Articles

1. Spaces, Doors and Places in Early Modern English Staging 

   Tim Fitzpatrick with Daniel Johnston

   In a continuation of Ichikawa’s recent discussion in Theatre Notebook, the use of stage doors is further considered, particularly in Ben Jonson’s Epicoene, and various Shakespearean plays. The doors may be indicated to lead to various off-stage spaces, within or outside a house, and the meaning of a given door may change during a play. With the arrangement of a central opening upstage and two flanking doorways, the authors conclude that the flanking doorways had curtains. They illustrate this using the frontispiece of the 1640 edition of Jonson’s Workes, in which hangings are supported by nails.

2. Natural-Born Showman: The Stage Career of Charles Collette, Actor & Comedian

   Bernard Ince

   Charles Collete (1842-1924) was active from 1868 to 1914, beginning with the Bancrofts and ending in The Admirable Crichton, mostly in comic roles. An extensive list of his appearances is given, though probably without all his touring dates. He married Lady Bancroft’s younger sister.

3. Lena Ashwell and The Starlight Express

   Margaret Leask

   Actress/manager Lena Ashwell (1869-1957) managed the Kingsway Theatre from 1907. During the World War I she organised groups of actors and singers to entertain troops on the Western Front in France, in “Concerts at the Front”, for which she raised money. In 1915 she produced, as a Christmas show, The Starlight Express, a version of Algernon Blackwood’s The Prisoner of Fairyland, allowing about two months for preparation and rehearsal before opening on 29th December. She persuaded Elgar to write incidental music (his Opus 78) at very short notice, but the show ran only until 29th January 1916 and was not revived.