Background

The illegitimate son of the architect Edward Godwin and the actress Ellen Terry, Craig was born Edward Godwin on 16 January 1872 in Railway Street, Stevenage, in Hertfordshire, England, and baptised at age 16 as Edward Henry Gordon. He took the surname Craig by deed poll at age 21.

Career

Craig was known as Henry Edward Gordon Wardell (after his stepfather) until he was 21; he then adopted the name Craig. He made his debut as an actor in Henry Irving's company in 1889, and stayed with Irving until 1897, playing many of the classic English roles, including Romeo, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Mercutio. In about 1900 he began to turn his great talents to production, design, and direction, but he became more successful as a writer and inspirer of others' work than as a theater craftsman himself. Along with the Swiss designer and writer, Adolphe Appia, Craig revolutionized the art of scene design from 1900 onward, even though he was often accused of being an impractical visionary. Among the most famous productions which he actually designed and directed were Ibsen's Rosmersholm for Eleonora Duse in Florence in 1906 and Hamlet for the Moscow Art Theatre in 1911. Craig founded The Mask, a Journal for the Art of the Theatre in 1908, and contributed to it until 1929. His best-known books are On the Art of the Theatre (1911, reissued 1957), Towards a New Theatre (1913), The Theatre Advancing (1919), Scene (1923), Henry Irving (1930), and Ellen Terry and Her Secret Self (1932). In 1956 he was made a Companion of Honour and in 1957 he published his autobiography, Index to the Story of My Days. Craig died July 29, 1966 at his home in France.

Achievements

• He worked as an actor, director and scenic designer, as well as developing an influential body of theoretical writings. The Gordon Craig Theatre, built in Stevenage (the town of his birth), was named in his honour in 1975.

Views

Quotations: "That is what the title of artist means: one who perceives more than his fellows, and who records more than he has seen. "

"I believe in the time when we shall be able to create works of art in the Theatre without the use of the written play, without the use of actors. "

Connections

In 1893 Craig married Helen Mary (May) Gibson, with whom he had five children. With his lover, the violinist Elena Fortuna Meo, he had three children. With his lover, the dancer Isadora Duncan, he had a daughter. With his lover, the poet Dorothy Nevile Lees, he had a son.

Father:

Edward Godwin

Architect

Mother:

Ellen Terry

Actress

Spouse:

Helen Mary (May) Gibson

child:

Edward Anthony Carrick

child:

Deirdre Beatrice

child:

Henry Edward Robin

child:

Peter

child:

Philip Carlisle

child:

John

child:

Davidino Lees

child:

Ellen Gordon

child:

Rosemary Nell

colleague:

Adolphe Appia