William Archer (critic)

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William Archer (September 23, 1856 - December 27, 1924), Scottish critic, was born in Perth, and was educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he received the degree of M.A. in 1876. He was the son of Thomas Archer (pastoralist).

He became a leader-writer on the Edinburgh Evening News in 1875, and after a year in Australia returned to Edinburgh. In 1879 he became dramatic critic of the London Figaro, and in 1884 of the World, where he remained until 1905. In London he soon took a prominent literary place.

Archer had much to do with introducing Ibsen to the English public by his translation The Pillars of Society, produced at the Gaiety Theatre, London, 1880. He also translated, alone or in collaboration, other productions of the Scandinavian stage: Ibsen's A Doll's House (1889), The Master Builder (1893); Edvard Brandes's A Visit (1892); Ibsen's Peer Gynt (1892); Little Eyolf (1895); and John Gabriel Borkman (1897); and he edited Henrik Ibsen's Prose Dramas vols., 1890-1891).

He was a friend of the George Bernard Shaw, and arranged for his plays to be translated into German. An attempted collaboration on a play, Widower's Houses, did not work, and Archer was often critical of Shaw's drama. For a time, Archer lived at 27 Fitzroy Square in central London, while Shaw lived at number 29.

During World War I, Archer wrote a series of open letters on behalf of Wellington House, arguing Germany's culpability in starting the conflict. He viewed the Allies (including England) as innocent bystanders, forced into defending the world against German militancy.

His play, The Green Goddess, was produced by Winthrop Ames at the Booth Theatre in New York. It was a melodrama, and a popular success, although relatively of much less importance to the art of the drama than his critical work.

Among his critical works are:

  • English Dramatists of To-day (1882)
  • Henry Irving, a study (1883)
  • About the Theatre (1886)
  • Study in the Psychology of Acting (1886)
  • Masks or Faces? (1888)
  • W. C. Macready, a biography (1890)
  • "The Theatrical World" (1893) (5 volumes)
  • America To-day, Observations and Reflections
  • Poets the Younger Generation (1901)
  • Real Conversations (1904)
  • A National Theatre: Scheme and Estimates, with H. Granville Barker, 1907)
  • Through Afro-America (1910)
  • The Life, Trial, and Death of Francisco Ferrer (1911)
  • Play-Making (1912)
  • The Old Drama and the New (1923)

Plays:

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