Document ID ET-D378
| Archive Location | ET PROGS ET-D235-418, 1908-1918 (BL) Loan 125/22/8 |
|---|---|
| Document description | programme |
| Date | 1911 |
| Document form | D - Programme |
| Document attributes | Annotated |
| Production Date(s) | [May 1911] to [June 1911] |
| Venue address | London |
| General notes | Ellen Terry's Shakespeare lecture, including Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Coriolanus, The Merchant of Venice. Some authorial assistance from Christopher St John. Press opinions included. |
| Language | English |
Works Cited
| Title | The Triumphant Heroines of Shakespeare |
|---|---|
| Original author | Ellen Terry |
Document ID ET-D378, Image 1 of 6
Heroines of Shakespeare. Miss Ellen Terry
© Image copyright The National Trust 2024
Document ID ET-D378, Image 2 of 6
Miss Terry's Recital. Ladies, in all parts of the Hall, are earnestly requested to remove Hats, Bonnets, or any kind of head dress. This request being made for the benefit of the audience, the Management trusts that it will appeal to everyone, and that Ladies will kindly assist in having it carried out. Photo by Window & Grove, London. Ellen Terry.
© Image copyright The National Trust 2024
Document ID ET-D378, Image 3 of 6
Photo by Window & Grove, London. Ellen Terry.
© Image copyright The National Trust 2024
Document ID ET-D378, Image 4 of 6
Miss Ellen Terry's Recital "The Triumphant Heroines of Shakespeare" with illustrative acting. Photo by Window & Grove, London. Ellen Terry as "Beatrice". The Recital will be divided into Two Parts (with an interval of five minutes). In the course of the First Part Miss Ellen Terry will comment on Beatrice. The Second Part will be devoted to – Rosalind, Celia, Virgilia, Volumnia, Portia. "The Triumphant Heroines" from Shakespeare's Plays. Part 1. Beatrice – "Much Ado About Nothing" (With extracts, including the Church Scene) Interval of five minutes. Part II. Rosalind "As You Like It", Celia – "As You Like It", Virgilia "Coriolanus" (With Extracts), Volumnia – "Coriolanus (With Extracts), Portia – "Merchant of Venie" (Including the Mercy Speech). The Times says: - "There is nothing conventional, nothing stereotyped, about Miss Ellen Terry's Recitals. Wherever and whenever she speaks it will always be different and always fresh, not the dry discourse of an expert scholar or literary critic, but the living, laughing, triumphant, tearful, scornful words of a great actress who is proud to be a woman. The magnetism and charm of her is for ever breaking out, not only in her considered Acting, but in numbers of little womanly impromptu gestures and remarks asides. The Recital is full of touches of satire, humour, and pathos. It is a happy thing for England, as well as for Miss Terry, that she has found so effective a way of bringing home to Shakespeare's country men and women the inner meaning of his plays and the charm of her own art." Photo by Window & Grove, London. Miss Ellen Terry as "Portia".
© Image copyright The National Trust 2024
Document ID ET-D378, Image 5 of 6
Miss Ellen Terry's London Receitals (May-June 1911) A Few Press Opinions. The Daily Telegraph says: - "It was as if the record of those brilliant Shakespearean seasons at the old Lyceum, extending over a period of years, had been compressed into two brief hours, and memory flew back to the days when Henry Irving and Ellen Terry reigned supreme at that Theatre, and by their marvellous art created a gallery of portraits which no one who had the privilege of looking upon will ever permit to lapse into oblivion. On the draped stage of the Haymarket, beside a table almost entirely hidden by heaped-up banks of flowers, Miss Terry discoursed on the heroines of Shakespeare's plays, many of whom she herself has helped to vivfy and render splendidly real to a generation of playgoers. First in easy and eloquent language, she gave us the why and wherefore of her faith in each, bringing into strong immediate relief the salient qualities of characters familiar as household words. Miss Terry did not confine herself to mere analysis of character. Ever and anon she sought to illustrate the poet's text by means of her own exquisite art. In all these Miss Terry threw herself heart and soul, stamping every impersonation with the grace, power, and charm of an individuality which every student of Shakespeare will long hold in loving remembrance. It was a memorable afternoon." The Pall Mall Gazette says: - "The Recital showed how much brain-work a great actress puts into her study of a part. Take all ‘The Triumphant Women' Miss Terry dealt with – Beatrice, Rosalind, Volumnia, Portia, - when you have heard what she has to say about the character of each one, you will realise how poor your own conception of them was, compared with that she reveals to you. In truth, it is an education to hear her view on them, and an infinite delight to see her acting bits of Beatrice, Portia, Volumnia and Rosalind. To watch the change of Miss Terry, being simply Miss Terry lecturing, to Miss Terry throwing herself into one or other of these characters is a revelation, a revelation which should do much to teach audiences what acting may be, and so, perhaps, help to keep alive the art of Shakespearean acting, which is said to be dying out." The Referee says: - "At the Haymarket Theatre, a delighted audience listened with rapt attention while Miss Ellen Terry addressed them for nearly two hours on ‘Shakespeare's Triumphant Heroines.' In rapid succession the great – nay, still our greatest – actress sketched the chief features of such glorious characters as Beatrice, Rosalind and Portia, with sidelights on Volumnia and Virgilia. The skilful and keen-sighted manner in which she analysed the characters, and the beautiful way in which she acted certain scenes, made this ever-delightful actress's glorious gallery of Shakespearean portraits perfect. Wherever the fair artiste goes those who miss her Recitals will miss the most graceful, most gracious, and most fascinating exposition of Shakespeare to be found."
© Image copyright The National Trust 2024
Document ID ET-D378, Image 6 of 6
Bishop & Sons Ltd, Central Printing Works, Edinburgh.
© Image copyright The National Trust 2024
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Document ID: ET-D378 Archive location: ET PROGS ET-D235-418, 1908-1918 (BL) Loan 125/22/8
