Tyrone Guthrie
Encyclopedia
Sir
William Tyrone Guthrie (2 July 1900 – 15 May 1971) was an English
theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada
, the Guthrie Theater
in Minneapolis, Minnesota
and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre
, at his family's home, Annaghmakerrig, in County Monaghan, Ireland.
, Kent
, England
, the son of Dr Thomas Guthrie (a grandson of the Scottish
preacher Thomas Guthrie
) and Norah Power. His mother Norah was the daughter of Sir William James Tyrone Power, Commissary-General-in-chief
of the British Army
from 1863 to 1869 and Martha, daughter of Dr. John Moorhead of Annaghmakerrig House. His great-grandfather was the Irish
actor Tyrone Power. He was also a second cousin of the Hollywood actor Tyrone Power
. His sister, Susan Margaret, married his close university friend, fellow Anglo-Irishman Hubert Butler
. Butler translated the text for Guthrie's 1934 production of Anton Chekhov
's Cherry Orchard
, for perhaps its first English-language production.
He received a degree in history at Oxford University, where he was active in student theatre, and worked for a season at the newly-established Oxford Playhouse. In 1924 Guthrie joined the BBC
as a broadcaster and began to produce plays for radio
. This led to a year directing for the stage with the Scottish National Players, before returning to the BBC to become one of the first writers to create plays designed for radio performance.
During the period from 1929 to 1933 he directed at various theatres, including a production of Pirandello
's Six Characters in Search of an Author
in 1932. During 1933–1934, and 1936–1945 he was director of the Shakespeare Repertory Company. While in Montreal
, Guthrie produced the Romance of Canada series of radio plays for recalling epic moments in Canadian history. The series was broadcast on the Canadian National Railway radio network
.
In the 1940s Guthrie began to direct operas, to critical acclaim, including a realistic Carmen
at Sadler's Wells and the Metropolitan Opera
in New York. In 1953, he was invited to help launch the Stratford Festival of Canada
. Intrigued with the idea of starting a Shakespeare theatre in a remote Canadian location, he enlisted Tanya Moiseiwitsch
to design the thrust stage, and actors Alec Guinness
and Irene Worth
to star in the inaugural production of Richard III
. All performances in the first seasons took place in a large tent on the banks of the Avon River. He remained as Artistic Director for three seasons, and his work at Stratford had a strong influence in the development of Canadian theatre
. In 1963, he founded the Guthrie Theater
in Minneapolis, Minnesota
, to be designed by Ralph Rapson
In the prologue to his biography James Forsyth
wrote: "Anti-Broadway
, anti-West End
, anti everything implied in the term 'Legitimate Theatre', he ended up with a legitimate claim to the title of 'most important, British-born theatre director of his time". Peter Hall wrote "Among the great originators in British Theatre...Guthrie was a towering figure in every sense. He blazed a trail for the subsidised theatre of the sixties. He showed how to run a company and administer a theatre. And he was a brilliant and at times great director..."
ed in 1961, and died at home a decade later in Newbliss
, County Monaghan
, Ireland, aged 70 from undisclosed causes.
On the Shakespeare Authorship Question
and Stratford, England's tourist business: "But what if it turns out, as it just possibly might, that William Shakespeare of Stratford was not the author of the plays ascribed to him? There is a theory, advanced by reputable scholars, seriously and, in my opinion, plausibly, that Shakespeare merely lent his name as a cover for the literary activities of another person, perhaps the Earl of Oxford. If, by some terrible chance, this theory should be proved, then straightway Stratford's tourist business would dwindle. It would become just one more, and honestly not one in the first ten, of England's picturesque small towns."
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
William Tyrone Guthrie (2 July 1900 – 15 May 1971) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada
Stratford Festival of Canada
The Stratford Shakespeare Festival is an internationally recognized annual celebration of theatre running from April to November in the Canadian city of Stratford, Ontario...
, the Guthrie Theater
Guthrie Theater
The Guthrie Theater is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the result of the desire of Sir Tyrone Guthrie, Oliver Rea, and Peter Zeisler to create a resident acting company that would produce and perform the classics in...
in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre
Tyrone Guthrie Centre
The is a centre for creative artists at Annaghmakerrig, Newbliss, County Monaghan, Ireland, founded in 1981.The house was the family home of Tyrone Guthrie, and it was his will that it be used as a retreat...
, at his family's home, Annaghmakerrig, in County Monaghan, Ireland.
Life and career
Guthrie was born in Tunbridge WellsRoyal Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in west Kent, England, about south-east of central London by road, by rail. The town is close to the border of the county of East Sussex...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the son of Dr Thomas Guthrie (a grandson of the Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
preacher Thomas Guthrie
Thomas Guthrie
Thomas Guthrie D.D. was a Scottish divine and philanthropist, born at Brechin in Angus . He was one of the most popular preachers of his day in Scotland, and was associated with many forms of philanthropy - especially temperance and Ragged Schools, of which he was a founder.He studied at Edinburgh...
) and Norah Power. His mother Norah was the daughter of Sir William James Tyrone Power, Commissary-General-in-chief
Commissariat
A commissariat is the department of an army charged with the provision of supplies, both food and forage, for the troops. The supply of military stores such as ammunition is not included in the duties of a commissariat. In almost every army the duties of transport and supply are performed by the...
of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
from 1863 to 1869 and Martha, daughter of Dr. John Moorhead of Annaghmakerrig House. His great-grandfather was the Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
actor Tyrone Power. He was also a second cousin of the Hollywood actor Tyrone Power
Tyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan,...
. His sister, Susan Margaret, married his close university friend, fellow Anglo-Irishman Hubert Butler
Hubert Butler
Hubert Marshal Butler was an Irish essayist who wrote on a wide-range of topics, from local history and archaeology to the political and religious affairs of eastern Europe before and during World War II.-Early life:...
. Butler translated the text for Guthrie's 1934 production of Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
's Cherry Orchard
The Cherry Orchard
The Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last play. It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy and it does contain some elements of farce; however, Stanislavski insisted on...
, for perhaps its first English-language production.
He received a degree in history at Oxford University, where he was active in student theatre, and worked for a season at the newly-established Oxford Playhouse. In 1924 Guthrie joined the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
as a broadcaster and began to produce plays for radio
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
. This led to a year directing for the stage with the Scottish National Players, before returning to the BBC to become one of the first writers to create plays designed for radio performance.
During the period from 1929 to 1933 he directed at various theatres, including a production of Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
's Six Characters in Search of an Author
Six Characters in Search of an Author
Six Characters in Search of an Author is a play by the Italian writer Luigi Pirandello.The play is a satirical tragicomedy. It was first performed in 1921 at the Teatro Valle in Rome, to a very mixed reception, with shouts from the audience of "Manicomio!" .Subsequently the play enjoyed a much...
in 1932. During 1933–1934, and 1936–1945 he was director of the Shakespeare Repertory Company. While in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Guthrie produced the Romance of Canada series of radio plays for recalling epic moments in Canadian history. The series was broadcast on the Canadian National Railway radio network
CNR Radio
CNR Radio or CN Radio was the first national radio network in North America. It was developed, owned and operated by the Canadian National Railway between 1923 and 1932 to provide en route entertainment and information for its train passengers...
.
In the 1940s Guthrie began to direct operas, to critical acclaim, including a realistic 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...
at Sadler's Wells and the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in New York. In 1953, he was invited to help launch the Stratford Festival of Canada
Stratford Festival of Canada
The Stratford Shakespeare Festival is an internationally recognized annual celebration of theatre running from April to November in the Canadian city of Stratford, Ontario...
. Intrigued with the idea of starting a Shakespeare theatre in a remote Canadian location, he enlisted Tanya Moiseiwitsch
Tanya Moiseiwitsch
Tanya Moiseiwitsch, OC was an English theatre designer.Born in London, the daughter of Daisy Kennedy, an Australian concert violinist and Benno Moiseiwitsch, a famous Ukrainian classical pianist, she attended the Central School of Arts and Crafts...
to design the thrust stage, and actors Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
and Irene Worth
Irene Worth
Irene Worth, CBE was an American stage and screen actress who became one of the leading stars of the English and American theatre. -Early life:...
to star in the inaugural production of Richard III
Richard III (play)
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
. All performances in the first seasons took place in a large tent on the banks of the Avon River. He remained as Artistic Director for three seasons, and his work at Stratford had a strong influence in the development of Canadian theatre
Theatre in Canada
The contemporary theatre scene in Canada revolves around companies and summer festivals based at facilities in Canadian cities.-British Columbia:* Northwest of Armstrong is the Caravan Farm Theatre, a professional outdoor theatre company....
. In 1963, he founded the Guthrie Theater
Guthrie Theater
The Guthrie Theater is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the result of the desire of Sir Tyrone Guthrie, Oliver Rea, and Peter Zeisler to create a resident acting company that would produce and perform the classics in...
in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, to be designed by Ralph Rapson
Ralph Rapson
Ralph Rapson was the head of architecture at the University of Minnesota for many years...
In the prologue to his biography James Forsyth
James Forsyth
James Forsyth was an attorney, businessman, and the seventh president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was born on September 8, 1817 in Peru, New York. He graduated from the University of Vermont in 1839 and was admitted to the bar in 1842...
wrote: "Anti-Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, anti-West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, anti everything implied in the term 'Legitimate Theatre', he ended up with a legitimate claim to the title of 'most important, British-born theatre director of his time". Peter Hall wrote "Among the great originators in British Theatre...Guthrie was a towering figure in every sense. He blazed a trail for the subsidised theatre of the sixties. He showed how to run a company and administer a theatre. And he was a brilliant and at times great director..."
Queen's University Belfast
Guthrie wrote two major books about the creation of effective drama: Theatre Prospect (1932) and A Life in the Theatre (1959). He was Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast (1963–70).Personal life
Guthrie was married to Judith Bretherton, who survived him by only a year. He was knightKnight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
ed in 1961, and died at home a decade later in Newbliss
Newbliss
Newbliss , historically known as Lisdaragh , is a village and townland in County Monaghan, Ireland. It is located where the R183 and R189 regional roads intersect...
, County Monaghan
County Monaghan
County Monaghan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland, aged 70 from undisclosed causes.
Recordings
- Directing a Play: A Lecture by Tyrone Guthrie - Delivered at the West Side YMCA, NYC (Smithsonian FolkwaysSmithsonian FolkwaysSmithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...
)
Quotations
On being tall: 'If you're very tall it's not just rude boys who feel entitled to pass remarks. Perfect strangers in pubs are always coming up and saying: "Me and my friends are just having a bet. Just how tall are you?" Women to whom one has just been introduced think that it breaks the ice if they scream, "Goodness, you're tall!' How would they like it if I broke the ice first, by screaming "Goodness, what thick ankles!" or "Goodness what a bust!" — Sir Tyrone Guthrie, In Various Directions.On the Shakespeare Authorship Question
Shakespeare authorship question
Image:ShakespeareCandidates1.jpg|thumb|alt=Portraits of Shakespeare and four proposed alternative authors.|Oxford, Bacon, Derby, and Marlowe have each been proposed as the true author...
and Stratford, England's tourist business: "But what if it turns out, as it just possibly might, that William Shakespeare of Stratford was not the author of the plays ascribed to him? There is a theory, advanced by reputable scholars, seriously and, in my opinion, plausibly, that Shakespeare merely lent his name as a cover for the literary activities of another person, perhaps the Earl of Oxford. If, by some terrible chance, this theory should be proved, then straightway Stratford's tourist business would dwindle. It would become just one more, and honestly not one in the first ten, of England's picturesque small towns."
External links
- Tyrone Guthrie Centre
- University of Bristol Theatre Collection
- Discography at Smithsonian FolkwaysSmithsonian FolkwaysSmithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...