Fagan, J(ames) B(ernard)

Fagan, J(ames) B(ernard) (1873–1933), playwright and director, born in Ulster, who began his stage career in Frank Benson's company in 1895. He then played two seasons under Beerbohm Tree at Her Majesty's Theatre, and later became manager of the Royal Court Theatre, where he gave some notable productions of Shakespeare. In 1923 he took over the old Big Game Museum in Oxford and made it into a small theatre, the precursor of the Oxford Playhouse, installing there a notable repertory company. In 1929 he became director of the Festival Theatre, Cambridge, and he was also responsible for many productions by the Irish Players. His excellent dramatization of R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island was first seen in London in 1922, and then annually as a Christmas play up to 1931. Of his own plays, the most successful were And So to Bed (1926), based on Pepys's Diary, and The Improper Duchess (1931), in both of which Yvonne Arnaud gave fine performances.