Sir Donald Arthur Rolleston Albery (19 June 1914 – 14 September 1988) was an English theatre

impresario An impresario (from Italian ''impresa'', 'an enterprise or undertaking') is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, Play (theatre), plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film producer, film or ...

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. His first job was to manage Sadler's Wells Ballet during

the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...

. When he launched his own Donmar company in 1953 he championed plays by

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a re ...

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

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 (play), The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), ''A Delicat ...

Jean Anouilh Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; ; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist and screenwriter whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ...

, and an adaptation by J. B. Priestley of an

Iris Murdoch Dame Jean Iris Murdoch ( ; 15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her fi ...

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 writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

's ''

Waiting for Godot ''Waiting for Godot'' ( or ) is a 1953 play by Irish writer and playwright Samuel Beckett, in which the two main characters, Vladimir (Waiting for Godot), Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), engage in a variety of discussions and encounters w ...

'' and sponsorship of

Joan Littlewood Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of M ...

Theatre Workshop Theatre Workshop is a theatre group whose long-serving director was Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company, many of its productions were transferred to theatres in the West ...

. In 1961, Albery, in collaboration with William Donaldson, produced ''

Beyond the Fringe ''Beyond the Fringe'' was a British comedy Play (theatre), stage revue written and performed by Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, and Dudley Moore. It debuted at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival and went on to play in London's West End the ...

'' in London and, in 1962, in New York. From 1964 to 1968, Albery served as director and administrator of the

London Festival Ballet English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Alicia Markova, Dame Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin (ballet dancer), Sir Anton Dolin as London Festival Ballet and based in London, England. Along with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham ...

. Albery was appointed

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

in the 1977 New Year Honours for services to the theatre. In 1982, Albery added his archive to the British theatre holdings of the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...

. 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 London performing arts venue, located in Rosebery Avenue, Islington. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site. Sadler's Wells grew out of a late 17th-century pleasure garden and was opened as a theatre buil ...

, 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. # 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 Tim Bronson Reginald Albery (born 20 May 1952) is an English stage director, best known for his productions of opera. Life and career Albery was born in Harpenden, the son of the impresario Donald Albery and grandson of the producer Sir Brons ...

. # In 1974 he married Nobuko Uenishi Morris, former wife of author

Ivan Morris Ivan Ira Esme Morris (29 November 1925 – 19 July 1976) was an English writer, translator and editor in the field of Japanese studies. Biography Ivan Morris was born in London, of mixed American and Swedish parentage to Edita Morris () and Ira ...

References

External links

Donald Albery Papers
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albery, Donald 1914 births 1988 deaths English theatre managers and producers Knights Bachelor Businesspeople from the London Borough of Camden English National Ballet 20th-century English businesspeople People from St Pancras, London Businesspeople awarded knighthoods British impresarios