Editing John Gielgud (section)

===Old Vic===
{{Hatnote|Details of Gielgud's work, 1929–31: [[List of roles and awards of John Gielgud#jgS29|Stage]], [[List of roles and awards of John Gielgud#jgR29|Radio]], [[List of roles and awards of John Gielgud#jgF29|Film]]}}
In 1929 [[Harcourt Williams]], newly appointed as director of productions at the Old Vic, invited Gielgud to join the company for the forthcoming season. The Old Vic, in an unfashionable area of London south of the [[Thames]], was run by [[Lilian Baylis]] to offer plays and operas to a mostly working-class audience at low ticket prices.<ref>Gilbert, p. 16</ref> She paid her performers very modest wages, but the theatre was known for its unrivalled repertory of classics, mostly [[Shakespeare's plays|Shakespeare]], and Gielgud was not the first West End star to take a large pay cut to work there. It was, in Morley's words, the place to learn Shakespearean technique and try new ideas.<ref name=dnb/>

[[File:Old Vic0185.JPG|thumb|left|The [[Old Vic]] (photographed in 2012), where Gielgud honed his skill as a Shakespearean]]

During his first season at the Old Vic, Gielgud played Romeo to the Juliet of [[Adele Dixon]], [[Antonio (The Merchant of Venice)|Antonio]] in ''The Merchant of Venice'', Cleante in ''[[The Imaginary Invalid]]'', the [[Richard II of England|title role]] in ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'', and [[Oberon]] in ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]''.<ref name=roles/> His Romeo was not well reviewed, but as Richard II Gielgud was recognised by critics as a Shakespearean actor of undoubted authority.<ref>Morley, pp. 68–70</ref> The reviewer in ''[[The Times]]'' commented on his sensitiveness, strength and firmness, and called his performance "work of genuine distinction, not only in its grasp of character, but in its control of language".<ref>"The Old Vic – Richard II", ''The Times'', 19 November 1929, p. 14</ref> Later in the season he was cast as Mark Antony in ''Julius Caesar'', [[Orlando (As You Like It)|Orlando]] in ''[[As You Like It]]'', the [[Caesar (title)|Emperor]] in ''[[Androcles and the Lion (play)|Androcles and the Lion]]'' and the title role in [[Luigi Pirandello|Pirandello]]'s ''[[The Man with the Flower in His Mouth]]''.<ref name=roles/>

In April 1930 Gielgud finished the season [[Hamlet in performance|playing Hamlet]].<ref name=roles/> Williams's production used the complete text of the play. This was regarded as a radical innovation; extensive cuts had been customary for earlier productions. A running time of nearly five hours did not dampen the enthusiasm of the public, the critics or the acting profession. [[Sybil Thorndike]] said, "I never hoped to see Hamlet played as in one's dreams&nbsp;... I've had an evening of being swept right off my feet into another life – far more real than the life I live in, and moved, moved beyond words."<ref>Croall (2000), pp. 126–127</ref> The production gained such a reputation that the Old Vic began to attract large numbers of West End theatregoers. Demand was so great that the cast moved to the [[Sondheim Theatre|Queen's Theatre]], in [[Shaftesbury Avenue]], where Williams staged the piece with the text discreetly shortened. The effect of the cuts was to give the title role even more prominence.<ref>"The Old Vic", ''The Times'', 29 April 1930, p. 12</ref> Gielgud's Hamlet was richly praised by the critics. [[Ivor Brown]] called it "a tremendous performance&nbsp;... the best Hamlet of [my] experience".<ref>Brown, Ivor. "Mr John Gielgud's Hamlet", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 29 May 1930, p. 6</ref> [[James Agate]] wrote, "I have no hesitation whatsoever in saying that it is the high water-mark of English Shakespearean acting of our time."<ref>Croall (2011), p. 123</ref>

[[File:Mabel terry-lewis.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Mabel Terry-Lewis]], Gielgud's aunt and co-star in ''[[The Importance of Being Earnest]]'']]
Hamlet was a role with which Gielgud was associated over the next decade and more. After the run at the Queen's finished he turned to another part for which he became well known, John Worthing in ''[[The Importance of Being Earnest]]''. Gielgud's biographer [[Jonathan Croall]] comments that the two roles illustrated two sides of the actor's personality: on the one hand the romantic and soulful Hamlet, and on the other the witty and superficial Worthing.<ref>Croall (2000), p. 131</ref> The formidable Lady Bracknell was played by his aunt, Mabel Terry-Lewis. ''The Times'' observed, "Mr Gielgud and Miss Terry-Lewis together are brilliant&nbsp;... they have the supreme grace of always allowing [[Oscar Wilde|Wilde]] to speak in his own voice."<ref>"Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith", ''The Times'', 8 June 1930, p. 12</ref>

Returning to the Old Vic for the 1930–31 season, Gielgud found several changes to the company. [[Donald Wolfit]], who loathed him and was himself disliked by his colleagues, was dropped, as was Adele Dixon.<ref name=c134>Croall (2000), p. 134</ref> Gielgud was uncertain of the suitability of the most prominent new recruit, [[Ralph Richardson]], but Williams was sure that after this season Gielgud would move on; he saw Richardson as a potential replacement.<ref name=c134/> The two actors had little in common. Richardson recalled, "He was a kind of brilliant butterfly, while I was a very gloomy sort of boy",<ref>Croall (2011), p. 128</ref> and "I found his clothes extravagant, I found his conversation flippant. He was the New Young Man of his time and I didn't like him."<ref name=h67/> The first production of the season was ''[[Henry IV, Part 1]]'', in which Gielgud as [[Henry Percy (Hotspur)|Hotspur]] had the best of the reviews.<ref>Croall (2000), p. 135</ref> Richardson's notices, and the relationship of the two leading men, improved markedly when Gielgud, who was playing [[Prospero]] in ''[[The Tempest]]'', helped Richardson with his performance as [[Caliban]]:

{{blockquote|He gave me about two hundred ideas, as he usually does, twenty-five of which I eagerly seized on, and when I went away I thought, "This chap, you know, I don't like him very much but by God he knows something about this here play."{{space}}... And then out of that we formed a friendship.<ref name=h67>Hayman, p. 67</ref>}}

The friendship and professional association lasted for more than fifty years, until the end of Richardson's life.<ref>Gielgud, John. "A great gentleman, a rare spirit", ''The Observer'', 16 October 1983, p. 9</ref> Gielgud's other roles in this season were Lord Trinket in ''[[The Jealous Wife]]'', Richard II again, Antony in ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]'', [[Malvolio]] in ''[[Twelfth Night]]'', Sergius in ''[[Arms and the Man]]'', Benedick in ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'' – another role for which he became celebrated – and he concluded the season as [[King Lear]]. His performance divided opinion. ''The Times'' commented, "It is a mountain of a part, and at the end of the evening the peak remains unscaled";<ref>"The Old Vic", ''The Times'', 14 April 1931, p. 12</ref> in ''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'', however, Brown wrote that Gielgud "is a match for the thunder, and at length takes the Dover road with a broken tranquillity that allowed every word of the King's agony to be clear as well as poignant".<ref>Brown, Ivor. "King Lear", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 14 April 1931, p. 8</ref>