Tyrone Guthrie
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Sir William Tyrone Guthrie (2 July 1900 - 15 May 1971) was a Tony Award-winning Anglo-Irish theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, at his family's home, Annaghmakerrig, in County Monaghan, Ireland
Guthrie was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, the son of Dr. Thomas Guthrie (a grandson of the Scottish preacher, Thomas Guthrie) and Norah Power (granddaughter of the Irish actor, Tyrone Power). His sister, Susan Margaret, married his close university friend, fellow Anglo-Irishman Hubert Butler. Butler translated the text for Guthrie's 1934 production of Anton Chekhov's Cherry Orchard, for perhaps the first English-language production.
He received a degree in history at Oxford University, where he was active in student theatre, and worked for a season at the newly-established Oxford Playhouse. In 1924 Guthrie joined the British Broadcasting Corporation as a broadcaster and began to produce plays for radio. This led to a year directing for the stage with the Scottish National Players, before returning to the BBC to become one of the first writers to create plays designed for radio performance.
During the period from 1929 to 1933 he directed at various theatres, including Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author in 1932. During 1933–1934, and 1936–1945 he was director of the Shakespeare Repertory Company.
In the 1940s Guthrie began to direct operas, to critical acclaim, including a realistic Carmen at Sadler's Wells and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In 1953 he was invited to direct the first season of the Stratford Festival of Canada, and continued to do so for four years, becoming a strong influence in the development of Canadian theatre.
In 1963 he founded the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which was modelled after the Stratford Theatre.
In the prologue to his biography James Forsyth wrote: "Anti-Broadway, anti-West End, anti everything implied in the term 'Legitimate Theatre', he ended up with a legitimate claim to the title of 'most important, British-born theatre director of his time". Peter Hall wrote "Among the great originators in British Theatre...Guthrie was a towering figure in every sense. He blazed a trail for the subsidised theatre of the sixties. He showed how to run a company and administer a theatre. And he was a brilliant and at times great director..."
Guthrie wrote two major [not specific enough to verify] books about the creation of effective drama: Theatre Prospect (1932) and A Life in the Theatre (1959).
Guthrie was married to Judith Bretherton, who survived him by only a year. He was knighted in 1961, and died at home a decade later in Newbliss, County Monaghan, Ireland, at the age of 70 from undisclosed causes.
[edit] Quotations
On being tall: 'If you're very tall its not just rude boys who feel entitled to pass remarks. Perfect strangers in pubs are always coming up and saying: "Me and my friends are just having a bet. Just how tall are you?" Women, to whom one has just been introduced think that it breaks the ice if they scream, "Goodness, you're tall!' How would they like it if I broke the ice first, by screaming "Goodness, what thick ankles!" or "Goodness what a bust!" - Sir Tyrone Guthrie, In Various Directions.
[edit] Further reading
- A Life in the Theatre, Tyrone Guthrie, New York : McGraw-Hill, [1959]
- A New Theatre, Tyrone Guthrie, New York : McGraw-Hill, [1964]
- Astonish Us in the Morning : Tyrone Guthrie Remembered, Alfred Rossi, Detroit : Wayne State University Press, [1980]
- In Various Directions, Tyrone Guthrie, New York : Macmillan [1965]
