Marshall, Norman

Marshall, Norman (1901–80), English director and theatre manager. After gaining some experience on tour, he was appointed in 1926 one of the directors under Terence Gray of the Cambridge Festival Theatre, where he was responsible for some interesting productions. In 1932, under his own management, he directed there the first production in England of O'Neill's Marco Millions. Two years later he took over the direction of the Gate Theatre in London, where he presented an annual Gate revue, as well as a varied programme of new and uncommercial plays, several of which—among them Elsie Schauffler's Parnell (1936), Housman's Victoria Regina (1937), and Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men (1939)—were later seen in the West End. After serving in the army during the Second World War he returned to London to direct Robert Sherwood's The Petrified Forest (1942), and then formed his own company with which he toured extensively, at the same time continuing to direct in London such new plays as Beckwith's A Soldier for Christmas (1944), Ginsbury's The First Gentleman (1945), with Robert Morley as the Prince Regent, and Ustinov's The Indifferent Shepherd (1948). Under the auspices of the British Council he then toured Europe and India (where he was born) in abridged versions of Shakespeare's plays, and in 1952 was invited to direct Ben Jonson's Volpone at the Cameri Theatre in Tel Aviv. He continued for some years to direct plays in London, and was active in the planning of the National Theatre, as well as lecturing and writing on modern drama.