Sir Donald Arthur Rolleston Albery (19 June 1914 – 14 September 1988)
was an English theatre
impresario who did much to translate the adventurous spirit of London in the 1960s onto the stage.
Biography
He was born into a theatrical family, with his father being the director Sir
Bronson James Albery
Sir Bronson James Albery (6 March 1881 – 21 July 1971) was an English theatre director and impresario. Second son of James Albery and Mary Moore, and brother to Irving Albery and Wyndham Albery, he was knighted in 1949 for his services to the ...
.
His first job was to manage
Sadler's Wells Ballet during
the Blitz.
When he launched his own
Donmar company in 1953 he championed plays by
Graham Greene,
Tennessee Williams,
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), '' The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), '' A Delicate Balance'' (1966) ...
,
Jean Anouilh, and an adaptation by
J. B. Priestley of an
Iris Murdoch novel.
Though he was always commercially minded, his spirit of adventure endured with the first London production of
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...
's ''
Waiting for Godot'' and sponsorship of
Joan Littlewood's
Theatre Workshop. In 1961, Albery, in collaboration with
William Donaldson, produced ''
Beyond the Fringe'' in London and, in 1962, in New York.
From 1964 to 1968, Albery served as director and administrator of the
London Festival Ballet.
Albery was appointed
Knight Bachelor in the
1977 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 1977 are appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 1977. The awards were announced on 30 December 1976 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: Australia,Australia: Ne ...
for services to the theatre.
In 1982, Albery added his archive to the British theatre holdings of the
Harry Ransom Center. Records include correspondence, legal and financial documents, scripts, sound recordings, prompt books, manuscript and printed music scores and parts, and printed and publicity materials such as clippings, programmes, playbills, posters, proofs and tickets concerning the theatrical productions and business affairs of
Wyndham's Theatres Ltd.,
The Piccadilly Theatre Ltd.,
Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-seat ...
, the
Royal Ballet, and the touring productions of the
Festival Ballet.
Family
Albery was married three times.
# In 1934 he married Rubina Macgilchrist (injured in an air raid, and died 1956); they were divorced in 1946, having had a son,
Ian Albery Ian Bronson Albery (born 21 September 1936) is an English theatre consultant, manager, and producer. He is a former chief executive of Sadler's Wells Theatre (1994-2002), and was in charge of the Donmar Warehouse from 1961 to 1989. .
# In 1946 he married Cicely Margaret Heather Boys, daughter of the army officer Reginald Harvey Henderson Boys; they were divorced in 1974, and had three children including
Nicholas Albery and
Tim Albery.
# In 1974 he married
Nobuko Uenishi Morris, former wife of author
Ivan Morris.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Albery, Donald
1914 births
1988 deaths
English theatre managers and producers
Knights Bachelor
Businesspeople from London
English National Ballet
20th-century English businesspeople
External Links
Donald Albery Papersat the
Harry Ransom Center