{"id":22511,"date":"2023-03-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=22511"},"modified":"2023-04-24T16:49:50","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T14:49:50","slug":"lighting-up-the-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/2023\/03\/16\/lighting-up-the-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"Lighting up the stage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CULTURAL <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

Lighting up the stage<\/h1>\n\n

Stephen Unwin <\/span><\/strong>is enthralled by a survey of English thespians, the subjects ranging from medieval talents to the greats of the 21st century <\/h5>\n\n
\"\"
Dramatic look<\/span><\/strong> Thomas Gainsborough\u2019s 1785 portrait of Sarah Siddons, the pre-eminent actress of her age in England <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

\u201cActing is merely the art of keeping a large number of people from coughing,\u201d declared the sublime actor Ralph Richardson. His wry line suggests just how hard it is to say anything of substance about this most ancient of art forms. Unlike the playtext itself, a performance leaves behind no trace except in the memory of individual audience members or in the frankly idiosyncratic opinions of theatre critics. <\/p>\n\n

Peter Ackroyd\u2019s study of the English actor from medieval times to the modern day doesn\u2019t entirely solve this problem. What it does do, however, is showcase an astonishingly expansive cast of leading actors and actresses through the centuries, giving an inkling of what it might have been like to be in their company and watch them at their best. Thus he recounts how the great Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn played an astonishing seven different parts in 14 days, and reveals how his performance of Marlowe\u2019s Doctor <\/em>Faustus <\/em>was so potent that it was said the devil himself appeared on stage. In detailing the arrival of actresses following the Restoration, he describes how Nell Gwyn\u2019s \u201cvitality and vivacity swept her triumphantly on to the stage\u201d. <\/p>\n\n

Ackroyd is especially strong on the great arc of acting in England that extended from David Garrick and Sarah Siddons in the 18th century, through the likes of Edmund Kean (of whom Coleridge said that watching him act was \u201clike reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning\u201d) in the early 19th century, onto the two towering figures of the Victorian stage, William Macready and Henry Irving. The latter once boasted to Ellen Terry that: \u201cFor an actor who can\u2019t walk, can\u2019t talk and has no face to speak of, I\u2019ve done pretty well.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

\u201c<\/span>Edward Alleyn\u2019s performance of Doctor Faustus was so potent it was said the devil himself appeared on stage\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

The panorama gets more crowded as the book moves into the 20th century. We hear how actors had to increasingly balance their enthusiasm for live theatre with the competing demands of film and television. The legendary quartet of Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson and Peggy Ashcroft are dispatched effectively, but it\u2019s especially touching to see Ackroyd\u2019s evident admiration for a younger generation. Thus Mark Rylance\u2019s acting is described as \u201chuman in the way that it is vulnerable, fallible and recognisable\u201d. When Simon Russell Beale goes \u201cinto whatever dark crevices or on to what whirring carousels he ventures, he makes you his<\/span> companion\u201d. Ackroyd is insightful, too, about Sophie Okonedo: \u201cThere is no \u2018join\u2019, no seam, in her acting. A quiet, heavy, bored cast of expression might leap into tigerish rage, her neck and face becoming all sinew and teeth. Then, as pain intrudes, the pillars under her cheeks collapse, the blazing eyes dim. She begins \u2013 and there is no other word for this \u2013 to vibrate with grief.\u201d If only he could have witnessed earlier great actors in their prime.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

The book\u2019s extensive biographical research occasionally lapses into pedantry (do we need to learn all the names of Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes?) and Ackroyd could have been nimbler in exploring the elusive and shifting claims of naturalism in acting. But his handsomely published and authoritative book stands as an invaluable account of an art form at which the English have so long excelled. <\/p>\n\n

\n\n

Stephen Unwin <\/strong>is a director and writer. His latest book is Poor <\/em>Naked <\/em>Wretches: <\/em>Shakespeare\u2019s <\/em>Working <\/em>People <\/em>(Reaktion, 2022) <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

The English Actor: From Medieval to Modern <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

by Peter Ackroyd <\/p>\n\n

Reaktion, 400 pages, \u00a320 <\/h5>\n\n

All products were chosen independently by our editorial team. Below is an affiliate link, and we may receive a commission for purchases made. Please read our affiliates FAQ section underneath the Letters page to find out more.<\/p>\n\n

Buy now from Waterstones<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CULTURAL Lighting up the stage Stephen Unwin is enthralled by a survey of English thespians, the subjects ranging from medieval talents to the greats of the 21st century \u201cActing is merely the art of keeping a large number of people from coughing,\u201d declared the sublime actor Ralph Richardson. His wry line suggests just how hard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":22792,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"72","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"72","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_72-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_72-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"April-2023","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"April-2023","purple_external_id":"April-2023-72-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"April-2023-72-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000085643||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000085643||","purple_android_product":"com.im.historymag.293","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.historymag.293","purple_ios_product":"com.im.historymag.293","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.historymag.293","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"de2d4977-6998-4200-99aa-454f8dbebdf9","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-04-24T14:35:54Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"6dedc8b7-8bcf-42b7-a5ab-97c83122a2c5","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-04-24T14:49:56Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Abe3It4vPQrelq5fIMSKixQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\""},"categories":[20],"tags":[46],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/03\/TheEnglishActor-tn-scaled.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/03\/TheEnglishActor-tn-scaled.jpg",2560,1718,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/03\/TheEnglishActor-tn-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/03\/TheEnglishActor-tn-300x201.jpg",300,201,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/03\/TheEnglishActor-tn-768x515.jpg",768,515,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/03\/TheEnglishActor-tn-1024x687.jpg",800,537,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/03\/TheEnglishActor-tn-1536x1031.jpg",1536,1031,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/03\/TheEnglishActor-tn-2048x1375.jpg",2048,1375,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"CULTURAL Lighting up the stage Stephen Unwin is enthralled by a survey of English thespians, the subjects ranging from medieval talents to the greats of the 21st century \u201cActing is merely the art of keeping a large number of people from coughing,\u201d declared the sublime actor Ralph Richardson. His wry line suggests just how hard…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22511"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22988,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22511\/revisions\/22988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}