Lilian Baylis

A Biography
Erscheinungsjahr 2006
ISBN: 978-1-902806-63-1
Verlag: Society for Theatre Research

Buch, Englisch, 320 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 649 g

Lilian Baylis autobiography sets out to discover how Baylis was able to manage two theatres and three companies and still bring in a profit.

When Lilian Baylis was badly hurt after a car accident, someone at the scene called out, 'It's Miss Baylis. Miss Baylis of the old Vic'. In spite of her injuries, Baylis drew herself up and imperiously corrected them, 'AND Sadler's Wells'. But Baylis was much more than the manager of the of the Old Vic, AND Sadler's Wells - she was also a founding mother of the British National Opera. She gave career changing breaks to actors such as John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, created new roles for Alicia Markova and furthered the careers of stars in the making such as Alec Guinness, Margot Fonteyn and Joan Cross. Even Joan Littlewood desperately wanted to work for Baylis.

This biography sets out to discover how Baylis was about to manage two theatres and three companies, bringing what was considered the very best of high culture to working people, and still haul in a profit. Elizabeth Schafer looks beyond the famous comic anecdotes and discovers the private woman behind the public persona. Based on new and original research, the book draws extensively on Baylis's autobiographical writing, detailing her early career as a musician and dancer and her lover the company of pioneering independent and high-powered women. It reveals how Baylis achieved so much, what it cost her, and gives a glimpse of the autobiographical Baylis herself never found time to write.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Schafer, Elizabeth

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgements xi
Abbreviations xii

1 Introduction 1
2 Beginnings: `Housing and Music, Music and Housing' 10
3 South Africa: Baylis's Adventures 1891-1897 30
4 Lilian Baylis and Emma Cons 49
5 Personal Matters 75
6 Baylis's First Love: Opera 101
7 `I turned, in despair, to Shakespeare': 129
Baylis and the Bard
8 The 192os: Baylis Builds an Empire 161
9 Baylis and the Ballet 204
10 The 193os 226
11 The Baylis Legacy 261
Appendix: Afterlives 273
Bibliography 283
Index 293

Über Autor(innen)

Schafer, Elizabeth
Elizabeth Schafer is Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. She has published widely on Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and on Australian drama and theatre.