George Devine(1910-1966)
- Actor
- Director
George Devine, the very influential theatrical manager, was born on
November 20, 1910 in London to Georgios Devine, who was half-Greek and
half-Irish, and the former Ruth Eleanor Cassady, who was
Irish-Canadian. He became a member of the famous Oxford University
Dramatic Society (OUDS) while reading in history at Oxford, becoming
president of OUDS in 1932. He met his future wife,
Sophie Devine (aka "Sophie Harris") when
OUDS sponsored a production of "Romeo and Juliet", directed by
John Gielgud, who had the costumes designed
by "The Motley", a London design team that included Sophie and her
sister, Margaret. The two married on October 27, 1939 after living
together for several years.
After graduating from Oxford, George Devine joined Sophie in London and
became an actor, appearing in a number of Gielgud's productions and
functioning as The Motley's business manager. He co-founded the London
Theatre Studio in 1936 and, in 1939, he became a stage director with an
adaptation of Charles Dickens'
Great Expectations (1946),
starring Alec Guinness. He was in an early
BBC television production of
William Shakespeare's
"Twelfth Night", playing "Sir Toby Belch".
During World War II, he was a member of the Royal Artillery, stationed
in India and then Burma. Returning to London after the war, he helped
co-found the Old Vic Theatre School and the Young Vic Company, though
he was forced to resign in 1948, putting an end to the Young Vic until
1970. The dismissal did not hurt his career as he had established
himself as a top director in the theater and in opera. He directed and
acted at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon (later
renamed the Royal Shakespeare Company).
Tony Richardson, another Oxford
graduate, began a collaboration with Devine after casting him in a TV
adaptation of "Curtain Down", a short story by
Anton Chekhov. Richardson shared Devine's
ideas about transforming the English theater, and the two co-founded
the English Stage Company. The two wanted to create a theater in which
the writer was paramount. In the first draft of his unfinished
autobiography, Devine wrote of his mission: "I was not strictly after a
popular theater....but a theater that would be part of the intellectual
life of the country.... I was convinced the way to achieve my objective
was to get writers, writers of serious pretensions, back into the
theater. This I set out to do. I wanted to change the attitude of the
public towards the theater...."
The company launched its first season in 1956 at the Royal Court
Theatre in Sloane Square, launching itself with
Angus Wilson's "The Mulberry Bush",
which was a failure, as were the next two productions. However, the
fourth production, John Osborne's
Look Back in Anger (1959),
directed by Richardson, not only was a hit, it was a watershed that
revolutionized the English theater, just as Devine and Richardson had
set out to accomplish. The Royal Court quickly became the most
important theater in the English language for a decade, nurturing the
best writers and directors.
"Look Back in Anger" launched the careers of Richardson and Osborne.
When Richardson later filmed the Oscar-winning adaptation of
Henry Fielding's
Tom Jones (1963), with a screenplay by
Osborne, he cast Devine as "Squire Allworthy", Tom's benefactor.
Osborne's 1965 play, "A Patriot for Me", was to have a major impact on
the English Stage Company and on Devine. The play, which dealt with the
blackmailing of the Austro-Hungarian officer "Colonel Redl" (also
dramatized in István Szabó's
Colonel Redl (1985)), a homosexual and
possibly a Jew in a pre-World War One society that was virulently
anti-gay and anti-semitic, was opposed by The Lord Chamberlain, the
theatrical censor in Britain. The Lord Chamberlain demanded, in
exchange for an exhibition license, that the Royal Court make
substantial cuts to sanitize it. The cuts would have resulted in the
excision of half the play, according to
Alan Bates in a B.B.C. interview
during a 1983 revival of the play. Osborne and the English Stage
Company refused.
Denied a license for public exhibition, The Royal Court Theatre had to
be turned into a private club in order to produce the play in London as
to produce it legitimately would have been impossible as half the play
would have been censored. "A Patriot for Me" won "The Evening Standard"
Best Play of the Year award (as would one of his latter plays, "The
Hotel in Amsterdam" in 1968), though it was a succès d'estime, as the
English Stage Company was taking a heavy loss on the production.
George Devine was appearing in "A Patriot for Me" when he suffered the
heart attack that led to his death on January 20, 1966. He was 55 years
old.
November 20, 1910 in London to Georgios Devine, who was half-Greek and
half-Irish, and the former Ruth Eleanor Cassady, who was
Irish-Canadian. He became a member of the famous Oxford University
Dramatic Society (OUDS) while reading in history at Oxford, becoming
president of OUDS in 1932. He met his future wife,
Sophie Devine (aka "Sophie Harris") when
OUDS sponsored a production of "Romeo and Juliet", directed by
John Gielgud, who had the costumes designed
by "The Motley", a London design team that included Sophie and her
sister, Margaret. The two married on October 27, 1939 after living
together for several years.
After graduating from Oxford, George Devine joined Sophie in London and
became an actor, appearing in a number of Gielgud's productions and
functioning as The Motley's business manager. He co-founded the London
Theatre Studio in 1936 and, in 1939, he became a stage director with an
adaptation of Charles Dickens'
Great Expectations (1946),
starring Alec Guinness. He was in an early
BBC television production of
William Shakespeare's
"Twelfth Night", playing "Sir Toby Belch".
During World War II, he was a member of the Royal Artillery, stationed
in India and then Burma. Returning to London after the war, he helped
co-found the Old Vic Theatre School and the Young Vic Company, though
he was forced to resign in 1948, putting an end to the Young Vic until
1970. The dismissal did not hurt his career as he had established
himself as a top director in the theater and in opera. He directed and
acted at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon (later
renamed the Royal Shakespeare Company).
Tony Richardson, another Oxford
graduate, began a collaboration with Devine after casting him in a TV
adaptation of "Curtain Down", a short story by
Anton Chekhov. Richardson shared Devine's
ideas about transforming the English theater, and the two co-founded
the English Stage Company. The two wanted to create a theater in which
the writer was paramount. In the first draft of his unfinished
autobiography, Devine wrote of his mission: "I was not strictly after a
popular theater....but a theater that would be part of the intellectual
life of the country.... I was convinced the way to achieve my objective
was to get writers, writers of serious pretensions, back into the
theater. This I set out to do. I wanted to change the attitude of the
public towards the theater...."
The company launched its first season in 1956 at the Royal Court
Theatre in Sloane Square, launching itself with
Angus Wilson's "The Mulberry Bush",
which was a failure, as were the next two productions. However, the
fourth production, John Osborne's
Look Back in Anger (1959),
directed by Richardson, not only was a hit, it was a watershed that
revolutionized the English theater, just as Devine and Richardson had
set out to accomplish. The Royal Court quickly became the most
important theater in the English language for a decade, nurturing the
best writers and directors.
"Look Back in Anger" launched the careers of Richardson and Osborne.
When Richardson later filmed the Oscar-winning adaptation of
Henry Fielding's
Tom Jones (1963), with a screenplay by
Osborne, he cast Devine as "Squire Allworthy", Tom's benefactor.
Osborne's 1965 play, "A Patriot for Me", was to have a major impact on
the English Stage Company and on Devine. The play, which dealt with the
blackmailing of the Austro-Hungarian officer "Colonel Redl" (also
dramatized in István Szabó's
Colonel Redl (1985)), a homosexual and
possibly a Jew in a pre-World War One society that was virulently
anti-gay and anti-semitic, was opposed by The Lord Chamberlain, the
theatrical censor in Britain. The Lord Chamberlain demanded, in
exchange for an exhibition license, that the Royal Court make
substantial cuts to sanitize it. The cuts would have resulted in the
excision of half the play, according to
Alan Bates in a B.B.C. interview
during a 1983 revival of the play. Osborne and the English Stage
Company refused.
Denied a license for public exhibition, The Royal Court Theatre had to
be turned into a private club in order to produce the play in London as
to produce it legitimately would have been impossible as half the play
would have been censored. "A Patriot for Me" won "The Evening Standard"
Best Play of the Year award (as would one of his latter plays, "The
Hotel in Amsterdam" in 1968), though it was a succès d'estime, as the
English Stage Company was taking a heavy loss on the production.
George Devine was appearing in "A Patriot for Me" when he suffered the
heart attack that led to his death on January 20, 1966. He was 55 years
old.