The Arts Theatre
Club was founded in 1927 by the theatre and literary alumni
described below and was originally located on Great Newport Street. Its aim was to provide a place for people to come
who worked in every aspect of the theatre. As film and television
became more popular it also began to accommodate people who
worked in that industry too. Over the years the Arts Theatre Club has evolved, always keeping with the times - probably why it lasted almost 80 years, making it one of London’s oldest theatre members' clubs. The Arts Club continues to evolve and in 2006 became incorporated. However, the new company still keeps to the core beliefs that it was founded on community, friendliness and involvement for people who work in all aspects of theatre and media.
Bronson Albery
The famous Albery Theatre is named after Bronson Albery the
son of the famous playwrite James Albery and leading lady
of the time Mary Moore. Shows at the Albery included Noel
Coward's first produced London show, "I’ll leave it to
You". It was also the temporary home of the Old Vic Theatre Company fronted by Lawrence Olivier whilst their theatre was
being repared for damge from the war in 1944. No doubt all of whom would of come down to the Arts before and after a show.
Walter Payne OBE
W.E Gillespie
Simply known as a founding member of the arts theatre club.
Any more information e-mail us.
 Dame
Madge Kendal
Madge Kendal, pictured here with her husband, the actor William
Kendal, did much to improve the standards in the Victorian
theatre and to bring it a respectability that would appeal
to the middle classes. The couple imposed a high moral code
both on stage and behind the scenes. Kendal was the youngest
of William Robertson’s 22 children and her family had
been connected with the theatre for 200 years. Her brother
Tom Robertson, was a dramatist whose work introduced the naturalistic
cup-and-saucer
type drama that rapidly became the fashion.
The couple went into management together at the Court Theatre
and the St James's Theatre. Although a sparkling comedian
on the stage, and referred to in magazines as ‘dear
Madge Kendal’, Mrs Kendal was by all accounts a cold
and judgmental character. She disapproved of people and practices
that did not conform to her strict code, and she had a poor
relationship with her own five children. Her acting was outstanding
however, and she was made a Dame in 1926.
During a rehearsal one day, Dame Madge Kendal asked a manager
to bring a kitchen chair to the middle of the stage. The company
was then summoned to gather around while she knelt down and
offered a prayer. "Oh Lord," she said, "we
pray Thee out of Thy infinite mercy that Thou wilt cause some
notion of the rudiments of acting to be vouchsafed to this
company, for Jesus Christ's sake, Amen." She then rose,
dusted her knees, turned to the company, and snapped, "Well
now, we'll see what that will do."
Sir Johnston Forbes Robertson
English actor who was considered the finest Hamlet of his
time, noted for his elocution and ascetic features.
Educated at Charterhouse School, he studied art before turning
to the theatre in 1874, when he first appeared on the London
stage. He acted with the Bancrofts--Squire and his wife--and
John Hare, played opposite Mary Anderson in England and the
United States, and for some time was a leading member of Sir
Henry Irving's company. His first outstanding success was
in Sir Arthur Pinero's Profligate in 1889. In 1895 he took
over the management of the Lyceum, with Mrs. Patrick Campbell
as leading lady, giving memorable performances in Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth, and also producing
Maurice Maeterlinck's Pelléas and Mélisande,
in which his Romantic style of acting was highly successful.
In 1900 he married Gertrude Elliott, who became his leading
lady, appearing with him in such plays as The Light That Failed,
Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra, and, one of his biggest successes,
Jerome K. Jerome's Passing of the Third Floor Back. Forbes-Robertson
was knighted in 1913 and retired in 1915. His daughter Jean
Forbes-Robertson (1905-62) became a distinguished actress.
Sir John Martin-Harvey
Sir John Martin-Harvey was born John Martin Harvey on 22nd
June 1863.
His father was John Harvey (1833-1901), a successful designer
and builder of yachts in the Essex riverside village of Wivenhoe.
His grandfather, Thomas Harvey (1803-1885) was another successful
shipbuilder before him.
Sir John's biggest success was his play The Only Way which
was first produced at the Lyceum Theatre, London, in 1899.
It was adapted from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities
and Sir John played the lead role of Sydney Carton. His wife,
known as Miss N. da Silva played the role of the seamstress,
Mimi. The music for the play was written by Hamilton Clarke,
including the entr'acte entitled Mimi
Sir Gerald du Maurier
(1873-1934) was an actor and theatrical manager, and was son
of George du Maurier. He first appeared on the stage in 1895,
playing a small part in a dramatization of Trilby at the Haymarket.
His break came in 1902 during Barrie's The Admirable Crichton,
at the Duke of York Theatre, where he met his later wife Muriel
('Mo') Beaumont (1881-1957) who was also an actor. (She appears
to have been based predominantly at three London theatres,
the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, the Garrick Theatre and the
Duke of York in the period 1898-1906, 1912, acting in a range
of productions from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice to
For Love of Prim and A Golden Wedding by Eden Philpotts).
Gerald du Maurier was the first actor to play the parts of
Mr. Darling and Captain Hook in Barrie's Peter Pan (1904).Other
successes included E.W. Hornung's Raffles, Arsene Lupin at
the Comedy Theatre (1906) and Alias Jimmie Valentine (1910)
by Paul Armstrong. He then moved into theatre management with
Frank Curzon at Wyndham's Theatre, whilst continuing his acting
career. He was knighted in 1922 for his services to theatre.
Film roles include The Living Dead (1936), I was a Spy (1934),
Power (1934), Catherine the Great (1934), Lord Camber's Ladies
(1932) and Escape (1930).
Sir Barry V. Jackson
Sir Barry Jackson, founder of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Shakespeare Institute.
 Lady
Wyndham
Sibell Mary (née Lumley), Countess Grosvenor (later
Lady Wyndham) (1855-1929), Daughter of 9th Earl of Scarborough;
married firstly Earl Grosvenor, secondly George Wyndham.
Henry Ainley
Henry Hinchliffe Ainley (21 August 1879 - 31 October 1945) was an English  Shakespearean stage and screen actor, and father of actors Richard Ainley and Anthony Ainley (most notably known for his portrayal of the Master in Doctor Who).
He was born in Leeds and brought up in Morley, and baptised at St. George's Parish Church, but moved to London to pursue his career as an actor. He made his professional stage debut for F.R. Benson's company of actors and later joined Herbert Beerbohm Tree's company. He found fame in 1902 as Paolo in Paolo and Francesca.
 Arnold
Bennet
Arnold Bennett was an English novelist, playwright, essayist,
critic and journalist. By any standards, his output was prolific:
thirty novels, almost three thousand articles, ten plays and
many other writings. He was a bon viveur who enjoyed to the
full the fruits of his hard work, his success and the acclaim
accorded him. Amongst his prized possessions was his luxurious
yacht, the Valsa.
A man of contradictions, Bennett was, at the same time,
proud to be a trustee of the left-wing magazine New Statesman
and a director of the Savoy Hotel, whose chefs named dishes
after him, notably the omelette
Arnold Bennett. He considered himself to be a socialist,
though those further to the left might have called him a "champagne
socialist". He was tolerant, generous and kind, with
an ironic sense of humour.
After the war, Bennett resumed his career as a writer, living
with the English actress, Dorothy Cheston, mainly in London
or at his country house, Comarques, in Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex
. His later work displays his characteristic qualities - realism,
objectivity, compassion and professionalism - but lacks the
immediacy and intensity of the early novels. Along with his
friends, John Galsworthy and HG Wells, he became one of the
early members of the PEN club, founded 1921, which promoted
internationalism in the arts and writers' freedom.
During the twenties, Bennett, along with Wells and Galsworthy,
was assailed by Virginia
Woolf for the lack of characterisation in his fiction,
a charge which seems particularly ill-founded in Bennett's
case. Curiously, Bennett named his daughter Virginia. Not
least amongst his abilities, Bennett was an outstanding book
reviewer, recognising the talents of Ernest Hemingway, James
Joyce, DH Lawrence and William Faulkner early in their careers.
Gladys Constance Cooper
Gladys Constance Cooper was born in Lewisham, London on 18th
December, 1888. She was the daughter of William Frederick
Cooper, a journalist, and his wife Mabel (Barnett). The beauty
that would set her apart in later years was obviously apparent
even as a child and she became a photographic model at the
tender age of six. By the outbreak of World War I she had
grown into a stunningly attractive young woman and was a favourite
pin-up for the British forces.
Her acting career had begun in 1905 when she was taken on
by Seymour Hicks to tour with his company in 'Bluebell in
Fairyland', making her stage bow in Colchester at the age
of 17. In 1906 she appeared in London in 'The Belle of Mayfair'
and the following year became a chorus girl at The Gaiety
(one of Frank Curzon's famous Gaiety Girls).
Later, she turned to more serious acting and her first 'straight'
role came in 1911 in a production of Oscar Wilde's witty comedy
'The Importance of Being Ernest'. A number of other roles
followed and in 1913 she appeared in her first movie, 'The
Eleventh Commandment'.
In 1917 she teamed up with Frank Curzon to co-manage the
Playhouse Theatre, taking over sole control from 1927 until
she left in 1933. She was one of only two women at the time
involved in such a role. During that period she continued
to appear in a number of the plays she helped to produce as
well as finding time for a few more film appearances.
In 1967, now almost eighty years old, she was rewarded for
her considerable contributions to the acting profession when
she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of British Empire
(DBE). Even then, she was not yet ready to make her final
bow and her last stage, film and TV appearances all came after
she had passed her 80th birthday, including a memorable performance in The Chalk Garden (also starring Joan Greenwood).
 Basil
Dean
(1888-1978) b. Croydon, Surrey, England.
A West End stage producer, lured into films, Dean founded
Associated Talking Pictures in the early thirties, the company
that was later to become Ealing
Studios. Among stars he built up were Gracie Fields and
George
Formby, both of whom were to top the box-office popularity
ratings. Dean left films when the war started and became head
of ENSA (Entertainment’s National Service Association),
the government-sponsored body responsible for bringing live
performances to the armed services. For this work he was awarded
the OBE.
Gertrude Kingston
Gertrude Kingston was an actress and the sister of Edwin Max
Kohnstamm (later Konstam).
Sybil Thorndyke
This distinguished theatrical tragedienne will forever be remembered if only for the fact that renown playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote his classic "Saint Joan" work specifically for her. Her over six-decade career allowed a gallery of sterling, masterful portrayals, both classic and contemporary, performing all over the world including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and both Western and Eastern Europe. She was created a Dame of the British Empire in 1931, when her career was not quite half over, and in 1970 she was made Companion of Honour to Queen Elizabeth.
If you have any other information on the Arts Theatre Club's history, or any questions, please e-mail us at info@theartstheatreclub.com.
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