From Montgomery to Wolfit: a brief history of pre-RSC Shakespeare at the Nottingham Theatre Royal

Amy Bromilow discusses the history of William Shakespeare at the Nottingham Theatre Royal. Amy is currently a PhD student reading Shakespeare Studies at the University of Nottingham.

It is our purpose to present to you first class entertainment only. We begin with Sheridan, Shakespeare will soon follow.

Walter Montgomery, the first manager of the new Theatre Royal in Nottingham, promised this in his long speech following the opening performance, Sheridan’s The School for Scandal in 1865. This promise was certainly fulfilled, with nearly 1,000 individual performances of Shakespeare’s plays performed here between 1865 and 2023, and almost 250 performances of adaptations.

Shakespeare quite literally watched over all the productions until the remodelling in 1897, in a 26ft long and 5ft high painting above the proscenium arch of the stage. It is described with detail in The Nottingham and Midland Counties Daily Express:

The subject, which at once raises the embellishments of the house to the class of high art decoration, represents the poet Shakespeare, crowned with a wreath, and sitting upon a throne, between Comedy and Tragedy as his genuii; while on either side are a series of his principal characters, considered as his creations. A background of mountains, blue in the glimmering twilight, with a still luminous sky, and a few broadly indicated trees in the middle distance, serves to throw the various figures into prominence; while the massive throne of masonry, assisted by the composition, gives due prominence to the central group. The artist has painted the bard himself from the Stratford bust, but has made him somewhat younger in years and has given the face an expression of great sweetness and manly grace..

Under the watchful eye of Shakespeare, many acclaimed actors and actresses trod the boards. Early productions were led by actor-managers Montgomery and later G. F. Sinclair. Montgomery’s Shakespearean background was formative in the theatre’s early years, having played roles like Othello, Romeo, Shylock, Cassius, and King John in London. Notably, he performed with Dame Madge Robertson Kendal in Hamlet and Othello. Madge Kendal, one of the most famous actors of the Victorian and Edwardian period, gave the first formal speech on the Nottingham Theatre Royal stage and played Ophelia opposite Montgomery’s Hamlet on October 20, 1865, the theatre’s first Shakespearean performance. Montgomery also performed with Helen Faucit in Cymbeline and As You Like It. Faucit, who opened the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in 1879 as Beatrice, wrote a book on Shakespeare’s heroines, a copy of which is held at the University of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections.

Helen’s Faucit’s sister-in-law, Marianne Saville, managed and owned the old Theatre Royal on St. Mary’s Gate after her husband’s death and was part of the new theatre’s in-house company. Her brother-in-law, Henry F. Saville, joined her as acting manager under Montgomery. After Montgomery’s departure and Sinclair’s problematic tenure, Marianne became co-manager with her daughter Kate. Marianne’s commonplace books and scrapbooks, which are part of the theatre’s collection, reflect her love of Shakespeare, noting favourite quotes, actors, and productions, including her own performances at Windsor Castle.

These beautiful portraits show the three Saville daughters, Maria, Kate and Eliza (from left to right) and were donated alongside Marianne’s books. Marianne, Eliza and Kate performed frequently. Eliza’s roles included Desdemona in the October 1865 production of Othello, alongside her mother as her lady’s maid, Emilia. Kate’s roles included Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Lady Macbeth, and Imogen in Cymbeline.

By the 1870’s most of Shakespeare’s plays were performed by visiting companies, as part of a repertoire. The people of Nottingham could have the exciting experience of seeing some of the country’s best actors and actresses perform. Henry Irving’s company was one of the most famous and well-regarded of the period, his Lyceum theatre known internationally as the premier house of British Shakespeare, thanks in part to his leading lady, Ellen Terry. This playbill is for their visit in 1897, which included two performances of The Merchant of Venice. Local diarist Sydney Race writes how the cost of tickets ‘went up this week with a bound’, and yet people were still queuing round the block for them, ‘in twos right down Sherwood Street’, attended by policemen in case of riot! As for the acting, he says of Terry ‘I have never before seen such a charming woman on the stage’.

As part of a placement with Nottingham Theatre Royal and Concert Hall during my PhD at the University of Nottingham, I was asked to present a lunchtime talk on the history of Shakespeare at the theatre. This post is a condensed version, including pictures from the archives of the theatre which have been newly collected, catalogued and maintained thanks to a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant and a whole host of amazing volunteers! Significant portions of the archive have also been digitised, including recordings of interviews and oral histories, and it can be explored here: https://trch.co.uk/heritage-archive.

With thanks to the Nottinghamshire County Council Archives for access to Sydney Race’s diaries and local newspaper reviews.

Credit to Lynn Whitley for her lists of performances at the theatre and to Ian Webster for the photographs of the Saville portraits. 

All images are from collections at the Nottingham Theatre Royal and Concert Hall.