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Webster, Margaret
Webster, Margaret (1905–72), English actress and director, the daughter of the actor Ben(jamin) Webster (1864–1947), himself the grandson of B. N. Webster, and Dame May Whitty (1865–1948), an actress appointed DBE for charitable work during the First World War. They were together in Irving's company at the Lyceum from 1895 and later became very popular in the USA, Margaret being born in New York during one of their visits. She was on the stage for some time as a child, making her first appearance in 1917, and her adult début in the chorus of Euripides' Trojan Women with Sybil Thorndike in 1924. She was a member of Fagan's repertory company in Oxford in 1927, toured with Ben Greet in Shakespeare, and in 1929 was at the Old Vic. After playing a wide variety of parts in London she went to New York in 1936, and, while continuing to act, made an outstanding reputation as a director. Maurice Evans appeared in several of her productions of Shakespeare, and her production of Othello in 1943 with Paul Robeson, in which she played Emilia, broke all records for a Shakespearian play on Broadway. With Eva Le Gallienne and Cheryl Crawford she founded the American Repertory Theatre, playing Mrs Borkman in Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman for it the same year, and the Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland in 1947. She also organized a Shakespeare company which toured the United States in 1948–50 by bus and truck, and directed and appeared in An Evening with Will Shakespeare (1952) on tour. Among her other post-war productions were Eva Le Gallienne's translation of Hochwälder's Das heilige Experiment (1943) as The Strong are Lonely (NY, 1953; London, 1955), Shaw's Back to Methuselah in New York in 1958, and Noël Coward's Waiting in the Wings (London, 1960). In 1964 she was seen in London in a solo performance based on the life and works of the Brontë sisters.
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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Webster, Margaret." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 12 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Webster, Margaret." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 12, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-WebsterMargaret.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Webster, Margaret." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved February 12, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-WebsterMargaret.html |
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Webster, Margaret
Webster, Margaret (1905–72), actress and director. She was born in New York, the daughter of two famous players, Ben Webster and Dame May Whitty, and spent most of her early years on British stages. American audiences first saw her work when she directed Richard III in 1937 and first saw her act when she appeared as Masha in a 1938 revival of The Sea Gull. Webster subsequently directed several American Shakespearean productions, scoring her greatest success in 1943 with her staging of Othello. This production, which starred Paul Robeson and José Ferrer and in which she played Emilia, ran 295 performances, a still unbroken record for a Shakespearean mounting. She staged a highly praised revival of The Tempest in 1945 before joining Eva Le Gallienne and Cheryl Crawford to found the American Repertory Theatre, directing and performing in several of its offerings during its short existence. From 1948 to 1950 she toured with her Shakespearean company. Although Webster's stagings were usually lauded for their understanding of Shakespeare's characters and for their theatrical effectiveness, she regularly caused controversy for tampering with Shakespeare's texts: She eliminated the Clown in Othello, while in The Tempest she made an epilogue of the famous fourth act speech that begins with “Our revels now are ended.” Her theories and reminiscences were blended in her book Shakespeare Without Tears (1942).
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Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Webster, Margaret." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 12 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Webster, Margaret." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (February 12, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-WebsterMargaret.html Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Webster, Margaret." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved February 12, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-WebsterMargaret.html |
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Margaret Webster
Margaret Webster 1905-72, American actress, producer, and director, b. New York City; daughter of Ben Webster and Dame May Whitty . Webster made her formal acting debut in 1924. After working with several English companies, including the Old Vic (1929-30), she returned to the United States and began (1935) an outstanding career as director and producer. In 1946, together with Eva Le Gallienne , she founded and managed the American Repertory Theatre, and from 1948 to 1951 she directed the Margaret Webster Shakespeare Company. Webster directed several operas and notable presentations of Shakespeare in England. She wrote Shakespeare without Tears (1942), Shakespeare Today (1957), and two autobiographical works, The Same Only Different (1969) and Don't Put Your Daughter on the Stage (1972). |
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Cite this article
"Margaret Webster." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 12 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Margaret Webster." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 12, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-WebsterM.html "Margaret Webster." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 12, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-WebsterM.html |
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Dame May Whitty
Dame May Whitty 1865-1948, English actress. She made her London debut in 1881. In 1892 she married Ben Webster, an actor, and in 1895 she first appeared in the United States, becoming a favorite on the stage and in films. Her notable films include Night Must Fall (1938), The Lady Vanishes (1938), and Mrs. Miniver (1942). Her forte was the portrayal of kind but strong-minded old ladies. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1918. Her daughter was Margaret Webster .
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"Dame May Whitty." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 12 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Dame May Whitty." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 12, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Whitty-D.html "Dame May Whitty." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 12, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Whitty-D.html |
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Whitty, Dame May
Whitty, Dame May, see WEBSTER, MARGARET.
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Cite this article
PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Whitty, Dame May." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 12 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Whitty, Dame May." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 12, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-WhittyDameMay.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Whitty, Dame May." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved February 12, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-WhittyDameMay.html |
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