Flowers Final 28:02:25 - Flipbook - Page 103
After Tony Quayle left the theatre in 1956, A brilliant young director named Peter Hall joined the company as
artistic director.
Hall: "When I first went to Stratford there were three kinds of actors that you met. The new scratch and
mumble school, heavily influenced by American films and the "Method" who really thought that the way to
speak verse was to ignore it and make it seem real and they made absolute gibberish of it. Then there were
lots of actors who really were the well-bred naturalistic school in the 1930s who underplayed it, threw it away
as if they were playing Noel Coward. And then there were a few old timers, I suppose going back to Irving,
that gave a very boomy sentimental delivery and it was almost impossible to weld these three styles together."
Fordy and Peter Hall were to form the second historic partnership which was to revolutionis British Theatre.
Hall: "So, my proposal to Fordy Flower occurred when The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company was on
tour in Leningrad. We sat up all night in the Astoria hotel discussing what I wanted to do and basically I was
asking him to spend Stratford's reserves in letting me try to form this company and importantly that we took a
London theatre where we could bring the best of our Shakespeare work and also do new plays. Fordy listened,
and said, "I think you're mad but I'll back you".
Up until this time, the Flower family had always supported the theatre financially in their hour of need. But the
operation was about to become so big that it was necessary to seek subsidy for the very first time.
From 1864 until 1966 a Flower had been at the helm of both the Brewery and the Theatre. The tragic and
early death of Fordy at the age of 62 did not mean the end of Flower family support for the Company. Far
from it. Since 1966 to the present day various descendants of Edward Fordham Flower have sat on the
governing body of the theatre.
