A Strange Eventful History

The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Henry Irving and their Remarkable Families

By: Michael Holroyd

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Paperback | 15 September 2009 | Edition Number 1

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672 Pages

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21.4 x 13.5 x 4.8

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An epic yet intimate portrait of two theatrical dynasties, which takes us from the Victorian stage to the modern age.

Ellen Terry was a natural actress who filled the theatre with a magical radiance. The Times called her the "uncrowned queen of England," but behind her public success lay a darker story. The child bride of G.F. Watts, she eloped with a friend of Oscar Wilde's at the age of twenty-one and gave birth to two illegitimate children.

But her greatest partnership was on stage with Henry Irving. At the Lyceum Theatre in London, the two of them created a grand Cathedral of the Arts. Their intimately involved lives exceeded in plot the Shakespearean dramas they performed on stage - and indeed were curiously affected by them. They also influenced the life and work of their remarkable children, Ellen's children in particular. Edy Craig founded a feminist theatre group, The Pioneer Players. Her brother, Edward Gordon Craig, the revolutionary stage designer who collaborated with Stanislavski is revealed by this book to be the forgotten man of modernism. He had thirteen children by eight women. He is, perhaps, the most extraordinary man Michael Holroyd has ever written about.

From the Hardcover edition.

Industry Reviews

"Holroyd has a wonderful eye for detail...an entirely captivating biography...one of the glories of the form" Guardian "It has all the tumbling narrative, spicy detail and easy empathy that determine his midas touch... shows Holroyd yet again pushing the biographer's art to new imaginative planes" Financial Times "Magnificent - not just as a fascinating exercise in group biography, but as a masterpiece of comic writing...such joie de vivre" New Statesman "This is a fabulous cavalcade of a book, written with infectious verve and deep imaginative sympathy ... a joy to read" -- John Carey Sunday Times "Michael Holroyd has once again triumphed over a seemingly impossible subject. For so capacious is this tale of two great actors and their descendants that he has written a sweeping social history of theatre in the late 19th and early 20th-century England. Deftly plotted, with an infectious verve that springs from his delight in the waywardness of human nature" -- Frances Spalding Independent

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List of illustrations
Rumours of a Death Foretold	p. 1
A Story in a Book	p. 5
The Terrys	p. 8
Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall	p. 16
Heaven and Holland Park	p. 22
England's Michaelangelo	p. 26
The Kingdom of Pattledom	p. 29
A Marriage is Arranged and a Deed of Separation Signed	p. 35
The Kate Terry Valse	p. 47
Found Drowned	p. 52
Happiness for a Time	p. 54
All Change	p. 63
A Failure to be Proud of	p. 66
Men!	p. 79
What's in a Name?	p. 91
Entrances and Exits	p. 98
Their Coronation	p. 108
Our Lady of the Lyceum	p. 119
Interval: Irving on Holiday	p. 127
His Shylock	p. 129
Shakespeare's Lovers	p. 135
Children!	p. 143
Our American Cousins	p. 158
From Malvolio to Mephistopheles	p. 170
Death of a Husband, Death of a Lover	p. 179
Her Lady Macbeth	p. 193
Ted and Edy and Harry and Laurence	p. 202
All is True	p. 220
After the Shooting	p. 227
Counter Attractions	p. 234
One More Laurel Wreath	p. 243
Mixed Fortunes	p. 247
The Irish Pretender	p. 266
Wishful Thinking	p. 276
Choices	p. 284
Confusions	p. 295
For Love or Money	p. 303
Made in Heaven	p. 321
A Sea of Troubles: Helgeland and Hungerheart	p. 333
The End of Irving	p. 354
Women!	p. 367
Brothers	p. 392
Family Affairs	p. 409
Masks and Faces	p. 435
Not Quite Alone	p. 470
The Long Game of Patience	p. 478
An Occasion	p. 493
For Friendship's Sake	p. 513
Good Night Unto You All	p. 531
White Candle, Aged Face	p. 553
An Outline of Sources	p. 575
Select Bibliography	p. 585
Index	p. 591
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

A Strange Eventful History

The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Henry Irving and their Remarkable Families

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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