Stratford Mosaic: The Shakespeare Club and a Medley of Memories

Gerald Jaggard, the author of Stratford Mosaic: The Shakespeare Club and a Medley of Memories, died in 2001, aged 97. But his book, published in 1960, lives on, and is still one of the best ever written about the town and its people; it also fetches extremely high prices in good second-hand bookshops, which is appropriate as Jaggard ran one of the best Stratford ever had: the Shakespeare Press.

I remember the book shop well (situated toward the top of Sheep Street, in what is today Vintner’s restaurant) as a dark place which felt like something out of a Dickens’ novel, and there were plenty of those around, including small leather bound first editions that reeked of the past. Jaggard was a very quiet man who acknowledged your presence with a nod, allowing you to meander around the two floors of his shop, all the while keeping a discreet eye on you. Back in the late 1950s and early ’60s most of his stuff was out of my price range, although I recall buying a copy of R.L.Stevenson’s Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes there for less than £2. Most of my book buying money was spent at The Chaucer Head Bookshop just around the corner in Chapel Street, where, unlike Jaggard’s place, books were piled high in every dusty corner, a totally different experience.

Gerald Jaggard was born in Liverpool in 1904, with - as the Stratford Herald reminds us - a family “steeped in Shakespearean folklore…” not least that of being related to William and Isaac Jaggard, the father and son printers of Shakespeare’s First Folio of 1623, which isn’t a bad link for a Stratford bookseller.

Gerald’s father, Captain William Jaggard, was born in Berkshire, but, as Gerald tells us, his father’s love of books took him, as a teenager…

“…to Leamington Spa, where he was apprenticed to Simmons the bookseller. From there he moved to Liverpool, where, from a partnership, he developed his own business, and it was here that he married and settled in Canning Street. In the shadow of the great unfinished cathedral he combined with the daily hustle of his city bookshop the writing of pamphlets and other literary work. When in Warwickshire, he had spent many hours in the Memorial Theatre Library. Proud of his lineal descent from the printer-editor of the First Folio… he resolved to make his own contribution to Shakespearean literature. His choice was soon made. When a young man, hardly twenty, he had been employed by the Earl of Warwick to catalogue and classify the great collection [over 2,000 volumes] of Shakespeariana at Warwick Castle.

“I sometimes wonder if my father would have tackled his self-imposed labour of Hercules if he had realized that it would occupy his spare moments for over twenty years!

“The necessity for research brought my father on frequent visits to Stratford, and much of his time was spent in the Memorial Theatre Library. He returned from these sojourns full of the charm and loveliness of the town, and undoubtedly the smoke and grime of Liverpool, the bustle of city life, seemed more oppressive after the glimpses of country quiet. As a youth he had dreamed of settling down one day in Shakespeare’s home town, and now, some twenty years later, those dreams were hardening into definite plans. Liverpool, suitable though it was for the book trade, and for the printing press from which my father issued his index to Book Prices Current and a small study of Printing - its Birth and Growth, held little or no encouragement for the Shakespeare lover. Stratford, the very home of such study, was ready to welcome him, as he was already a governor of its theatre, a member of its Shakespeare Club, and a prolific and diligent correspondent of its weekly newspaper The Stratford-upon-Avon Herald, whose editor, Mr. George Boyden was a personal friend.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Second Thoughts Present Hamlet

The Civic Hall, Stratford-upon-Avon, 7th - 10th March, 2007

I’m looking forward to seeing this show, directed by Estelle Hand. I shall be reviewing the production on Thursday.

In the meantime you might like to read Estelle’s notes:

Why an all female company for Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet?

Fifteen years ago I saw the all female Sphinx Theatre Company perform Hamlet. I was intrigued when watching the play how quickly involvement with the plot overcame any initial novelty of the cross-gender casting. Since then I have hoped to have the opportunity to re-visit this theory in production.

Edward Hall, who recently directed an all male version of The Taming of the Shrew was asked the question, ‘Why don’t you employ women?’ To which he replied. ‘If you want to start an all female Shakespeare Company then do it.’ He further commented, ‘Actors by their nature are pretending to be something they’re not and whether they are pretending to be Hamlet or pretending to be a woman, essentially to me there is no difference.’

Shakespeare, who was denied the participation of women on stage, created many male protagonists with a unique combination of ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ qualities and Hamlet in particular. It is this subtlety of characterization which has drawn many female actors since the 18th century to play the role. Over fifty female Hamlets have been performed. The first was probably Mrs Siddons from 1777 onwards; the most celebrated, Sarah Bernhardt 1899, and the most well-known contemporary portrayal, Frances de la Tour 1979.

Finally, would Shakespeare himself approve of ‘gender bending’ less complicated than in his day his male actors having to impersonate a woman pretending to be a man? I think he would find it now entirely credible, and only fair, to allow women the chance to tell Hamlet’s story upon the stage.