Table Of ContentTHOMAS HARDY ON STAGE
Thotnas Hardy
on Stage
Keith Wilson
Professor of English
University of Ottawa, Ontario
M
St. Martin's Press
©Keith Wilson 1995
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1995 978-0-333-59885-6
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First published in Great Britain 1995 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-39159-2 ISBN 978-0-230-37228-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230372283
-----------------------
First published in the United States of America 1995 by
Scholarly and RefE'rence Division,
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
175 Fifth A venue,
New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-12053-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wilson, Keith, 1929-
Thomas Hardy on stage I Keith Wilson.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-12053-5
1. Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928-Dramatic works. 2. Hardy, Thomas,
1840-1928-Stage history. 3. Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928-Adaptations
4. Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928. Dynasts. 5. Theater-England
-History. I. Title.
PR475iD7W55 1995
792.9'2-dc20 93-39874
CIP
To April
Neil and James
Contents
List of Plates viii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 Thomas Hardy and the Theatre 9
2 Hardy's Experiments in Theatrical Adaptation 25
3 The Hardy Players: The Evans Years 51
4 The Dynasts Adapted: London, Dorset and Oxford 83
5 The Hardy Players: The Tilley Years 105
6 Tess on Stage: Dorchester and London 132
Epilogue 159
Notes 161
Selected Bibliography 191
Index 194
vii
List of Plates
1a Rehearsal of The Mellstock Quire, 1910 (courtesy of Dorset
County Library).
1b Evans and Tilley at a rehearsal for The Distracted Preacher, 1911
(courtesy of Dorset County Library).
2 Kingsway Dynasts, 1914 (courtesy of Dorset County Museum).
3 Kingsway Dynasts, 1914 (courtesy of Dorset County Museum).
4 The Hardy Players: Return of the Native, 1920 (courtesy of
Dorset County Library).
5 The Hardy Players: The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall,
1923 (courtesy of Dorset County Library).
6 The Hardy Players: Tess, 1924 (courtesy of the Hulton Deutsch
Collection).
7 The Daily Graphic, 11 August 1925: Hardy with Gwen
Ffrang<;on-Davies looking at script (courtesy of the British
Library).
8 The cast of Barnes & Garrick Theatre: Tess with Hardy at Max
Gate, December 1925 (courtesy of Dorset County Museum).
viii
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to the following people and institutions for assist
ance, information or access to materials in their possession or care:
Mr Frederick B. Adams; Bodleian Library; British Library; the late
Mrs Gertrude Bugler; University of California Library, Los
Angeles; University of California Library, Riverside; Colby College
Library, Waterville, Maine; Dorset County Library, Dorchester;
Dorset County Museum, Dorchester; Dorset County Record Office,
Dorchester; Houghton Library and Theatre Collection, Harvard
University; Mr and Mrs T. W. Jesty; Morisset Library, University of
Ottawa; Mrs Valerie Phipps; Humanities Research Centre,
University of Texas at Austin; Theatre Museum, London; Robarts
Library, University of Toronto; University of Virginia Library,
Charlottesville. I am also grateful to English Literature in Transition,
and its editor Robert Langenfeld, for permission to reproduce
material from my article 'Thomas Hardy and the Hardy Players'.
I thank the Trustees of the Hardy and E. A. Dugdale estates for
permission to quote from manuscript materials.
Support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada and the Rector's Fund of the University of
Ottawa facilitated travel and released me from teaching responsi
bilities to concentrate on the research for this book. I thank both the
Council and the University of Ottawa for the funds and time that
helped bring it to completion.
Many people have helped make my recurrent trips to Dorset an
unalloyed pleasure, and some have over the years become friends. It
is my great regret that one of those, Mrs Gertrude Bugler, did not
live to see this book's completion: it will always be associated with
my memories of her. To her daughter, Mrs Diana Toms, I offer thanks
for her exceptional kindness. I am also extremely grateful to Mr and
Mrs T. W. Jesty of Max Gate and to Mrs Annabel Evans of Kingston
Maurward for assistance and hospitality. My work, like that of
countless Hardy scholars, has been much helped by the former
Curator of the Dorset County Museum, Mr Roger Peers, and I thank
both him and the museum staff. And I would like to give a collective
thanks to the numerous members of the Thomas Hardy Society
whose enthusiasms and company I have shared over the years.
ix
