Margaret Webster | |
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 Scene from Margaret Webster's Broadway production ofOthello (1943) withUta Hagen as Desdemona, Webster as Emilia, andJack Manning as Roderigo | |
| Born | (1905-03-15)March 15, 1905 New York City, US |
| Died | November 13, 1972(1972-11-13) (aged 67) Sydenham, London, England |
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| Relatives | Benjamin Nottingham Webster (great-grandfather) |
Margaret Webster (March 15, 1905 – November 13, 1972) was an American-British theater actress,producer anddirector. CriticGeorge Jean Nathan described her as "the best director of the plays of Shakespeare that we have."[1]
Margaret Webster was born in New York City, the daughter of two famous actors,Ben Webster andDame May Whitty. She was their second child, her older brother died in infancy. Her birth was announced on stage at the theatre her father was performing in during a Shakespeare play. The family travelled extensively during her formative years as her parents moved between the US and UK with various touring theatre companies. At 13, she became a boarder atQueen Anne's School, Caversham, an independent school in England.
Given her unique parentage, she was allowed time off school to act in performances with her parents. This included being on stage alongside the renowned theatre actressEllen Terry. Terry and her family including her daughterEdith Craig were good friends with the Websters. Upon graduating in 1923, she turned down the opportunity to attend Cambridge University in order to pursue her acting career. She went on to attend Etlinger Dramatic School, London, England where her mother Dame May Whitty was a manager and acting coach.
She spent the early part of her career in England, where she became well known in the theatre. She worked for several established theatrical companies, including from 1929–1930 atThe Old Vic.[2]
She returned to the US in 1937 and began an impressive run directing the Shakespeare play,Richard II withMaurice Evans in the title role. They formed a partnership that lasted until 1942, with Webster directing Evans inBroadway productions ofHamlet,Twelfth Night andHenry IV, Part I. In 1941–42, she directed Evans andJudith Anderson in a Broadway production ofMacbeth.[3] It was while she was directingHamlet in 1938 that she began her long romantic relationship with actressEva Le Gallienne.[citation needed]
Webster was also believed to have had a brief off or on relationship with the actressMady Christians during this same time frame. On Broadway, Christians playedQueen Gertrude inHamlet and Lady Percy inHenry IV, Part I, staged by Webster. Webster and Christians became close friends: according to Webster biographer Milly S. Barranger, it is likely that they also were lovers.[4] Webster was said to be devastated by Christians' death from a stroke in 1951. Webster was part of a small but influential group oflesbian producers, directors, and actors in theater (a group that included Eva Le Gallienne and Cheryl Crawford).
When Evans joined the army, Webster continued to have success directing classical plays onBroadway, notablyThe Cherry Orchard (1944), starring Le Gallienne, and her greatest triumphOthello (1943), starringPaul Robeson in the title role andJose Ferrer asIago, which ran for 296 performances, by far the longest run of aShakespearean production on Broadway, a record that has not been remotely approached since. Webster played Emilia in the production's initial year (she was replaced byEdith King in 1944).[5]
In 1945, she staged the longest-running performance of Shakespeare'sThe Tempest to play Broadway, withArnold Moss asProspero,Canada Lee asCaliban, and ballerinaVera Zorina as Ariel. This production was only the second U.S. staging of a Shakespeare play to feature an African-American actor in a prominent role among an otherwise all-white cast. The production played for 100 performances, then took a short break and returned to Broadway for 24 more performances.[6]
In 1946, Webster and Le Gallienne co-founded theAmerican Repertory Theater with producerCheryl Crawford, with Webster's staging of Shakespeare'sHenry VIII as its premiere production, starring Le Gallienne as Katherine,Walter Hampden asCardinal Wolsey andVictor Jory in thetitle role. The theater operated until 1948,[7][8] staging such plays asJohn Gabriel Borkman,Ghosts, and a legendary production ofAlice in Wonderland in which Webster played theCheshire Cat and theRed Queen.[6]
In 1948, her affair with Le Gallienne ended and she went on tour with her company, the Margaret Webster Shakespeare Company. The tour lasted until 1951, but Webster left in 1950 to become the first woman to direct a production at theMetropolitan Opera. Her debut production ofDon Carlo served as opening night of the 1950–51 season and began the tenure ofRudolf Bing as general manager. Her subsequent productions wereAida (1951) andSimon Boccanegra (1959).[9] Around 1953, she met the British authorPamela Frankau with whom she fell in love, and by 1957, they were living together at 55 Christchurch Hill in Hampstead, London. In 1964, she directedLeo Genn in12 Angry Men in London. She also directedMacbeth at theNew York City Opera.[6]
Frankau and Webster frequently moved between London and Webster's home inAquinnah onMartha's Vineyard. They remained together until Frankau's death from breast cancer in 1967. Webster dedicated her first autobiography, titledThe Same, Only Different: Five Generations of a Great Theatre Family (1969), to Frankau.
In 1968, Webster began a whirlwind romance with a married but separated American woman named Jane Brundred. She moved into Webster's Aquinnah home but within a few months was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Brundred bequeathed money to Webster in her will despite her family being against their relationship. The money was used for a memorial sculpture in Brundred's memory in a Shakespeare garden at Vineyard Haven[10] public library. The remainder of the money helped Webster permanently move to London after her own cancer diagnosis two years after Brundred's death. The final play she directed was George Bernard Shaw'sMrs Warren's Profession, where she directed the actress and singerMary Ellis in 1970. Webster died from colon cancer at St Christopher's Hospice, 51 Lawrie Park Road,Sydenham, England in 1972, aged 67.[2]
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