Theatre in World War II
The outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 inevitably caused serious problems. The Players' premises, on the top floor of an old building with a glass roof and a hydraulic lift, were not an ideal venue during an air-raid. Eventually, after two short-term arrangements (including a number of performances in a member's drawing-room in St. John's Wood), the Players' found a refuge in Albemarle Street in the former El Morocco nightclub. This was in a basement in one of the few concrete buildings in London. Thanks to this good fortune, the Players' (along with The Windmill) 'never closed' throughout the War.
Leonard Sachs was called up for military service and (riding in a taxi to Waterloo to join his troop train) he made over the Players' Theatre Club to Jean Anderson, already an established actress and Players' artiste. Jean contrived to keep the Club open and solvent for the next five years, before going on to a very distinguished career both on stage and on television in series such as 'Tenko' and 'The Brothers'. Under her management, the Players' became a haven for Londoners suffering the Blitz, as well as a home from home for many of the allied forces also living in London.
Americans, Australians, Canadians, Czechs, Danes, Dutch, the Free French, Indians, New Zealanders, Norwegians, Poles, Rhodesians, South Africans — all were to be found among the Players' audience. Indeed, to this day, every Players' audience usually contains a number of 'visitors from abroad' who are duly greeted and teased. In addition, nearly every Sunday saw a contingent of Players' artistes entertain in hospitals, at gun-sites and searchlight emplacements. James Robertson Justice made his debut as Chairman and launched his film career at this time.
Read more about this topic: Players' Theatre
Famous quotes containing the words theatre, world and/or war:
“... the theatre demanded of its members stamina, good digestion, the ability to adjust, and a strong sense of humor. There was no discomfort an actor didn’t learn to endure. To survive, we had to be horses and we were.”
—Helen Hayes (1900–1993)
“And even my sense of identity was wrapped in a namelessness often hard to penetrate, as we have just seen I think. And so on for all the other things which made merry with my senses. Yes, even then, when already all was fading, waves and particles, there could be no things but nameless things, no names but thingless names. I say that now, but after all what do I know now about then, now when the icy words hail down upon me, the icy meanings, and the world dies too, foully named.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)
“Combativeness was, I suppose, the dominant trait in my grandmother’s nature. An aggressive churchgoer, she was quite without Christian feeling; the mercy of the Lord Jesus had never entered her heart. Her piety was an act of war against Protestant ascendancy. ...The teachings of the Church did not interest her, except as they were a rebuke to others ...”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)