Letter from John Gielgud to Mr. Mugleston [manuscript] : autograph manuscript signed, 1976-77.
1976
Items
Details
Title
Letter from John Gielgud to Mr. Mugleston [manuscript] : autograph manuscript signed, 1976-77.
Created/published
London, National Theatre, South Bank, [1976-77]
Description
1 item
Associated name
Gielgud, John, Sir, 1904-2000, author.
Note
This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.
Place of creation/publication
Great Britain -- England -- London.
Item Details
Call number
FAST ACC 271842 (flat)
Folger-specific note
Purchase made possible by The Mary and David S. Wolff Endowment Fund. From dealer's description: "Autograph Letter Signed (“John Gielgud”) to “Dear Mr. Mugleston”, giving an aspiring drama student advice on tackling Hamlet as an audition speech. 1 page 4to, National Theatre, South Bank, n.d. [1976-77]. "I appreciate your ambitions and disappointments. Why not try (Earls Court) LAMDA which is an excellent school. I think Hamlet is a bit deep to try as a beginner. But if you use it as an audition piece the most important thing is diction, phrasing, rhythm in that order. You evidently have feeling but that will show itself if you present the scaffolding of the speech correctly.” Gielgud performed at the newly opened National Theatre on the South Bank during the 1976-77 season, performing in Volpone and Julius Caesar as well as Pinter’s No Man’s Land, the only season during which he worked there. Gielgud’s performances in Hamlet stretch from Rosencrantz as a very young actor to the Ghost in his later years, but it is his interpretation of Hamlet which was admired with tremendous enthusiasm by London audiences in the 1930s and 1940s.." Ordered from Richmond Autographs, D 9247, 2018-11-02, Cat. "November 2018", no. 13.