Shakespeare Productions in the UK: A Sense of Return—“‘Tis Here, ‘Tis Here, ‘Tis Gone”

Abstract

This chapter considers select stage productions in the UK during the Interwar period, while keeping in mind the cross-pollination of actors and directors that produced a dynamic charge moving across Europe, as well as traveling both ways across the Atlantic. After first focusing on Olivier’s Hamlet productions in order to consider the three returns of King Hamlet’s Ghost as an analogue to Chamberlain’s three visits to try to appease Hitler, I turn my attention to the production of Troilus and Cressida (1938) mounted at the Westminster Theatre in London. Moving from London to Stratford, I conclude by critiquing The Merchant of Venice (1933, 1934) and Macbeth (1934) directed by the Russian émigré Theodore Komisarjevsky at the newly opened Stratford Memorial Theatre.