthrie, Tyrone ref1, ref2, ref3
Hall, Peter ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Hamlet ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17, ref18, ref19, ref20, ref21
Hamlet (1948 film) ref1, ref2
Hampton, Christopher ref1
Handel, George Frideric ref1
Happy Days ref1, ref2, ref3
Happy Haven, The ref1
Hare, David ref1, ref2
Harris, Rosemary ref1
Harrison, Rex ref1
Hedda Gabler ref1, ref2
Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 ref1, ref2
Henry V ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
Henry V (1945 film) ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Henry VI, Part 3 ref1
Henry VIII ref1
‘Her Triumph’ (‘A Celebration of Charis’) ref1
Herbert, Jocelyn ref1, ref2, ref3
Hofmannsthal, Hugo von ref1
Hugo, Victor ref1
Hunter, Kathryn ref1
Hurwicz, Angelika ref1
Ibsen, Henrik ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Idea of a Theater, The ref1
Importance of Being Earnest, The ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Inspector Calls, An ref1
Ionesco, Eugène ref1
Irving, Henry ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Jellicoe, Ann ref1
Jew of Malta, The ref1, ref2
John Gabriel Borkman ref1
Johnson, Samuel ref1
Joint Stock Theatre Group ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Jones, Ernest ref1
Jonson, Ben ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Joyce, James ref1
Julius Caesar ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Julius Caesar (1953 film) ref1
Kane, Sarah ref1
Kermode, Frank ref1
Kidd, Robert ref1
King Lear ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Kinuta (The Fulling Block) ref1
Kitchen, The ref1
Krapp’s Last Tape ref1
Laban, Rudolf ref1
Laughton, Charles ref1
Lawrence, D.H. ref1
Lean, David ref1
Lerner and Loewe ref1
Life of Galileo, The ref1, ref2
Little Eyolf ref1
Littlewood, Joan ref1, ref2
Logue, Christopher ref1
Look Back in Anger ref1, ref2
Losey, Joseph ref1
Love’s Labour’s Lost ref1, ref2
Lubitsch, Ernst ref1
Lynn, Ralph ref1
Macbeth ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9
Macbeth (opera) ref1
Macdonald, James ref1
MacGowran, Jack ref1
Madame Butterfly ref1
Madras House, The ref1
Magic Flute, The ref1
Malade imaginaire, Le ref1
Malleson, Miles ref1
Man of Mode, The ref1
Marceau, Marcel ref1
Marlowe, Christopher ref1, ref2, ref3
Marriage of Figaro, The ref1
Marvell, Andrew ref1
Marx, Groucho ref1
Master Builder, The ref1
Measure for Measure ref1
Merchant of Venice, The ref1, ref2
Merry Wives of Windsor, The ref1
Michelangelo ref1
Middleton, Thomas ref1
Midsummer Night’s Dream, A 117
Miller, Jonathan ref1
Mills, John ref1
Milton, John ref1, ref2, ref3
Misanthrope, Le ref1
Molière ref1, ref2, ref3
Monty Python’s Flying Circus ref1
Mother Courage ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Moscow Art Theatre ref1, ref2
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus ref1, ref2, ref3
Much Ado About Nothing ref1, ref2
My Fair Lady ref1
National Theatre (London) ref1, ref2, ref3
Neher, Caspar ref1
Nemirovich-Danchenko, Vladimir ref1
No Man’s Land ref1
Not I ref1, ref2
Number, A ref1, ref2
Odd Man Out ref1
Oedipus Rex ref1, ref2, ref3
Old Hat, The ref1
Old Times ref1, ref2
Old Vic Theatre (London) ref1, ref2
Oliver Twist (1948 film) ref1
Olivier, Laurence ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12
O’Neill, Eugene ref1
Optimistic Thrust, An ref1
Orwell, George ref1
Osborne, John ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Otello ref1
Othello ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Otway, Thomas ref1
Page, Anthony ref1, ref2
Palace Theatre (London) ref1
Paradise Lost ref1
Pennington, Michael ref1
Phèdre ref1
Phillips, Andy ref1
Philoctetes ref1
Pickwick Papers, The ref1
Pinter, Harold ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Piscator, Erwin ref1
Play ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Plowright, Joan ref1
Plummer, Christopher ref1
Poel, William ref1
Pope, Alexander ref1
Priestley, J.B. ref1
Private Lives ref1
Proust, Marcel ref1
Puccini, Giacomo ref1
Pygmalion ref1
Quayle, Anthony ref1
Racine, Jean ref1
Rape of Lucrece, The ref1
Redgrave, Michael ref1
Renaud, Madeleine ref1
Resounding Tinkle, A ref1, ref2
Revenger’s Tragedy, The ref1
Richard II ref1
Richard III ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Richardson, Ralph ref1, ref2
Richardson, Tony ref1
Rimbaud, Arthur ref1
Robeson, Paul ref1
Rockaby ref1
Rodgers and Hart ref1
Romeo and Juliet ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Rosmersholm ref1, ref2
Rossini, Gioachino ref1
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
Royal Court Theatre ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden ref1
Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Royal Shakespeare Theatre (Stratford) ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Saint Joan of the Stockyards ref1
Saint-Denis, Michel ref1, ref2
Sardou, Victorien ref1
Saved ref1, ref2
Scarlet Pimpernel, The ref1
Schubert, Franz ref1
Schut, Henk ref1, ref2
Scofield, Paul ref1
Seagull, The ref1, ref2
Sedgwick, Toby ref1
Serenade ref1
Shakespeare, William ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17, ref18, ref19, ref20, ref21, ref22, ref23 (and see under individual plays)
Shakespeare’s Sonnets ref1, ref2
Shaw, George Bernard ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
‘Sick Rose, The’ ref1
Simpson, N.F. ref1, ref2, ref3
Small Change ref1, ref2
Smith, Maggie ref1, ref2, ref3
Sophocles ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Speakers, The ref1
Stafford-Clark, Max ref1, ref2, ref3
Stanislavsky, Konstantin ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Stephens, Robert ref1
Sterne, Laurence ref1
Storey, David ref1, ref2, ref3
Strange Interlude ref1
Strauss, Richard ref1
Streetcar Named Desire, A ref1
Suzuki, Tadashi ref1
Tamburlaine the Great ref1
Taste of Honey, A ref1
Tempest, The ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Terry, Ellen ref1, ref2
Terry, Fred ref1
Théâtre Marigny (Paris) ref1
Théâtre Nat
ionale Populaire (Paris) ref1
Theatre Royal, Stratford East (London) ref1
Theatre Workshop ref1
Three Sisters ref1
Threepenny Opera, The ref1, ref2
Thurburn, Gwynneth ref1
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy ref1
To Be or Not To Be ref1
Tosca ref1
Total Eclipse ref1
Tourneur, Cyril ref1
Traviata, La ref1
Troilus and Cressida ref1
Twelfth Night ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Tynan, Kenneth ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Ulysses ref1
Uncle Vanya ref1
Venice Preserv’d ref1
Venus and Adonis ref1
Verdi, Giuseppe ref1, ref2, ref3
Verlaine, Paul ref1
Vilar, Jean ref1
Voice of Poetry, The ref1
Voysey Inheritance, The ref1
Waiting for Godot ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Walton, William ref1
Way of the World, The ref1, ref2, ref3
Webster, John ref1
Weigel, Helene ref1, ref2
Weill, Kurt ref1
Welles, Orson ref1
Wesker, Arnold ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Wesker Trilogy, The ref1, ref2
West Side Story ref1
When We Dead Awaken ref1
Whitelaw, Billie ref1
Widowing of Mrs Holroyd, The ref1
Wilde, Oscar ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Williams, Heathcote ref1
Williams, Tennessee ref1
Williamson, Nicol ref1
Wilson, Robert ref1
Winter’s Tale, The ref1, ref2
York Realist, The ref1
Zeami ref1, ref2
Zeffirelli, Franco ref1
William Gaskill
William Gaskill was born and brought up in Shipley, Yorkshire. His first London productions were as one of the associates of George Devine in the early days of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre. Writers whose plays he premiered include John Osborne, N.F. Simpson, Arnold Wesker, John Arden and Edward Bond. He was invited by Laurence Olivier to be an Associate Director in the founding of the National Theatre and in its first season directed a production of The Recruiting Officer, which brought a whole new approach to Restoration Comedy. A great advocate of the plays of Brecht, he directed many of the first British performances of Brecht’s major plays. When George Devine retired in 1965 he asked Gaskill to take over the running of the Royal Court. Among the plays that he directed in his seven years as Artistic Director were all the early plays of Edward Bond, among them Saved. Though unlicensed for public performance by the Lord Chamberlain (at that time responsible for licensing all plays), the production of Saved went ahead with the result that Gaskill and the English Stage Company were successfully prosecuted. The outcry that followed was important in the campaign to change the law, and in 1968 a bill was passed removing the Lord Chamberlain’s powers of censorship. When Gaskill left the Royal Court he joined with Max Stafford-Clark in forming the Joint Stock Theatre Group and together they directed its opening productions: The Speakers, Fanshen and Yesterday’s News. During his entire career Gaskill has always combined teaching with directing. Most of his recent work has been at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. His productions there include adaptations of Raymond Carver short stories and a chapter of James Joyce’s Ulysses, and the first British stage production of Beckett’s All That Fall.