Herbert Major Prentice (1890–1963) was a British theatre producer and director, and founder of the

Sheffield Repertory Company The Sheffield Repertory Theatre was a theatre company in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England which from 1928 was based in the Sheffield Playhouse. Herbert Prince, Herbert M. Prince, a railway clerk, founded the amateur dramatics society in 1919 ...

. He also wrote scripts for some of his productions. He was born in June 1890, the son of Thomas and Hezia Prentice. His first credit was in 1918, as producer of '' The Silver Box'' at Sheffield's Little Theatre. After seven years working in Sheffield, where he undertook his own stage design, he worked at Northampton Repertory Theatre. and

Terence Gray Terence James Stannus Gray (14 September 1895 – 5 January 1986) was a theatre producer who created the Cambridge Festival Theatre as an experimental theatre in Cambridge. He produced over 100 plays there between 1926 and 1933. Later in li ...

's Festival Theatre at Cambridge, where in April 1927 he directed

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

's '' Androcles and the Lion''. In 1932 he was taken on by Barry Jackson as a producer for the

Birmingham Repertory Theatre Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Barry Jackson, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre ...

, remaining until 1940, producing over nine hundred plays there. During that period he also produced works in London (the first being ''Once in a Lifetime'' in 1933) and, from 1934 to 1937, for Barry Jackson's Malvern Festivals. Several of his Birmingham Repertory productions were aired by

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

, and in 1938 he directed the Birmingham Repertory Company in a production of ''Laugh with Me'', a comedy, and another of ''The Wooing of Anne Hathaway'', which were screened by the early BBC television service on 2 October and 27 November respectively. After leaving Birmingham Rep he worked at Sheffield, Southport Repertory Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, Birmingham, Chesterfield Civic Theatre and the Pitlochry Festival. His dramatisation of ''

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

'' premiered at the

Shakespeare Memorial Theatre The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) (originally called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) is a Grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakes ...

, Stratford-upon-Avon in 1947, and was in turn adapted for television by

John Glyn-Jones John Glyn-Jones (28 August 1908 – 21 January 1997) was a British stage, radio, television and film actor. His father, William Glyn-Jones, was a Member of Parliament and he was educated at Bishop's Stortford College and Oxford University. He ...

and shown by the BBC on Christmas Day 1948. The BBC screened another adaptation of the play in 1956. Prentice died on 1 June 1963 at

Cheltenham General Hospital Cheltenham General Hospital is an NHS district general hospital in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, run by Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It provides general hospital services including Accident and Emergency. The Trust headquart ...

, two weeks before his 73rd birthday. He was living at The Beehive in Chipping Campden, and was survived by his wife. His papers were acquired by the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

in August 1964.

Notes

References

External links

Theatre credits at Theatricalia
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prentice, Herbert 1890 births 1963 deaths British theatre directors British theatre managers and producers British theatre designers People from Sheffield Date of birth missing