The Business Manager at Irving's Lyceum, "An Individual Who Calls Himself Bram Stoker, Who Seems to Occupy Some Anomalous Position Between Secretary and Valet", or the Forefather of Theatre Administrators

McIntosh, Audrey Anne Keith (1991) The Business Manager at Irving's Lyceum, "An Individual Who Calls Himself Bram Stoker, Who Seems to Occupy Some Anomalous Position Between Secretary and Valet", or the Forefather of Theatre Administrators. MLitt(R) thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Between 1878 and 1905 Bram Stoker was employed as a Business Manager by Henry Irving. During the same period he established a secondary career as a writer. A short biography puts his theatrical career into perspective and shows the extent to which it dominated his life during his years with Irving. Stoker's interest in the theatre began in his childhood, developed further during his years at Trinity College and in 1871 he became an unpaid theatre critic. This work brought about his first meeting with Henry Irving, in 1875, and the friendship that developed over the next three years culminated in 1878 with Irving's offer of employment. A clear picture of the Lyceum's system of administration, and Stoker's duties and responsibilities within it, has been built up from his own writings with corroboration from other sources. One of his main responsibilities was the upkeep of the theatre's account books, which he kept meticulously. The survival of these accounts means that it has been possible to analyse the Theatre's finances between 1878 and 1899, the period of Irving's independent management. To project further, one can construct a picture of the administration of a major theatre in the late nineteenth century. Stoker's interest in contemporary theatrical issues was displayed in a number of articles which were published in Nineteenth Century magazine and the Fortnightly Review. Between 1890 and 1910 he expressed his opinions on three major contemporary issues; the actor-manager system, the National Theatre and stage censorship. He gave evidence to the Government Select Committee on Stage Censorship in 1909. He was also actively involved with the 1905 Mansion House Committee for the erection of a Shakespeare Memorial in London, Finally, Stoker's fiction, although not directly based on his experiences at the Lyceum, reflects his impressions of Irving and the roles he played and shows the influence of the Lyceum's style and atmosphere.

• Item Type: Thesis (MLitt(R))
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Keywords: Biographies, Theater history, Arts management
• Date of Award: 1991
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1991-74689
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 27 Sep 2019 17:08
• Last Modified: 27 Sep 2019 17:08
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/74689