The Festival Theatre Programme: Anmer Hall's Company
Cambridge, England: The Festival Theatre, 1930.
Rare program for a 1930 production of Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" at the Festival Theatre in Cambridge, England.
Tyrone Guthrie directed the production, which featured several young actors who went on to acclaimed careers, including Robert Donat, Frederick Piper, Flora Robson, Miriam Lewes, Evan John, Barbara Nixon, Philip Thornley, and Catharina Ferraz. (Guthrie himself also went on to a great career.)
Robert Donat, who played the landowner Semyonov-Pistchick, later won the Academy Award for Best Actor in the 1939 film, "Goodbye, Mr. Chips." (He beat out Clark Gable in "Gone With the Wind.") Donat has contributed an article on the playing of Hamlet (which, of course, has nothing to do with "The Cherry Orchard," but whatever.)
Also notable in this program, dated May 10, 1930, are the numerous advertisements for such things as luxury cars, evening hats, restaurants, home furnishings, and the like. Clearly, the Depression hadn't yet left its mark on Cambridge.
Alderson Burrell Horne, who adopted the stage name of Anmer Hall, managed the Festival Theatre in Cambridge and brought in Tyrone Guthrie as the resident director. Guthrie has contributed a "producer's note" to the program.
This program is scarce. No institutional holdings listed in OCLC.
PHYSICAL DETAILS: Octavo (8.25 x 6 inches; 202 x 155 mm), [26] pages, including covers, in stapled, illustrated wrappers (soft covers).
CONDITION: Small area of paper loss to lower right corner of cover, staples badly rusted, 2 leaves detached from staples, rubbing to spine, some creasing to pages. About Good overall.
. Item #3057
Price: $125.00