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===First acting experience=== {{Hatnote|Details of Gielgud's work, 1921β25: [[List of roles and awards of John Gielgud#jgS21|Stage]]}} Gielgud, aged seventeen, joined a private drama school run by [[Constance Benson]], wife of the [[actor-manager]] [[Frank Benson (actor)|Sir Frank Benson]].<ref>Hayman, p. 18</ref> On the new boy's first day Lady Benson remarked on his physical awkwardness: "she said I walked like a cat with [[rickets]]. It dealt a severe blow to my conceit, which was a good thing."<ref>"Profile β The old master of rhetoric and robes", ''[[The Observer]]'', 14 April 1974, p. 9</ref> Before and after joining the school he played in several amateur productions,<ref>Gielgud (2000), p. 41</ref> and in November 1921 made his debut with a professional company, though he himself was not paid. He played the Herald in ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]'' at the [[Old Vic]]; he had one line to speak and, he recalled, spoke it badly.<ref>Gielgud (2000), pp. 45β46</ref> He was kept on for the rest of the season in walk-on parts in ''[[King Lear]]'', ''Wat Tyler'' and ''[[Peer Gynt]]'', with no lines.<ref>Gaye, p. 643; and Gielgud (2000), p. 46</ref> {{Quote box|bgcolor=#DCD|salign=right|quote=If your great-aunt happens to be Ellen Terry, your great-uncle Fred Terry, your cousins Gordon Craig and Phyllis Neilson-Terry, and your grandmother the greatest Shakespearean actress in all Lithuania, you are hardly likely to drift into the fish trade.|source=Gielgud on his theatrical background.<ref>Morley, p. 1</ref>|align=left|width=225px}} Gielgud's first substantial engagement came through his family. In 1922 his cousin [[Phyllis Neilson-Terry]]{{refn|Phyllis Neilson-Terry was Gielgud's first cousin once removed, being a first cousin of his mother.<ref name=g222/>|group=n}} invited him to tour in [[J. B. Fagan]]'s ''The Wheel'' as [[understudy]], bit-part player and assistant stage manager, an invitation he accepted.<ref name=dnb/> A colleague, recognising that the young man had talent but lacked technique, recommended him to the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]] (RADA). Gielgud was awarded a scholarship to the academy and trained there throughout 1923 under [[Kenneth Barnes (director)|Kenneth Barnes]], [[Helen Haye]] and [[Claude Rains]].<ref>Gielgud (2000), p. 51</ref> The actor-manager [[Nigel Playfair]], a friend of Gielgud's family, saw him in a student presentation of [[J. M. Barrie]]'s ''[[The Admirable Crichton]]''. Playfair was impressed and cast him as Felix, the poet-butterfly, in the British premiere of the [[Brothers Δapek|Δapek brothers]]' ''[[The Insect Play]]''. Gielgud later said that he made a poor impression in the part: "I am surprised that the audience did not throw things at me."<ref>Gielgud (2000), p. 53</ref> The critics were cautious but not hostile to the play;<ref>Ervine, St John. "The Insect Play", ''The Observer'', 6 May 1923, p. 15; Brown, Ivor. "The Insect Play", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 7 May 1923, p. 14; "The Insect Play", ''[[The Times]]'', 7 May 1923, p. 10; and "Theatres", ''The Times'', 9 June 1923, p. 98</ref> it did not attract the public and closed after a month.<ref name=m33/> While still continuing his studies at RADA, Gielgud appeared again for Playfair in ''Robert{{space}}E Lee'' by [[John Drinkwater (playwright)|John Drinkwater]].<ref name=m33>Morley, p. 33</ref> After leaving the academy at the end of 1923 Gielgud played a Christmas season as Charley in ''[[Charley's Aunt]]'' in the West End, and then joined Fagan's [[repertory]] company at the [[Oxford Playhouse]].<ref>Morley, p. 38</ref> Gielgud was in the Oxford company in January and February 1924, from October 1924 to the end of January 1925, and in August 1925.<ref name=roles>Croall (2000), pp. 534β545; Morley, pp. 459β477; and Tanitch, pp. 178β191</ref> He played a wide range of parts in classics and modern plays, greatly increasing his technical abilities in the process.<ref>Croall (2000), pp. 60β61</ref> The role he most enjoyed was Trofimov in ''[[The Cherry Orchard]]'', his first experience of [[Chekhov]]: "It was the first time I ever went out on stage feeling that perhaps, after all, I could really be an actor."<ref>Morley, p. 43</ref>
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