Esme Church
{{Short description|British actress and theatre director (1893–1972)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{infobox person
| name = Esme Church
| birth_place = England
| birth_date = 11 February 1893
| death_place = Quenington, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom
| death_date = 31 May 1972 (aged 79)
| education = Guildhall School of Music and Drama, RADA
| occupation = Actress, theatre director, drama teacher
}}
Esme Church (11 February 1893 – 31 May 1972) was a British actress and theatre director. In a long career she acted with the Old Vic Company, the Royal Shakespeare Company and on Broadway. She directed plays for the Old Vic, became head of the Old Vic Theatre School and then director of the Bradford Civic Playhouse, with its associated Northern Theatre School.
Early life and education
Esmé Church was born on 11 February 1893 in Marylebone, London to Annie and Henry George Church. Her father was a solicitor. Church trained as an actress at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and RADA.{{Cite web |date=2025-06-06 |title=Esmé Church (1893 to 1972) {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/national-blue-plaque-scheme/esme-church/ |access-date=2025-06-07 |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en}}
Stage career
In 1916, at the invitation of Lena Ashwell, Church joined a concert party entertaining troops in France and, at the end of World War I, Germany.{{Citation
| title=Obituary: Miss Esme Church
| newspaper=The Times
| publication-place=London
| issue= 58493
| date=1 June 1972
| page=16
}}
Among Church's earliest London appearances was a series of poetry recitals at the Æolian Hall in 1920. In the following year she was in The Child in Flanders by Cicely Hampton at the Lyric, Hammersmith, the first of several London seasons with the Lena Ashwell Players. In 1926 she took, with "high distinction", the title role of a bored housewife in Jane Clegg by St. John Ervine at the Century Theatre.{{Citation
| title=Century Theatre: 'Jane Clegg' by St. John Ervine
| newspaper=The Times
| publication-place=London
| issue= 44436
| date=23 November 1926
| page=12
}}
In 1927 she joined Lilian Baylis' Old Vic company; for her first season she played in Ibsen, Shakespeare (as Viola in Twelfth Night, Lady Macbeth opposite John Laurie, Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Gertrude in Hamlet) and Sheridan's Mrs Malaprop.
In 1931 she joined the Greyhound Theatre, Croydon, as artistic director, a position she held for two years before returning to the West End in a company headed by Tyrone Guthrie, with a long run in Dorothy Massingham's The Lake. Later in 1933 she again performed Gertrude, in William Bridges-Adams's production of Hamlet at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, opposite Anew McMaster.{{Citation
| title=The Stratford Festival
| newspaper=The Times
| publication-place=London
| issue= 46501
| date=20 July 1933
| page=10
}}
Regular London acting engagements, including some film work, continued until October 1936 when, at Baylis's invitation, she returned to the Old Vic to direct Michael Redgrave and Edith Evans in a celebrated production of As You Like It.{{cite book |title=Ms- Directing Shakespeare: women direct Shakespeare |last=Schafer |first= Elizabeth |year=2000 |publisher= Macmillan|location= London|isbn=978-0-312-22746-3 |pages=215–216 }}{{Citation
| last=Evans
| first=Edith
| author-link=Edith Evans
| title=Miss Esme Church
| newspaper=The Times
| publication-place=London
| issue= 58501
| date=10 June 1972
| page=14
}} This was followed by Ghosts, an Old Vic production staged at the Vaudeville Theatre, which was presented for television later that year.{{Citation
| title=New plays next week
| newspaper=The Times
| publication-place=London
| issue= 47827
| date=28 October 1937
| page=14
| title=London Television, Alexandra Palace
| newspaper=The Times
| publication-place=London
| issue= 47842
| date=15 November 1937
| page=21
}}
Teaching
At same time as directing, both at the Old Vic and in West End theatres, Church organised new ventures: the Old Vic Theatre School and "Young Vic", a touring company aimed at young audiences and forerunner of today's theatre of the same name.{{Citation
| title=Old Vic Students
| newspaper=The Times
| publication-place=London
| issue= 47999
| date=20 May 1938
| page=21
}} In 1944 Church took the position of artistic director at the Bradford Civic Playhouse, a career development which initially caused puzzlement,{{cite web |url=https://sounds.bl.uk/related-content/TRANSCRIPTS/024T-C1142X000107-0001A0.pdf |title=Interview with Bernard Hepton |author=Harris, Kate |date=6 April 2006 |work=Theatre Archive Project |publisher=British Library|access-date=23 February 2023}} but the move gave her the opportunity to found her own school, the Northern Theatre School at 26 Chapel Street, using the theatre facilities.{{cite book |title="The Stage" Year Book 1955 |year=1955 |location=London |page=79}} The school's reputation grew rapidly and many notable actors trained there.{{Citation
| last=Browne
| first=E. Martin
| title=Esme Church
| newspaper=The Times
| publication-place=London
| issue= 58497
| date=6 June 1972
| page=16
}}
Her students included Tom Bell,{{Cite news |url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/national/25218936.unsung-pioneering-actress-director-esme-church-honoured-blue-plaque/ |title='Unsung' pioneering actress and director Esme Church honoured with blue plaque }} William Gaunt,{{cite book|last=Hammond|first=Anthony|title=The Boxtree A-Z of TV Stars|publisher=Boxtree |location=London|year=1992|page=92|chapter=William Gaunt|isbn=1-85283-163-4}} Dorothy Heathcote,{{cite web|url=http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/edtheatre/people/faculty/heathcote|title=Educational Theatre Faculty: Dorothy Heathcote|work=Educational Theatre|publisher=New York University, Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions|access-date=16 January 2010|location=New York|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415070723/http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/edtheatre/people/faculty/heathcote|archive-date=15 April 2009|url-status=dead}} Bernard Hepton, Donald Howarth,{{cite conference |url=http://www.laban.org/php/news.php?id=431 |title=Laban and Actor Training |author=McCaw, Dick |date=24 October 2008 |publisher=Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance |access-date=16 January 2010 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Bryan Mosley,{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-bryan-mosley-1070036.html|title=Obituary: Bryan Mosley|last=Hayward |first=Anthony |date=11 February 1999|work=The Independent|access-date=16 January 2010|location=London}} Edward Petherbridge,{{cite book|last=Cochrane|first=Claire|title=Twentieth-Century British Theatre: Industry, Art and Empire|year=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, England|isbn=978-0-521-46488-8|page=211|chapter=Education, training and 'new' actors}} Robert Stephens,{{cite book|last=Stephens|first=Robert|author2=Coveney, Michael |author-link2=Michael Coveney |title=Knight Errant: Memoirs of a vagabond actor|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|location=London|year=1995|pages=10–11|isbn=0-340-64970-4}} Billie Whitelaw{{cite news|url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/feature.php/14595/Tom|title=Obituaries: Tom Bell|last=Austin|first=Jeremy|date=23 October 2006|work=The Stage|access-date=16 January 2010|location=London}} and Robert Fyfe.[https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/sep/24/robert-fyfe-obituary The Guardian, obituary, published 24 September 2021]
Church still found time for other work, returning to London to act and direct. In 1955, once again directed by Guthrie, she appeared as Flora Van Husen in a production of The Matchmaker, transferring from the Theatre Royal Haymarket to the Royale, New York. Her last appearance was in 1962 as Madame de Rosemond in The RSC's The Art of Seduction, a version from John Barton of Les Liaisons dangereuses, at the Aldwych Theatre.
Personal life and legacy
She retired firstly to Kent and then to Quenington, Gloucestershire, where she died.
On 5 June 2025, Historic England unveiled a national Blue plaque commemorating Church, at 26 Chapel St, Bradford, where she ran The Northern Theatre School.{{Cite news |last=McLaughlin |first=Charlotte |date=2025-06-06 |title='Unsung' pioneering actress and director Esme Church honoured with blue plaque |work=Evening Standard|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/bradford-historic-england-bafta-rada-london-b1231548.html |access-date=2025-06-07 |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0161363}}
- {{IBDB name|98238}}
- [https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/national-blue-plaque-scheme/esme-church/ Citation from Historic England for the Blue plaque at 26 Chapel St]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Church, Esme}}
Category:English theatre directors
Category:British women theatre directors