Stephen Arlen
Encyclopedia
Stephen Arlen was an English theatre manager and operatic administrator. Originally an actor, he took up backstage work as a stage manager, and in the years after the Second World War was in charge of stage management at the Old Vic
.
He was persuaded to join Sadler's Wells Opera
as an administrator, and was the moving force behind the company's change of base from Sadler's Wells Theatre
to the London Coliseum in 1968. He was seconded by Sadler's Wells to be adviser to the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie
in Brussels, and administrative director of the National Theatre
in its early days.
, the son of a comedian, Walter Cyril Badham, and his wife Annie Sophie née Earnshaw. At the age of 16 he started his stage career as an actor. He then switched to stage management, working backstage on such productions as George Robey
's last West End show, a revival of The Bing Boys Are Here
in 1934. In 1938, Arlen was stage manager for Bronson Albery
's repertory company at the Phoenix Theatre
, directed by Michel Saint-Denis
, with stars including Peggy Ashcroft
and Michael Redgrave
in a wide range of plays from Ibsen
to Shakespeare and Lorca
.
During the Second World War, Arlen worked with ENSA
in France, before joining the army. He rose from the ranks in The Buffs to a commission in the North Staffordshire Regiment
. Towards the end of the war he was appointed production manager for Stars in Battledress
. After the war, Arlen worked at the Old Vic
, as stage manager for directors including Saint-Denis, Glen Byam Shaw
and George Devine
, and for Prince Littler
at the London Coliseum. Norman Tucker
, who was then running Sadler's Wells Opera
persuaded Arlen to join him there. Their talents and characters complemented one another: the music critic Elizabeth Forbes recalled, "Tucker, a shy, reserved musician and scholar with a genius for administration", Arlen "his exact antithesis and complement … practical man of the theatre with just that tough epidermis that [Tucker] lacked."
In 1958, along with Tucker and the musical director, Alexander Gibson
, Arlen resigned when the Sadler's Wells trustees proposed a merger with the Carl Rosa Opera Company
that would have resulted in Sadler's Wells Opera abandoning its London home for most of the year. The proposal was withdrawn, and the three men agreed to withdraw their resignations.
Alden was twice seconded from Sadler's Wells to help other theatres. In 1959, at the request of the Belgian government, he advised Maurice Huisman on the reorganisation of the principal Belgian opera house, the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie
in Brussels. In 1962, he was administrative director of the National Theatre
in its early days.
In 1966, Tucker's health gave way and he was forced to retire. Arlen succeeded him as managing director of Sadler's Wells. He became, in the words of The Times
, "the moving spirit in the transfer of the company from Sadler's Wells Theatre to the London Coliseum". He said that his principal aim was to give the company a home "where the members can stretch themselves, where it will be possible to develop on all fronts – singing, production and design."
Among the celebrated productions of the Arlen era were Wagner
's The Mastersingers
and Ring
cycle conducted by Reginald Goodall
, whom Arlen rescued from an obscure coaching post at Covent Garden to become, in the words of The Musical Times
, "undoubtedly today's greatest Wagner conductor". The Times singled out "such exciting, if controversial, productions as The Damnation of Faust
, Carmen
and Tales of Hoffmann."
Arlen was twice married, first to Narice Ingram and secondly to the soprano Iris Kells, with whom he had a daughter. He was appointed CBE
in 1968.
After a short illness, Arlen died of cancer at the age of 58.
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
.
He was persuaded to join Sadler's Wells Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
as an administrator, and was the moving force behind the company's change of base from Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue located in Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington. The present day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500 seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive...
to the London Coliseum in 1968. He was seconded by Sadler's Wells to be adviser to the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie
La Monnaie
Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , or the Koninklijke Muntschouwburg is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....
in Brussels, and administrative director of the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
in its early days.
Life and career
Arlen was born Stephen Walter Badham, in BirminghamBirmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, the son of a comedian, Walter Cyril Badham, and his wife Annie Sophie née Earnshaw. At the age of 16 he started his stage career as an actor. He then switched to stage management, working backstage on such productions as George Robey
George Robey
Sir George Edward Wade , better known by his stage name, George Robey, was an English music hall comedian and star. He was marketed as the "Prime Minister of Mirth".-Early life:...
's last West End show, a revival of The Bing Boys Are Here
The Bing Boys Are Here
The Bing Boys Are Here, styled "A Picture of London Life, in a Prologue and Six Panels," is the first of a series of revues which played at the Alhambra Theatre, London during the last two years of World War I. The series included The Bing Boys on Broadway and The Bing Boys are There. The music...
in 1934. In 1938, Arlen was stage manager for Bronson Albery
Bronson Albery
Sir Bronson James Albery was an English theatre director and impresario. He was knighted in 1949 for his services to the theatre. The Albery Theatre in London was named in his honour and his son, Sir Donald Albery, was also a theatrical impresario.-References:...
's repertory company at the Phoenix Theatre
Phoenix Theatre
Phoenix Theatre may refer to:*Phoenix Arts Centre, former name was Phoenix Theatre in Leicester, UK*Phoenix Theatre , a West End theatre*Phoenix Theatre , a professional alternative theatre*Phoenix Theatre , a regional theatre...
, directed by Michel Saint-Denis
Michel Saint-Denis
Michel Saint-Denis , dit Jacques Duchesne, was a French actor, theater director, and drama theorist whose ideas on actor training have had a profound influence on the development of European theater from the 1930s on.Michel Saint-Denis was born in Beauvais, France, the nephew of Jacques Copeau, who...
, with stars including Peggy Ashcroft
Peggy Ashcroft
Dame Peggy Ashcroft, DBE was an English actress.-Early years:Born as Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft in Croydon, Ashcroft attended the Woodford School, Croydon and the Central School of Speech and Drama...
and Michael Redgrave
Michael Redgrave
Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author.-Youth and education:...
in a wide range of plays from Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
to Shakespeare and Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
.
During the Second World War, Arlen worked with ENSA
Entertainments National Service Association
The Entertainments National Service Association or ENSA was an organisation set up in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes...
in France, before joining the army. He rose from the ranks in The Buffs to a commission in the North Staffordshire Regiment
North Staffordshire Regiment
The North Staffordshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army, which was in existence between 1881 and 1959. It can date its lineage back to 1756 with the formation of a second battalion by the 11th Regiment of Foot, which shortly after became the 64th Regiment of Foot...
. Towards the end of the war he was appointed production manager for Stars in Battledress
Stars in Battledress
Stars in Battledress ' was an organisation that produced entertainment during World War II for and by military personnel- History :In Britain, during the Second World War, entertainment was considered an essential to keep morale high. In 1939 ENSA was organised by Basil Dean to send groups of...
. After the war, Arlen worked at the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
, as stage manager for directors including Saint-Denis, Glen Byam Shaw
Glen Byam Shaw
Glen Byam Shaw was an English actor and theatre director, known for his dramatic productions in the 1950s and his operatic productions in the 1960s and later....
and George Devine
George Devine
George Alexander Cassady Devine CBE was an extremely influential theatrical manager, director, teacher and actor in London from the late 1940s until his death. He also worked in the media of TV and film.-Biography:...
, and for Prince Littler
Prince Littler
Prince Frank Littler CBE was an influential British theatre impresario. He was also one of the major investors and a company director of Associated TeleVision, the second ITV network contractor to begin broadcasting in 1955.His brother Emile and sister Blanche were also major figures in the theatre...
at the London Coliseum. Norman Tucker
Norman Tucker
Norman Walter Gwynn Tucker was an English musician, administrator and translator. Trained as a concert pianist, he was invited to join Sadler's Wells Opera in 1947 in an administrative role, and from 1948 to 1966 he was the managerial head of the company.His translations of operas new to the...
, who was then running Sadler's Wells Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
persuaded Arlen to join him there. Their talents and characters complemented one another: the music critic Elizabeth Forbes recalled, "Tucker, a shy, reserved musician and scholar with a genius for administration", Arlen "his exact antithesis and complement … practical man of the theatre with just that tough epidermis that [Tucker] lacked."
In 1958, along with Tucker and the musical director, Alexander Gibson
Alexander Gibson (conductor)
Sir Alexander Gibson, CBE was a Scottish conductor and opera intendant.Gibson was born in Motherwell and studied music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, as well as in London, Salzburg and Siena, Italy...
, Arlen resigned when the Sadler's Wells trustees proposed a merger with the Carl Rosa Opera Company
Carl Rosa Opera Company
The Carl Rosa Opera Company was founded in 1873 by Carl August Nicholas Rosa, a German-born musical impresario, to present opera in English in London and the British provinces. The company survived Rosa's death in 1889, and continued to present opera in English on tour until 1960, when it was...
that would have resulted in Sadler's Wells Opera abandoning its London home for most of the year. The proposal was withdrawn, and the three men agreed to withdraw their resignations.
Alden was twice seconded from Sadler's Wells to help other theatres. In 1959, at the request of the Belgian government, he advised Maurice Huisman on the reorganisation of the principal Belgian opera house, the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie
La Monnaie
Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , or the Koninklijke Muntschouwburg is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....
in Brussels. In 1962, he was administrative director of the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
in its early days.
In 1966, Tucker's health gave way and he was forced to retire. Arlen succeeded him as managing director of Sadler's Wells. He became, in the words of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, "the moving spirit in the transfer of the company from Sadler's Wells Theatre to the London Coliseum". He said that his principal aim was to give the company a home "where the members can stretch themselves, where it will be possible to develop on all fronts – singing, production and design."
Among the celebrated productions of the Arlen era were Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's The Mastersingers
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is an opera in three acts, written and composed by Richard Wagner. It is among the longest operas still commonly performed today, usually taking around four and a half hours. It was first performed at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater in Munich, on June 21,...
and Ring
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
cycle conducted by Reginald Goodall
Reginald Goodall
Sir Reginald Goodall was an English conductor, noted for his performances of the operas of Richard Wagner and conducting the premieres of several operas by Benjamin Britten.-Biography:...
, whom Arlen rescued from an obscure coaching post at Covent Garden to become, in the words of The Musical Times
The Musical Times
The Musical Times is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom. It is currently the oldest such journal that is still publishing in the UK, having been published continuously since 1844. It was published as The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular until...
, "undoubtedly today's greatest Wagner conductor". The Times singled out "such exciting, if controversial, productions as The Damnation of Faust
The Damnation of Faust
La damnation de Faust , Op. 24 is a work for four solo voices, full seven-part chorus, large children's chorus and orchestra by the French composer Hector Berlioz. He called it a "légende dramatique"...
, Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
and Tales of Hoffmann."
Arlen was twice married, first to Narice Ingram and secondly to the soprano Iris Kells, with whom he had a daughter. He was appointed CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in 1968.
After a short illness, Arlen died of cancer at the age of 58.