Post-war Years and Old Vic Theatre School
Devine returned to England in 1946, and in September of that year appeared as George Antrobus in Laurence Olivier's production of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth, also starring Vivien Leigh, at the Piccadilly Theatre in London. Soon afterwards, together with Saint-Denis and Byam Shaw, and under the auspices of the Old Vic Theatre, he opened The Old Vic Theatre School in Thurlow Park Road, Dulwich, London, to continue the training courses begun at The London Theatre Studio before the war. At the same time he formed the Young Vic Theatre Company, which was intended to bring theatre to young people. The school ran successfully for several years, training actors such as Prunella Scales and Joan Plowright. In 1952 the three directors were forced to resign following a dispute with the Old Vic governors, and Devine embarked on a free-lance career as a director and actor. Byam Shaw had moved to Stratford-on-Avon to run the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, and Devine directed several successful Shakespeare productions there in the early 1950s, including a notorious version of King Lear (1955), which starred John Gielgud and was designed by the experimental Japanese American artist and sculptor Isamu Noguchi. He also directed several operas at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, and appeared in several films.
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