Presented by Dr Michael Read

What happened when England’s funniest man went to America?  It was 1874, and relations between the two countries were not at their best.  Yet J. L. Toole took his chance.  Things did not go according to plan by any means while he was there, either from his own point of view or that of his hosts, but the consequences of his visit for the development of Anglo-American understanding and co-operation, not only in terms of theatrical practice, were positive, permanent and quite unforeseen.

Dr Michael Read is writing a biography of J. L. Toole. He is a former actor who for nearly thirty years taught theatre history at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and has contributed articles about Toole and his contemporaries to several books and journals.