Description
Book SynopsisThe greatest actor of his day, Sir Henry Irving (1838â1905) thrilled audiences with his tragedy and melodrama, his Hamlet and Richard III, most famously at the Lyceum Theatre in London. Born John Henry Brodribb, he took the name Irving for his first professional stage appearance in 1856. A long and exhausting apprenticeship followed, during which he played some 700 roles in theatres up and down the country before establishing his reputation in 1871 in the psychological thriller The Bells. In 1878, he took over the Lyceum and here, with his business manager Bram Stoker (1847â1912) and actress Ellen Terry (rumoured to be his mistress), he became the theatrical icon of his age. This engaging two-volume tribute by Stoker, his closest friend, was first published in 1906. Volume 1 includes reminiscences of Irving's Shakespeare, performances of The Bells, Faust and Tennyson's plays, Ellen Terry's acting and his appearances in America.
Table of ContentsPreface; 1. Earliest recollections of Henry Irving; 2. The old school and the new; 3. Friendship; 4. Honours from Dublin university; 5. Converging streams; 6. Joining forces; 7. The Lyceum productions; 8. Irving begins management; 9. Shakespeare plays - 1; 10. Shakespeare plays - 2; 11. Shakespeare plays - 3; 12. Shakespeare plays - 4; 13. Irving's method; 14. Art-sense; 15. Stage effects; 16. The value of experiment; 17. The pulse of the public; 18. Tennyson and his plays - 1; 19. Tennyson and his plays - 2; 20. Tennyson and his plays - 3; 21. Tennyson and his plays - 4; 22. Waterloo - King Arthur - Don Quixote; 23. Art and hazard; 24. Vandenhoff; 25. Charles Matthews; 26. Charles Dickens and Henry Irving; 27. Mr J. M. Levy; 28. Visits to America; 29. William Winter; 30. Performance at West Point; 31. American reporters; 32. Tours-de-force; 33. Christmas; 34. Irving as a social force; 35. Visits of foreign warships; 36. Irving's last reception at the Lyceum; 37. The voice of England; 38. Rival towns; 39. Two stories; 40. Sir Richard Burton; 41. Sir Henry Morton Stanley; 42. Arminius Vambéry.
