WILLIAM ARCHER: A LIFE CLT

ISBN: 0413655202

Author: Whitebrook, Peter

Condition: Used

This comprehensive account of William Archer's life (1856 - 1924), the first for over sixty years, is an illuminating and original portrait of a principled and enigmatic man, whose inexpressive demeanour concealed a passionate and progressive mind.A drama critic for more than forty years, William Archer transformed the Victorian theatre from the home of burlesque and melodrama into the playwright's theatre we know today. He introduced Henrik Ibsen to the British stage, guided the early career of Bernard Shaw, encouraged Pinero, Wilde, Galsworthy and Granville Barker, and had a grand affair with Elizabeth Robins, one of the greatest actresses of her generation, who played Hedda Gabler in Archer's own translation of Ibsen's play. He was a radical opponent of censorship and a lifelong campaigner for a British National Theatre.As a journalist, Archer travelled constantly and reported on subjects as diverse as race relations in the American deep south, Imperial India from the north-west frontier and Expressionism in Berlin.