Lilian Baylis: A Biography

by Elizabeth Schafer

Overview

Based on new and original research, this biography documents the life of Lilian Baylis—an esteemed theatrical producer, manager, and the founding mother of the British National Theatre, the Royal Ballet, and the English National Opera. Setting out to discover how Baylis was able to manage two theatres and three companies, bring the very best of high culture to working people, and still haul in a profit, this biography looks beyond the famous comic anecdotes that surround her life and discovers the private woman behind the public persona. From her early career as a musician and dancer to the career-changing breaks she offered to actors such as Alec Guinness and Laurence Olivier, this insightful work reveals how Baylis achieved so much and the personal cost of her successes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781902806648
Publisher:	University of Hertfordshire Press
Publication date:	10/01/2007
Edition description:	New
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth Schafer is a professor of drama and theatre studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. She is the author of MsDirecting Shakespeare: Women Direct Shakespeare and the editor of Shakespeare in Production: The Taming of the Shrew.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations     ix
Acknowledgements     xi
Abbreviations     xii
Introduction     1
Beginnings: 'Housing and Music, Music and Housing'     10
South Africa: Baylis's Adventures 1891-1897     30
Lilian Baylis and Emma Cons     49
Personal Matters     75
Baylis's First Love: Opera     101
'I turned, in despair, to Shakespeare': Baylis and the Bard     129
The 1920s: Baylis Builds an Empire     161
Baylis and the Ballet     204
The 1930s     226
The Baylis Legacy     261
Afterlives     273
Bibliography     283
Index     293