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Description: | Don Carleton was Information Officer at the University of Bristol, and West of England correspondent for the periodicals: Drama and Plays & Players. Carleton is particularly interested in theatre history, and is a published author on the subject of The Prince's Theatre, Bristol. The Prince's opened on 14th October 1867. It was built by Jack Chute, who was married to Emily Mazzarina Macready, the half sister of the Shakespearian actor William Macready. The theatre was originally managed by James Henry Chute. The Prince's Theatre suffered a disaster not long after it was opened, when in 1869 14 theatre goers were crushed to death in a queue. Despite this tragedy, the Macready Chute family continued to run the Prince's Theatre until the 1930s. It became a popular Bristolian institution, and featured actors and actresses such as Clara Butt, Ellen Terry, Henry Irving, Edward Gordon Craig and Sarah Bernhardt. The theatre was bombed during a World War II air-raid, on Sunday 24th November. On the same night in Bristol, St Peter's Hospital, The Old Dutch House, eight council schools, the Great Hall of the University, St Peter's Church, Temple Church, St Mary-le-Port Church, and much of Broadmead, Baldwin Street and Queen Charlotte Street were also destroyed. The Collection contains correspondence, papers and accounts regarding Carleton's arrangements for a comemorative plaque to be placed on the former site of the Prince's Theatre (now Prince's Service Petrol Station, Park Row, Bristol) as a memorial to the theatre and the Macready Chute family who ran it. Carleton headed the appeal, and organised the plaque and its erection. The plaque was unveiled on 15th September 1987 by Mrs Barbara McFaydean Trollip, one of the first woman announcers on the BBC. Barbara McFaydean Trollip was the daughter of Dora Chute (Lady MacFadyean), the granddaughter of Charles Kean Chute, and the great granddaughter of Jack Chute, who built the Prince's Theatre and was leasee of the Theatre Royal, King Street. Also present were Mrs Trollip's brother Mr Colin McFaydean and his wife Mary Malcolm, who was one of the first women presenters on BBC television, and is a descendent of the famous Edwardian actress Lily Langtry who appeared at the Prince's Theatre. The plaque reads: 'On this site stood the Prince's Theatre. From its opening in October 1867 to its destruction by enemy action in November 1940, the Prince's Theatre presented to Bristolians the very best in drama, opera and musical comedy. In the opinion of George Bernard Shaw, its pantomimes were the best in the country. This plaque is erected as a permanent sign of the gratitude of the people of Bristol to the Macready Chute family, who owned and ran, not only the Prince's Theatre, but also the Theatre Royal in King Street. From 1819 to 1931 they personally directed the major part of the theatrical life of Bristol and established the tradition of excellence in the theatrical arts which the city has never lost.' The archive also holds material relating to other theatres in Bristol and the South West. This consists of correspondence, photographs, programmes, articles and production reviews. For more information on the Prince's Theatre, see the Collection Level Descripton for the Adrian Varcoe Collection, which Carleton used in his research. For information on other Bristol theatres during World War II, see the Peggy Ann Wood Collection Level Description. Both of these are owned by the University of Bristol Theatre Collection.; All catalogued items are searchable online. For all other collection items, contact the
Keeper.
University of Bristol Theatre Collection, University of Bristol, | Format: | Correspondence Press cuttings Ephemera e.g. daybills & fliers Photographs (miscellaneous) Periodicals Playtexts (typescripts) Posters Postcards Photographs (production) Programmes Photographs (venue) Photographs (portrait) | Subjects: | Drama; Plays & Players; See How They Run!; Two Planks and a Passion; The Importance of Being Ernest; No Nanette; Rosencrantz and Guildenstein Are Dead; Toga Toga Toga!; Antony & Cleopatra Theatrical Companies; Theatre Biography; Theatrical managers; Theatrical producers and directors; Theatre and war; Theatre and society; Actors and actresses No | Temporal: | 1960 2000 | Source: | Backstage | Address: | Department of Drama, Cantocks Close,,
BS8 1UP | Creator: | Don Carleton | Identifier: | www.backstage.ac.uk/records/collection/c | Language: | en | Format: | Correspondence Press cuttings Ephemera e.g. daybills & fliers Photographs (miscellaneous) Periodicals Playtexts (typescripts) Posters Postcards Photographs (production) Programmes Photographs (venue) Photographs (portrait) | Go to resource |
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