Phoenix Society

Phoenix Society, London, group founded in 1919 under the auspices of the Stage Society to present plays by early English dramatists, most of which, apart from those by Shakespeare, seemed to have fallen out of the repertory. The Stage Society began the work of revival in 1915, and continued to produce every year one Restoration comedy, by Farquhar, Congreve, or Vanbrugh, until 1919. The Phoenix Society was then constituted, and in the six years of its existence staged 26 plays, by, among others, Marlowe, Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, Heywood, Ford, Dryden, Otway, and Wycherley. From the beginning, enthusiastic support was given to the Phoenix Society by actors and actresses, many of them already well established; two permanent adaptable sets were designed by Norman Wilkinson; and all but two of the productions, for which Edith Craig (see CRAIG, GORDON) was responsible, were directed by Allan Wade (1881–1954). In 1923 a brilliant performance of Fletcher's pastoral The Faithful Shepherdess was given with elaborate scenes and dresses and music arranged and conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. The influence of these performances helped considerably to combat the indifference, and in some cases hostility, once shown to early English drama, several of the plays staged having since been frequently and successfully revived on the public stage.