Tyrone Guthrie

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Chancellor of the Queen's University Belfast
In office
1963–1970
Preceded by1st Viscount Alanbrooke
Succeeded byLord Ashby of Brandon
Personal details
Born
William Tyrone Guthrie

(1900-07-02)2 July 1900
Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England
Died15 May 1971(1971-05-15) (aged 70)
Newbliss, County Monaghan, Ireland
Spouse
Judith Bretherton
​
(m. 1931)​
Oxford University
OccupationTheatrical director

Sir William Tyrone Guthrie (2 July 1900 – 15 May 1971) was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the

County Monaghan, Ireland
. He is famous for his original approach to Shakespearean and modern drama.

Early life

Guthrie was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, the son of Dr. Thomas Clement Guthrie (a grandson of the Scottish preacher Thomas Guthrie) and Norah Power.[1] His mother was the daughter of Sir William James Tyrone Power, Commissary-General-in-chief of the British Army from 1863 to 1869 and Martha, daughter of Dr. John Moorhead of Annaghmakerrig House and his Philadelphia-born wife, Susan (née Allibone) Humphreys.[2]

His great-grandfather was

Oxford University, where he was active in student theatre, and worked for a season at the newly established Oxford Playhouse.[3]

Career

In 1924 Guthrie joined the

Sadler’s Wells theatres earned him acknowledgment as a significant director.[5]

During 1933–34, and again from 1936–45, he was director of the Shakespeare Repertory Company.[6] While in Montreal, Guthrie produced the Romance of Canada series of radio plays for recalling epic moments in Canadian history. The series was broadcast on the Canadian National Railway radio network. Hubert Butler translated the text for Guthrie's 1934 production of Anton Chekhov's Cherry Orchard, for perhaps its first English-language production.[citation needed] In the late 1930s, he worked in London and appeared in the first two motion pictures produced by Charles Laughton's independent film production company, Mayflower Pictures. The films were Vessel of Wrath and St. Martin's Lane, both released in 1938.[7]

In the 1940s Guthrie began to direct

Sadler's Wells and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He also returned to Scotland where, with James Bridie in 1948, he staged the first modern adaptation, by Robert Kemp, of Sir David Lyndsay's grand-scale medieval comedy Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis for the Second Edinburgh International Festival; a landmark event in the modern revival of Scottish theatre. It was staged in the city's General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland on the Mound, specially adapted for the occasion.[8] He directed the play again in Edinburgh in 1959.[9]

Stratford Festival of Canada

In 1952, he was invited to help launch the

Canadian theatre.[11][12][13]

Guthrie produced

Her Majesty's Theatre and were broadcast by the BBC. They were among the first Savoy opera productions in Britain not authorized by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.[14]

Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota

In 1963, he founded the

Twin Cities was chosen and the Guthrie Theater was established, with construction being completed in 1963.[15] Guthrie served as Artistic Director until 1966, and continued to direct at the theater he founded until 1969, two years before his death.[citation needed
]

Legacy

In the prologue to his biography, James Forsyth wrote, "Anti-

Sir Peter Hall wrote, "Among the great originators in British Theatre...Guthrie was a towering figure in every sense. He blazed a trail for the subsidised theatre of the sixties. He showed how to run a company and administer a theatre. And he was a brilliant and at times great director..."[17] Guthrie wrote two major books about the creation of effective drama: Theatre Prospect (1932)[18] and A Life in the Theatre (1959).[19]

Guthrie's autobiography, A Life in the Theatre, was adapted into a stage play, Guthrie on Guthrie by Margaret Dale. It was produced at the Stratford Festival in 1989, and again at the

Glenn Gould Studio in 1998 for recording as an audiobook. Both productions featured Colin Fox as Guthrie.[20][21]

Queen's University Belfast

He was Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast (1963–70).[22] On 15 September 2010, a blue plaque in his memory was unveiled at the BBC in Belfast by the Ulster History Circle.

Personal life

In 1931, Guthrie married Judith Bretherton, who survived him by only a year. He was knighted in 1961, and died a decade later at his home, Annaghmakerrig, in Newbliss, County Monaghan, Ireland, aged 70, from a heart attack. His body was buried in the graveyard of Aghabog Church of Ireland, in Newbliss.[23]

Bibliography

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7
    . Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Obituaries: Sir William Tyrone Power". The Times. 26 July 1911. p. 11.
  3. ^ Sillery, A.; Sillery, V. (1975). St. John's College Biographical Register 1919-1975. Vol. 3. Oxford: St. John’s College. p. 42-43.
  4. ^ Schumach, Murray (16 May 1971). "Sir Tyrone Guthrie Dies at 70; Director and Scholar of Stage". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  5. ^ "Sir Tyrone Guthrie | Theatre Impresario, Innovative Productions & Repertory System | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  6. ISBN 978-1-904950-74-5
  7. ^ "Hull Daily Mail from Hull, Humberside, England". Newspapers.com. 3 March 1938. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
  8. ^ Graves, Charles, "Drama", in Reid, J.M. (ed.) (1951), Some Scottish Arts: An Outline, Serif Books Ltd., Edinburgh, p. 13
  9. ISBN 9780954556808
  10. ^ Whitaker, Herbert (19 June 1952), "Tyrone Guthrie accepts Stratford's bid to attend this year's Festival", The Globe and Mail
  11. ^ "Stratford Shakespearean Festival, 1953 season" (PDF). p. 17. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  12. ^ The Stratford Festival: The First 50 Years — Arts and Entertainment — CBC Archives
  13. ^ "Tyrone Guthrie directing credits". Stratford Festival Archives. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  14. ^ Berger, Leon. "Obituary: Marion Studholme", Gilbert and Sullivan News, The Gilbert and Sullivan Society (London), Vol. V, No. 10, Spring 2016, p. 19
  15. ^ "Guthrie website, History; accessed 9 July 2007". Archived from the original on 23 April 2007.
  16. ISBN 978-0241894712
  17. ^ Peter Hall's Diaries: The Story of a Dramatic Battle (1983) Harper & Row.
  18. ^ Tyrone Guthrie (132) Theatre Prospect, Wishart & Co., London
  19. ^ Tyrone Guthrie (1959), A Life in the Theatre, McGraw-Hill, Columbus, Ohio.
  20. ^ "Guthrie on Guthrie (1989) production credits". Stratford Festival Archives. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  21. ^ "The Stratford Festival has announced its fourth season of dramatic readings at the Glenn Gould Studio", Playbill, 15 December 1997, retrieved 9 July 2020
  22. ISBN 0-85389-535-X
    .
  23. ^ Obituary, Tyrone Guthrie, Palm Beach Post, May 16, 1971
  24. ISBN 978-1-8384036-9-0
    .
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Academic offices
Preceded by
Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast

1963–1970 		Succeeded by
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