The Art of the Theatre

CRAIG (Gordon Edward).

Foulis, 1905

First edition. 54 pages. Frontis; 7 plates. Softcover. Original printed wrappers. Good binding and cover. In mylar. Edge wear to wraps with slight chipping at spine. Foxing throughout.  Edward Henry Gordon Craig was born in Stevenage, UK in January 1872. His mother, Ellen Terry (1847-1928), was to become the leading actress of her generation.His father was Edward Godwin (1833-1886), a talented architect, furniture and costume designer. In the 1890s, Craig worked as an actor alongside Sir Henry Irving at London’s Lyceum Theatre but soon undertook his first ground-breaking designs for productions, asserting his revolutionary theories of theatre-making. Working mainly in Europe in the early 1900s, Craig advanced towards a new “art of the theatre” - a joining of architecture, movement and music. To this end, he established the School for the Art of the Theatre in Florence, Italy in 1903. He directed performances across Europe and was commissioned by Constantin Stanislavski to direct and design Hamlet at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1912 to critical acclaim. Craig's writing was prolific and highly influential: in 1908 Craig founded The Mask, the first international journal of theatre. He also published On the Art of the Theatre, Towards a New Theatre, The Theatre Advancing, Scene as well his autobiography Index to the Story of My Days and biographies of Henry Irving and Ellen Terry