View source for Edward Gordon Craig

{{Short description|English actor and director (1872–1966)}}
{{other people||Edward Craig (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- For more information see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]]. --> 
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|CH|OBE}}
| image            = Portrait of Edward Gordon Craig.jpg
| imagesize        = 
| alt              = 
| caption          = Craig before 1903
| pseudonym        = 
| birth_name       = Edward Godwin
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1872|01|16|df=yes}}
| birth_place      = [[Stevenage]], [[Hertfordshire]], England
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1966|07|29|1872|01|16|df=yes}}
| death_place      = [[Vence]], France
| occupation       = Stage designer, theatre director, theatre theorist, actor
| education        = 
| alma_mater       = 
| period           = [[Modernism]]
| movement         = [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]]
| notableworks     = ''On The Art of the Theatre'' (1911)<br/>''The Mask'' (1908–1929)<br/>[[Moscow Art Theatre production of Hamlet|MAT production of ''Hamlet'']] (1911–1912)
| spouse           = {{marriage|Helen Mary Gibson|1893|1932|end=div}}
| partner          = Elena Meo<br>[[Isadora Duncan]]
| children         = 12
| parents          = [[Edward William Godwin|Edward Godwin]]<br>[[Ellen Terry]]
| relatives        = 
| influences       = 
| awards           = 
| website          = 
}}
'''Edward Henry Gordon Craig'''<ref group="notes">Some sources give "Henry Edward Gordon Craig".</ref> {{postnominals|country=GBR|CH|OBE}} (born '''Edward Godwin'''; 16 January 1872 – 29 July 1966), sometimes known as '''Gordon Craig''', was an English [[modernism|modernist]] [[theatre practitioner]]; he worked as an actor, [[Theatre director|director]] and [[scenic designer]], as well as developing an influential body of theoretical writings.  Craig was the son of actress Dame [[Ellen Terry]].

The [[Gordon Craig Theatre]], built in Stevenage (the town of his birth), was named in his honour in 1975.

==Life and family==
[[File:Ellen terrymus.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Craig's mother, [[Ellen Terry]], ca. 1880]]
[[File:Ellen-Terry-and-Granddaughter.jpg|thumb|260px|Craig's daughter, Nelly Gordon, with Ellen Terry in her garden, ca. 1918]]
The [[illegitimacy|illegitimate]] son of the architect [[Edward William Godwin|Edward Godwin]] and the actress [[Ellen Terry]],<ref>Innes (1998, 27)</ref> Craig was born Edward Godwin on 16 January 1872 in Railway Street, [[Stevenage]], in [[Hertfordshire]], England, and [[Baptism|baptised]] at age 16 as Edward Henry Gordon. He attended Bradfield College in Berkshire from May 1886 to July 1887. He took the [[surname]] Craig by [[deed poll]] at age 21.<ref name=DNB>Hamilton, James. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/32608 "Craig, (Edward Henry) Gordon (1872–1966)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, May 2008, retrieved 19 May 2014 {{ODNBsub}}</ref>

Craig spent much of his childhood backstage at the [[Lyceum Theatre, London|Lyceum Theatre]], where his mother was the leading lady to actor [[Henry Irving|Sir Henry Irving]]. Craig later wrote a vivid, book-length tribute to Irving. Craig's sister was [[Edith Craig]].

In 1893 Craig married Helen Mary (May) Gibson, with whom he had five children: Philip Carlisle (born 1894), Rosemary Nell (born 1894), Henry Edward Robin (born 1895), John (born 1896) and Peter (born 1897).{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

He met Elena Meo, a violinist, daughter of artist [[Gaetano Meo]], in 1900, and they had three children together: Ellen (1903–1904), Nell (1904–1975), and [[Edward Carrick|Edward]] (1905–1998). Craig lived with Elena Meo and their two surviving children on and off, in England and Italy. May Craig would not consent to a divorce until 1932, after Craig and Elena Meo had permanently separated. Craig fathered other illegitimate children: a daughter with actress Jess Dorynne, Kitty; a daughter with dancer [[Isadora Duncan]], Deirdre Beatrice (1906–1913), who drowned at the age of seven with another of Duncan's children, Patrick Augustus, and their nanny; a son, Davidino Lees (1916–2004), with poet Dorothy Nevile Lees, and a daughter, Daphne 'Two Two' (1935-1995) with his secretary/translator [[Daphne Woodward]].<ref>Holroyd, Michael. ''A Strange eventful History. The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Henry Irving and their Remarkable Families.'' Chatto & Windus (2008)</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Daphne Craig (1935-1995) |url=https://data.bnf.fr/15755328/daphne_craig/ |access-date=2024-09-06 |website=data.bnf.fr |language=en}}</ref>

Craig lived in straitened circumstances{{why|date=November 2021}} in France for much of his life and was interned by German Occupation forces in 1942. He died at [[Vence]], France, in 1966, aged 94.<ref name=DNB/>

==Career==
{{Further|Moscow Art Theatre production of Hamlet}}
[[File:Edward Gordon Craig as Hamlet in 1897.jpg|thumb|left|120px|Craig as [[Prince Hamlet|Hamlet]], [[Olympic Theatre]], 1897]]
Craig asserted that the director was "the true artist of the theatre" and, controversially, suggested viewing actors as no more important than [[marionettes]]. He designed and built elaborately symbolic sets; for instance, a set composed of his patented movable screens for the [[Moscow Art Theatre production of Hamlet|Moscow Art Theatre production of ''Hamlet'']]. He was also the editor and chief writer for the first international theatre magazine, ''[[The Mask (journal)|The Mask]]''.<ref>Taxidou (1998).</ref>

He worked as an actor in the company of [[Henry Irving|Sir Henry Irving]], but became more interested in [[art]], learning to carve wood under the tutelage of [[James Pryde]] and [[William Nicholson (artist)|William Nicholson]]. His acting career ended in 1897, when he went into [[Scenic design|theatrical design]].

Craig's first productions, [[Henry Purcell|Purcell's]] ''[[Dido and Aeneas]]'', [[George Friedrich Handel|Handel's]] ''[[Acis and Galatea (Handel)|Acis and Galatea]]'' (both inspired and conducted by his lifelong friend [[Martin Shaw (composer)|Martin Shaw]], who founded the [[Purcell Operatic Society]] with him to produce them), and [[Henrik Ibsen|Ibsen]]'s ''[[The Vikings at Helgeland]],'' were produced in [[London]]. The production of ''Dido and Aeneas'' was a considerable success and highly influential in reviving interest in the music of Purcell, then so little known that three copies of ''[[The Times]]'' review were delivered to the theatre: one addressed to Mr Shaw, one to Mr Craig, and one to Mr Purcell. Craig concentrated on keeping his designs simple, so as to set-off the movements of the actors and of light, and introduced the idea of a "unified stage picture" that covered all the elements of design.

After finding little financial success in Britain, Craig set out for Germany in 1904. While there, he wrote one of his most famous works, the [[essay]] ''[[On the Art of the Theatre|The Art of the Theatre]]'' (later reprinted with the title ''On the Art of the Theatre''). In 1908, Isadora Duncan introduced Craig to [[Konstantin Stanislavski]], the founder of the [[Moscow Art Theatre]], who invited him to direct [[Moscow Art Theatre production of Hamlet|their famous production of ''Hamlet'']] with the company, which opened in December 1911. After settling in [[Italy]], Craig created a school of theatrical design with support from [[Lord Howard de Walden]], the Arena Goldoni in Florence. During World War I, he wrote a cycle of [[puppet]] plays, the ''[[Drama for Fools]]''<ref>Craig, Edward Gordon. ''The Drama for Fools / Le Théâtre des fous''. Montpellier, L'Entretemps, 2012</ref> and published a little theatre magazine, ''[[The Marionnette]]'' (1918).

Craig was considered extremely difficult to work with and ultimately refused to direct or design any project over which he did not have complete artistic control. This led to his withdrawal from practical theatre production.<ref>Leiter (1994, 84).</ref> His later career is remarkable for how little he achieved after the age of forty, during a long period of over fifty years.  In 1929, Craig produced a remarkable series of woodcuts as illustrations for a special edition of [[Hamlet]] published by Count [[Harry Graf Kessler|Harry Kessler]] in a German translation by [[Gerhardt Hauptmann]], an English edition of which appeared the following year.

He was appointed an [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) and in 1958 was made a [[Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour]] (CH).

==Pseudonyms==
While often working under his own name, Craig also signed work with a large number of other names, including Oliver Bath, Julius Oliver, Giulio Pirro, Samuel Prim, and Stanislas Lodochowskowski.<ref>''Edward Gordon Craig: An Exhibition of Wood-engravings and Woodcuts, University of York, Heslington Hall, 10 February-5 March 1982'' (University of York, 1982), p. 23</ref>

''The Art Record'' noted in 1901 that Oliver Bath was "a gentleman who is believed to subsist on an exclusive diet of the famous Bath Oliver Biscuit".<ref>''The Art Record: A Monthly Illustrated Review of the Arts and Crafts'' (Volume 2, 1901), p. 488</ref>

==Ideas==
[[File:A-survey-gordon-craig.jpg|thumb|250px|Caricature of Craig by [[Max Beerbohm]] from ''[[A Survey]]'', published in 1921.]]
Craig's idea of using neutral, mobile, non-representational screens as a staging device is probably his most famous scenographic concept. In 1910 Craig filed a [[patent]] which described in considerable technical detail a system of hinged and fixed flats that could be quickly arranged to cater for both internal and external scenes. He presented a set to [[William Butler Yeats]] for use at the [[Abbey Theatre]] in Ireland, who shared his [[Symbolism (arts)|symbolist]] aesthetic.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

Craig's second innovation was in [[stage lighting]]. Doing away with traditional [[footlights]], Craig lit the stage from above, placing lights in the ceiling of the theatre. Colour and light also became central to Craig's stage conceptualizations.

<blockquote>Under the play of this light, the background becomes a deep shimmering blue, apparently almost translucent, upon which the green and purple make a harmony of great richness.<ref>Craig in Bablet (1981).</ref></blockquote>

The third remarkable aspect of Craig's experiments in theatrical form were his attempts to integrate design elements with his work with actors. His ''[[mise en scène]]'' sought to articulate the relationships in space between movement, sound, line, and colour. Craig promoted a theatre focused on the craft of the director – a theatre where action, words, colour and rhythm combine in dynamic dramatic form.<ref>Brockett and Hildy (2003, 414).</ref>
[[File:Edward Gordon Craig, Ellen Terry.jpg|thumb|Ellen Terry by Craig, from ''The Dome'']]
[[File:Edward Gordon Craig, Dumas Papa, 1899.JPG|thumb|"Dumas Papa" by Craig, 1899]]
All of his life, Craig sought to capture "pure emotion" or "arrested development" in the plays on which he worked. Even during the years when he was not producing plays, Craig continued to make models, to conceive stage designs and to work on directorial plans that were never to reach performance. He believed that a director should approach a play with no preconceptions and he embraced this in his fading up from the minimum or blank canvas approach.<ref>Walton (1983).</ref>

As an engraver and a classical artist, Craig found inspiration in [[puppets]] and [[masks]]. In his 1910 article "A Note on Masks," Craig expounds the virtue of using masks as a mechanism for capturing the audience's attention, imagination and soul. "There is only one actor – nay one man who has the soul of the dramatic poet, and who has ever served as the true and loyal interpreter of the poet," he proclaimed, and "this is the marionette."<ref>Quoted in Walton (1983).</ref>

''On the Art of the Theatre'' (1911) is written as a dialogue between a Playgoer and a Stage Director, who examine the problems of the nature of stage directing. Craig argues that it was not dramatists, but rather performers who made the first works of [[drama]], using action, words, line, colour and rhythm. Craig goes on to contend that only the director who seeks to interpret drama truly, and commits to training in all aspects of dramatic art, can restore the "Art of the Theatre."<ref>Wills (1976).</ref> Maintaining that the director should seek a faithful interpretation of the text, Craig argues that audiences go to the theatre to see, rather than to hear, plays. The design elements may transcend reality and function as symbols, he thought, thereby communicating a deeper meaning, rather than simply reflecting the real world.

On 29 June 1908 the Polish theater director, playwright, and theoretician of drama [[Leon Schiller]] initiated a correspondence with Craig.  Together with his letter Schiller sent Craig, in [[Florence]], his essay, "''Dwa teatry''" ("Two Theaters"), translated into English by Madeline Meager.  Craig responded immediately, accepting the essay for his magazine, ''The Mask''.<ref>Jerzy Timoszewicz, "''Mała kronika życia i twórczości Leona Schillera, 1887–1924''" ("A Brief Chronicle of the Life and Works of Leon Schiller"), in Leon Schiller, ''Na progu nowego teatru, 1908–1924'' (On the Threshold of the New Theater, 1908–1924), edited by Jerzy Timoszewicz, Warsaw, [[Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy]], 1978, p. 9.</ref> This was the beginning of a productive collaboration between the two prominent theater directors, who introduced each other's theoretical writings to foreign readers.<ref>Jerzy Timoszewicz, "''Mała kronika życia i twórczości Leona Schillera, 1887–1924''" ("A Brief Chronicle of the Life and Works of Leon Schiller"), in Leon Schiller, ''Na progu nowego teatru, 1908–1924'' (On the Threshold of the New Theater, 1908–1924), ''passim''.</ref>

== Archives and legacy ==
Craig's archive was purchased by [[Hans Posse]] on instructions from [[Adolf Hitler]], for Hitler's planned [[Führermuseum]] in Linz, Austria. The purchase price was nearly 2.4 million French francs.<ref name="Spotts">{{cite book |author=[[Frederic Spotts]] |title=Hitler and the power of aesthetics |date=2009 |publisher=Overlook Press |location=Woodstock |isbn=9781590201787 |page=207 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1Z1NwAACAAJ |access-date=27 February 2024}}</ref>

One of the largest collections of Edward Gordon Craig's papers is held at the [[Harry Ransom Center]] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]]. The 32-box collection includes Craig's diaries, essays, reviews, notes, manuscripts, financial records, and correspondence.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=01210|title=Edward Gordon Craig: An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Center|website=norman.hrc.utexas.edu|access-date=2017-11-03}}</ref> Over 130 personal photographs are present in the archive.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00737|title=Edward Gordon Craig Photography Collection Literary File at the Harry Ransom Center|website=norman.hrc.utexas.edu|access-date=2017-11-03}}</ref> The Ransom Center's art holdings including some of Craig's woodblocks from the Cranach Press ''Hamlet'' as well as proof prints made during production of the book. The center's library holds over 300 books from Craig's personal collection.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://catalog.lib.utexas.edu/search~S18?/xcraig,+edward+gordon/xcraig+edward+gordon/1,3,322,B/exact&FF=xcraig+edward+gordon+1872+1966+former+owner&1,320,/indexsort=-|title=University of Texas Libraries / HRC|website=catalog.lib.utexas.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-11-03}}</ref> In addition to the archive of Edward Gordon Craig, the Ransom Center holds important holdings relating to Craig's mother [[Ellen Terry]], as well as the archive of his son [[Edward Carrick]].

A play by [[David Hare (playwright)|David Hare]], to premiere in 2025 and starring [[Ralph Fiennes]] as Henry Irving, ''Grace Pervades'', explores the life of Irving, Terry, Craig and his sister Edith.<ref>[https://www.westendtheatre.com/227975/news/ralph-fiennes-theatre-royal-bath-season-announced-for-2025-including-new-david-hare-play-grace-pervades-as-you-like-it "Ralph Fiennes / Theatre Royal Bath season announced for 2025 including new David Hare play ''Grace Pervades'' & ''As You Like It'' starring Gloria Obianyo & Harriet Walter"], West End Theatre, 26 March 2024</ref>

==The Edward Gordon Craig Lecture==
[[The Society of Theatre Research]] offers the annual Edward Gordon Craig lecture in conjunction with The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Edward Gordon Craig Lecture |url=https://www.cssd.ac.uk/Research/Whats-On-in-Research/Our-Research-Activities/edward-gordon-craig-lecture |website=The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama |language=en}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
* ''Gordon Craig's Book of Penny Toys'' (1899)
* ''Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, etc.: A Book of Portraits'' (1899)
* ''The London School of Theatrical Art'' (1905)
* ''Motion'' (1907)
* ''On the Art of the Theatre'' (1911)
* ''Towards a New Theatre'' (1913)
* ''The Theatre Advancing'' (1919)
* ''Henry Irving'' (1930)
* ''Ellen Terry and her Secret Self''  (1931)
* ''Woodcuts and Some Words'' (1923)
* ''Index to the Stories of my Days'' (1957)

Source: ''Edward Gordon Craig: A Bibliography'' (Society For Theatre Research) 1967.
<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/edwardgordoncrai0000flet|title = Edward Gordon Craig: A bibliography|year = 1967}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group="notes"}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* Bablet, Denis. 1981. ''The Theatre of Edward Gordon Craig.'' London: Methuen. {{ISBN|978-0-413-47880-1}}.
* Brockett, Oscar G. and Franklin J. Hildy. 2003. ''History of the Theatre''. Ninth edition, International edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. {{ISBN|0-205-41050-2}}.
* Craig, Edward Gordon. 1906. ''Isadora Duncan, Six Movement Designs.'' Leipsig.
* ---. 1911. ''On the Art of the Theatre.'' Ed. Franc Chamberlain. London: Routledge, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-415-45034-8}}.
* Craig, Edward Gordon. ''The Drama for Fools / Le Théâtre des fous''. Edit. Didier Plassard, Marion Chénetier-ALev, Marc Duvillier. Montpellier: L'Entretemps, 2012. {{ISBN|978-2-355-39147-7}}. 
* Innes, Christopher. 1983. ''Edward Gordon Craig''. Directors in Perspective ser. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-27383-8}}.
* [[Holroyd, Michael]]. 2008. ''A Strange Eventful History.'' Farrar Straus Giroux. {{ISBN|0-7011-7987-2}}.
* Leiter, Samuel L. 1994. ''The Great Stage Directors: 100 Distinguished Careers of the Theatre.'' Illustrated ed. New York: Facts on File. {{ISBN|978-0-8160-2602-9}}.
* [[Ulla Poulsen|Ulla Poulsen Skou]]. 1973. ''Genier er som Tordenvejr – Gordon Craig på Det Kgl. Teater 1926''. Selskabet for Dansk Teaterhistorie, 1973. In Danish, with 36 unpublished letters from Gordon Craig as an appendix in English.
* Steegmuller, Francis. 1974. ''Your Isadora: The Love Story of Isadora Duncan & Gordon Craig.'' Pub Center Cultural Resources. {{ISBN|978-0-394-48698-7}}.
* Taxidou, Olga. 1998. ''The Mask: A Periodical Performance by Edward Gordon Craig''. Contemporary Theatre Studies ser. volume 30. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers. {{ISBN|90-5755-046-6}}.
* Walton, J. Michael. 1983. ''Craig on Theatre.'' London: Methuen. {{ISBN|978-0-413-47220-5}}.
* Wills, J. Robert. 1976. ''The Director in a Changing Theatre.'' Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield. {{ISBN|978-0-87484-349-1}}.
* L. M. Newman, ''The White Fan: Gordon Craig's neglected masterpiece of symbolist staging'' (2009. Malkin Press)
* [[Leon Schiller]], ''U progu nowego teatru, 1908–1924'' (On the Threshold of the New Theater, 1908–1924), edited by Jerzy Timoszewicz, Warsaw, [[Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy]], 1978.

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=01210 Edward Gordon Craig Papers] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]]
*[http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00737 Edward Gordon Craig Photograph Collection] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]]
*{{UK National Archives ID}}
* [http://catalog.nypl.org/record=b13443075~S1 Edward Gordon Craig prints of Hamlet, 1913-1914 and undated], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]]
* [https://collections.vam.ac.uk/name/craig-edward-gordon-21585/35184/ Edward Gordon Craig material held by the Victoria & Albert Museum, London]
*[http://archives.nypl.org/the/21739 Donald Oenslager collection of Edward Gordon Craig materials, 1898-1967], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]]
*[https://archives.newberry.org/repositories/2/resources/1000 Edward Gordon Craig Correspondence] at [https://www.newberry.org the Newberry Library]
*[[hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.craig|Edward Gordon Craig Collection.]] General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Edward Gordon}}
[[Category:1872 births]]
[[Category:1966 deaths]]
[[Category:English scenic designers]]
[[Category:English male stage actors]]
[[Category:English theatre directors]]
[[Category:English theatre managers and producers]]
[[Category:English illustrators]]
[[Category:English wood engravers]]
[[Category:Actors from Stevenage]]
[[Category:Male actors from Hertfordshire]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour]]
[[Category:Modernist theatre]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People educated at Bradfield College]]
[[Category:Theatre practitioners]]
[[Category:Terry family]]