Glynne Wickham
Encyclopedia
Life
Appointed in 1948 to the department of drama at Bristol University (the UK's first such department), he convened a 1951 symposium on "the responsibility of universities to the theatre" to endorse the policy of studying drama in the context of theatre and a 1954 symposium on "the relationship between universities and radio, film, and television". He also did the groundwork for the university's theatre collection in 1951 (which now has museum status and a major archive). In 1955, he was made the department's head and in 1960 took up its chair of drama. He also helped to set up a playwriting fellowship in the department, attracting young playwrights like John ArdenJohn Arden
John Arden is an award-winning English playwright from Barnsley . His works tend to expose social issues of personal concern. He is a member of the Royal Society of Literature....
, and premiered Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
's first play, The Room
The Room
The Room is Harold Pinter's first play, written and first produced in 1957. Considered by critics the earliest example of Pinter's "comedy of menace", this play has strong similarities to Pinter's second play, The Birthday Party, including features considered hallmarks of Pinter's early work and...
in 1957. At his death he was the department's professor emeritus.
Glynne served as president of the 'Society for Theatre Research' from 1976 to 1999, and in 1970 his advice had been sought by Sam Wanamaker
Sam Wanamaker
Samuel Wanamaker was an American film director and actor and is credited as the person most responsible for the modern recreation of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London...
in 1970 on the setting up of Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, located on the south bank of the River Thames, but destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt 1614 then demolished in 1644. The modern reconstruction is an academic best guess, based...
. In 1999 he was awarded the Sam Wanamaker Prize. The Standing Conference of University Drama Departments's postgraduate scholarship and Bristol University's studio theatre are both named after him, as is an annual lecture under the joint auspices of the Society for Theatre Research and the Drama Department at Bristol to mark his service to them both.
Works
- Shakespeare's Dramatic Heritage (1969)
- The Medieval Theatre (1974)
- English Moral Interludes (1975)
- A History of the Theatre (1985)
- English Professional Theatre, 1530-1660 (2001) (editor and co-author)