Seyler, Athene

Seyler, Athene (1889–1990), English actress, outstanding in comedy. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she won the Gold Medal in 1908, she appeared in the West End from 1909 in a wide variety of mainly modern roles before making her first venture into Restoration comedy, at which she was to excel, playing Cynthia in a revival of Congreve's The Double Dealer in 1916. It was followed by Melantha in Dryden's Marriage à la Mode in 1920, Mrs Frail in Congreve's Love for Love in 1921, and Lady Fidget in Wycherley's The Country Wife in 1924. In 1920 she also made her first appearance in Shakespeare, playing Rosalind in As You Like It. Her later roles in his plays included Titania and Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Beatrice in Much Ado about Nothing, Emilia in Othello, and the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet. She was also seen in plays by Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest, as Lady Bracknell and Miss Prism, Lady Windermere's Fan, and A Woman of No Importance); Sheridan (Mrs Candour in The School for Scandal and Mrs Malaprop in The Rivals); Shaw (Candida, Mrs Higgins in Pygmalion, and Mrs Mopply in Too True to be Good); and Chekhov (Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard). She also featured in such modern plays as Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine (1942), Mary Chase's Harvey (1949), Rattigan's Who is Sylvia? (1950), and John Van Druten's Bell, Book and Candle (1954). In 1958 she was seen in Peter Coke's long-running Breath of Spring, and in 1962 she played an Old Bawd in John Fletcher's The Chances at the first Chichester Festival with unimpaired with and vitality. She was last on the stage in 1966, as Martha Brewster in a revival of Joseph Kesselring's Arsenic and Old Lace.

She married as her second husband the actor Nicholas Hannen (1881–1972), who appeared with her in a number of productions, playing Oberon to her Titania and Benedick to her Beatrice. His first London success was as Nelson in Granville-Barker's dramatization of Hardy's The Dynasts (1914), and his many roles ranged from Greek tragedy (Menelaus in Euripides' The Trojan Women) to modern comedy ( Samson Raphaelson's Accent on Youth). He made a big impression in Allan Monkhouse's The Conquering Hero (1924), which was followed by Philip Madras in Granville-Barker's The Madras House (1925). He was with the Old Vic company on several occasions, including 1944–7, when he played the title-role in Henry IV, Parts One and Two.