Table Of ContentEDWARD GORDON CRAIG
ContemporaryTheatre Studies
AseriesofbookseditedbyFrancChamberlain,NeneCollege,Northampton,UK
Volume 1 Volume 9
Playing the Market: Ten Years of Prince Tandi of Cumba or The New
the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, Menoza, byJ. M. R. Lenz
1976-1986 Translated and edited by David Hill
AnneFuchs and Michael Butler, and astage
adaptation by Theresa Heskins
Volume 2
Theandric: Julian Beck's Last Volume 10
Notebooks The Plays ofErnst Toller:
Edited by Erica BUder, A Revaluation
with notes byJudith Malina Cecil Davies
Volume 3 Volume 11
Luigi Pirandello in the Theatre: Edward Bond Letters: Volume 2
A Documentary Record Selected and edited by Ian Stuart
Edited by Susan Bassnett
Volume 12
and Jennifer Lorch
Theatre and Change in South Africa
Volume 4 Edited by Geoffrey V. Davis
Who Calls the Shots on the and AnneFuchs
New York Stages?
Volume 13
Kalina Stefanova-Peteva
Anthropocosmic Theatre: Rite in the
Volume 5 Dynamics of Theatre
Edward Bond Letters: Volume 1 Nicolds Nunez, translated
Selected and edited by Ian Stuart by Ronan Fitzsimons and edited,
with aforeword, by Deborah Middleton
Volume 6
Adolphe Appia: Artist and Visionary Volume 14
ofthe Modern Theatre Edward Bond Letters: Volume 3
Richard C. Beacham Selected and edited by Ian Stuart
Volume 7 Volume 15
James Joyce and the Israelites and 'Pulp' and Other Plays
Dialogues in Exile by Tasha Fairbanks
Seamus Finnegan Edited by Gabriele Griffin
and Elaine Aston
Volume 8
It's All Blarney. Four Plays: Wild Volume 16
Grass, Mary Maginn, It's All Blarney, Art into Theatre: Performance
Comrade Brennan Interviews and Documents
Seamus Finnegan Nick Kaye
Please see the back of this book for other titles in the ContemporaryTheatre
Studies series
EDWARD GORDON CRAIG
A VISION OF THEATRE
Christopher Innes
York University, Ontario, Canada
I~ ~~o~1~;n~~~up
LONDONANDNEWYORK
Copyright © 1998 TheTaylor&Francis Publishing Group.
Reprinted 2004
ByRoutledge
2ParkSquare, MiltonPark
Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge isan imprintofthe Taylor & Francis Group
TransferredtoDigitalPrinting2010
All rights reserved.
Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedorutilizedinanyformorbyanymeans,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publisher.
Everyefforthasbeenmade to trace the ownershipofall copyrightedmaterial in
thisbook. Intheeventofanyquestionsabouttheuse ofanymaterial,theauthor,
while expressing regret for any inadvertent error, will be happy to make the
necessary acknowledgmentin future printings.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Innes, C. D. (ChristopherD.)
Edward Gordon Craig: a vision of theatre. - 2nd ed.
(Contemporary theatre studies; v. 28)
1. Craig, Edward Gordon, 1872-1966- Criticism and
interpretation
I. Title
792'.092
ISBN 90-5702-125-0
ISBN90-5702-124-2
Cover illustration: "Wretched Lovers," Acis and Galatea. Courtesy of the British
Library.
Title page photograph: Gordon Craig with his modelstage, Moscow, 1910.
Publisher's Note
Thepublisherhasgonetogreatlengthstoensurethequalityofthisreprint
butpointsoutthatsomeimperfectionsintheoriginalmaybeapparent.
CONTENTS
Introduction to the Series vii
List ofIllustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
1. Prologue: The argument 1
2. Scene changes: Victorian theater, an acting 11
career, and points of departure
3. A rising action: Design and movement 37
4. Problem drama: Texts and performers 71
5. A play of ideas: Principles, theory, and an Obermarionette 101
6. Toward a new theater: Masques, screens, and a Hamlet 129
7. The theater of the future: Scene, puppets, 175
and a religious festival
8. Final bow: A school and the printed word 205
9. Curtain call: Craig's vision and contemporary theater 215
10. Programme notes: Craig on theater 223
Edward Gordon Craig, 1872-1966: A theatrical chronology 309
Notes 315
Select Bibliography 333
Index 335
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INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES
ContemporaryTheatre Studies is a bookseriesofspecialinteresttoeveryone
involved in theatre. It consists of monographs on influential figures,
studies of movements and ideas in theatre, as well as primary material
consisting of theatre-related documents, performing editions of plays in
English, and English translations of plays from various vital theatre
traditions worldwide.
Franc Chamberlain
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Gordon Craig with his model stage, Moscow, 1910. iii
Gordon Craig with a marionette, Florence, 1914. xii
Letterhead for the Gordon Craig Company, 1894. 18
Craig as Hamlet, 1897. 19
Scene drawings (by B. Partridge) of Irving's 1888
Macbeth, with Craig's commentary. 21 and 23
Godwin's production of Helena in Troas, 1886. 29
Herkomer's "moon-mechanism." 32
Herkomer's adjustable proscenium. 34
Stage plan for Dido and Aeneas, act I, Hampstead
Conservatoire, 1900. 40
A Witch, Dido and Aeneas. 42
Diagrams of scenery and lighting systems for Dido and Aeneas. 45
A Mourner, Dido and Aeneas. 47
Blocking diagrams for Dido and Aeneas, act 2, scene 1. 48
Costume designs for Dido and Aeneas. 51
"Wretched Lovers," Acis and Galatea. 53
"The Shadow," Acis and Galatea. 54
Stage plan for Acis and Galatea, act 1. 56
The chorus, Acis and Galatea, act 1, Great Queen St. Theater, 1902. 57
Stylizationfor Acis and Galatea 58
Costume designs for The Masque ofLove. 60-61
"Behold, oh mightiest of gods," The Masque ofLove. 65
Blocking diagram for "Behold, oh mightiest of gods," The Masque
ofLove, Coronet Theater, 1901. 68
Ballet choreography from Moynet's Trucs et Decors. 69
The shepherds, Bethlehem. 73
Notes for the procession of the kings, Bethlehem. 74-75
Stage plan for Bethlehem, The Imperial Institute, 1902. 80
Laurence Housman's cartoon of Craig. 82
Stage layouts for The Vikings, Imperial Theater, 1903. 84-85
Costume design for The Vikings. 88
Set design for The Vikings, act 2. 89
The Vikings, act 1. 92
The Vikings, act 4. 95
