007083 The Opera House Manchester 1935 First Edition 5.5 x 9" Pamphlet Good 16pp - Souvenir programme for Manchester's Opera House's 1935 (probably, based on the cast being almost identical to that at London's New Theatre late the previous year) touring company production of "Hamlet", starring John Gielgud in the title role and directing, Laura Cowie (as Queen Gertrude), Jessica Tandy (as Ophelia), Glen Byam-Shaw (as Laertes), George Howe (as Polonius), George Devine (as Marcellus), William Devlin (as the ghost of Hamlet's father), Anthony Quayle (as both Bernardo and Guildenstern), Alec Guinness (as Osric), and Geoffrey Toone (as Rosencrantz). <P> This was the epitome of Hamlet productions of the 1930s according to reviewers at the time. Critic J. C. Trewin, for example, wrote that it was "the key Shakespearean revival of its period. . . the work of a player-producer who had learnt from modern masters, Craig here, Barker there. . . . It ran for 155 performances, a record exceeded only by Henry Irving's original Lyceum production." <P> Jessica Tandy was a British stage and film actress. From a young age she was determined to be an actress, and first appeared on the London stage in 1926, playing, among others, Katherine opposite Laurence Olivier's "Henry V", and Cordelia opposite John Gielgud's "King Lear". She made her American film debut in "The Seventh Cross" in 1944 and in "The Valley of Decision" the next year. After her Tony-winning performance as Blanche DuBois in the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire", she concentrated on the stage. The beginning of the 1980s saw a resurgence in her film career, with character roles in "The World According to Garp", "Still of the Night" and the hit film Cocoon in 1985, She and her second husband, Hume Cronyn, had been working together more and more, on stage and television, to continued acclaim, notably in 1987's "Foxfire"for which she won an Emmy Award (recreating her Tony winning Broadway role). And her performance in "Driving Miss Daisy" in 1989, earned her an Oscar. She was the oldest actor to ever win an Academy Award. <P> Alec Guinness was only 21 when he played in this production, and went on to eventually win both Oscars and Tonys as one of the most versatile performers of his generation. He first worked writing copy for advertising before making his West End debut at the Albery Theatre in 1936, still playing the role of Osric in Gielgud's wildly successful production of "Hamlet". During this period he formed the personal and working friendships that lasted his lifetime, with such luminaries as Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, Quayle, and Jack Hawkins. He continued working in Shakespeare throughout his career. By 1938 he was starring in the title role of "Hamlet" to universal acclaim. In 1939, he adapted Dickens' novel "Great Expectations" for the stage, playing the part of Herbert Pocket. The play was a success; one of its viewers was a young British film editor named David Lean, who had Guinness reprise his role in the former's 1946 film adaptation of the play. Guinness served in the Royal Navy throughout World War II, first as a seaman in 1941 and then commissioned the following year. He returned to the Old Vic in 1946 and stayed through 1948, playing a variety of major roles. Arguably his most memorable film roles were in "The Ladykillers" and, of course his playing eight different characters in "Kind Hearts and Coronets". For his performance in "Bridge on the River Kwai", as Colonel Nicholson, the unyielding British POW leader, Guinness won a Best Actor Oscar. His Tony came for his Broadway triumph as Dylan Thomas in "Dylan" <P> <B>PROVENANCE:</B> this"item comes from the collection of H. W. Roxburgh of Liverpool, in whose extensive collection of theatrical ephemera this item was contained. It was purchased at Fellows and Sons Auction, Birmingham (UK) in Aug, 2007. <P>The cover and textblock are worn and lightly soiled with a closed tear on rear cover and creases at the bottom fore-corner of the rear cover and the page preceding that. £7.50GBP
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