1962 Evening Standard Award for Becket (Corbis)

1. Off-track about Becket: Jeffrey Wells, June 23, 2004 (scroll) has a great review and interesting comments about the 1964 film starring Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole. The film is being restored and a DVD release planned. ("I haven't sat through anything this good in a long, long time. ... The Academy's decision to deny [O'Toole] the Best Actor Oscar in 1965 (they handed it instead to Rex Harrison for My Fair Lady) was shameful.)" [Christopher Plummer won the 1961 UK Evening Standard Award for playing Henry II in the London stage production of Becket. Laurence Olivier appeared in two productions of the play on Broadway in 1961 playing Becket and later Henry II.]

2. --> Royal Shakespeare Company official site photos
3. --> Getty images photos
4. --> Theatre World articles and photos, May - Sept 1961
5. --> September 1961, Plays and Players, Becket
6. --> May 1961, Plays and Players, Much Ado About Nothing
7. --> June 1961, Plays and Players, Much Ado About Nothing
8. --> Much Ado About Nothing, 1961 photo from the 1983 RSC program
9. --> Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company 1960-63
10. --> RSC program photos, 1961 and 1962
11. --> June 1962, Liberty Magazine
12. --> 1961, The New York Times, Plummer to Join 'Becket'
13. --> April 5, 1961, The New York Times, 102d Season Is On At Royal Theatre
14. --> May 25, 1961, The New York Times, Stratford Group Gives "Richard III"
15. --> July 12, 1961, The New York Times, Anouilh's 'Becket' Is Hailed in London
16. --> February 15, 1962, Toronto Star, Plummer as Olivier, Gielgud as Checkov
17. --> December 1961, Becket transfers to the Globe, [Unidentified news clippings]
18. --> July 16, 1961, The Observer, Parisian View of a Plantagenet ['Becket' Review]
19. --> July 16, 1961, The Necessity of Saying No, The Sunday Times ['Becket' Review]
20. --> July 20, 1961, The Stage and Television Today ['Becket' Review]
21. --> July 12, 1961, Unidentified London paper ['Becket' Review]

Photos from: Flashback: A Pictorial History 1879-1979, One Hundred Years of Stratford-upon-Avon and the Royal Shakespeare Company by Micheline Steinberg London: RSC Publications, 1985

Getty Images photos from the UK, 1961

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Theatre World articles

July 1961 Richard III

July 1961 Review of Richard III

August 1961 Review of Becket

July 1961 Much Ado About Nothing

May 1961 Much Ado About Nothing

May 1961 Much Ado About Nothing

September 1961 - Becket

Plays and Players May 1961 Much Ado About Nothing

Plays and Players June 1961 Much Ado About Nothing

1961 photo from a 1983 RSC program for Much Ado About Nothing

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Much Ado About Nothing	Richard III	Becket

From the Royal Shakespeare Company
programs for 1961 and 1962

Becket

Much Ado About Nothing

Richard III

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June 1962 Liberty Magazine

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New York Times Articles

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The New York Times, Jan. 1961:

STRATFORD - ON - AVON, April 4 - The Royal Shakespeare Theatre opened its 102d season tonight with a lilting production of "Much Ado About Nothing."

There were many things about this that were new. New costumes of the Napoleonic era, a single sparse set, a cast that included a number of faces new to Stratford. Even the theatre itself had a new name.

But the end result was a familiar one, a lavishly mounted performance, conceived and directed with imagination, and acted by a large, fresh cast in a manner true to the Stratford tradition.

Tonight's production marked the beginning of the theatre's new life as the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, a title granted last month by order of Queen Elizabeth II to replace the older name of Shakespeare Memorial Theatre.

The choice of "Much Ado" one of Shakespeare's livelier and more intricately plotted comedies, offered a gay balance with the four tragedies and one other comedy that will be fitted into the repertory during the remainder of the season.

Plummer as Benedick

Christopher Plummer, in his first appearance here, played the reluctant suitor Benedick and Geraldine McEwan was his Beatrice.

The double-plotted play, in which the gentle Hero is falsely accused of wantonness and Benedick and the sharp-tongued Beatrice are tricked into matrimony, was carried off with swift pace and lightness.

The production was directed by Michael Langham, who also serves as director of the Stratford, Ont., Festival.

The opening also marks Stratford-On-Avon's second season under the general direction of Peter Hall.

The sets and costumes were designed by Desmond Heeley.

Mr. Plummer, who is more familiar to audiences on Broadway and at Stratford, Conn., and Stratford, Ont., than he is here in Shakespeare's birthplace, captivated tonight's seasoned audience, as did Miss McEwan.

'Hamlet' Opens on 11th

On April 11, "Hamlet," the first of the four tragedies, will open, with Ian Bannen as Hamlet, Elizabeth Sellars as Gertrude and Miss McEwan as Ophelia.

"Richard III," with Mr. Plummer as the king, Mr. Bannen as Buckingham, and Dame Edith Evans as Queen Margaret, will open May 24. It will mark the introduction of William Gaskill, who has directed a number of contemporary successes in London's West End, as a Shakespearean director.

"As You Like It" enters the repertory on July 4 and on Aug. 15, "Romeo and Juliet," directed for the first time by Peter Hall, will be presented, with Dorothy Tutin as Juliet.

The 1961 season will reach its climax on Oct 10 with the opening of "Othello." Franco Zeffirelli, the Italian director who was widely acclaimed last autumn for his staging of "Romeo and Juliet" at the Old Vic in London, will direct the Stratford performance. Sir John Gielgud will play Othello and Dame Peggy Ashcroft will appear as Emilia.

STRATFORD-ON-AVON, England, May 24 - After an absence of eight years, "Richard III" was presented by the Royal Shakespeare Theatre here tonight as the third offering in its repertory season.

The production was William Gaskill's first effort as a Shakespearean director. He is best known in the London theatre for his productions of "Epitaph for George Dillon" and "One Way Pendulum."

Christopher Plummer made his first appearance as Richard; Eric Porter was Buckingham and Dame Edith Evans was Queen Margaret.

The capacity audience applauded generously after the death of Richard at the hands of the Earl of Richmond brought the play to a close.

London drama critics, writing for tomorrow's papers, were unanimous in their praise of the production and Mr. Plummer's acting. Bernard Levin of The Daily Express wrote that he "makes the lines sing * * * a full-blooded tragedian."

Robert Muller of The Daily Mail said the play was Stratford's "best managed and best acted production."

The Daily Telegraph's W.A. Darlington called Mr. Plummer's performance "superb." He praised Mr. Gaskill's production for its "simplicity * * * altogether free from modern gimmicks."

On July 4 "As You Like It" will become part of the repertory, with Michael Elliott, also new to Shakespeare, as the director. "Romeo and Juliet," directed by Peter Hall, is to open on Aug. 15. Dorothy Tutin will be Juliet and Dame Edith will have her old role as the nurse. Zia Mohyeddin, the young Pakistani actor who impressed London audiences last year with his playing in "A Passage to India," will be Romeo.

Franco Zeffirelli's production of "Othello" will be introduced on October 10, with Sir John Gielgud playing the Moor for the first time and Dame Edith in her first appearance as Emilia.

LONDON, July 11 - The London newspaper reviewers were full of praise for Jean Anouilh's "Becket," which opened tonight at the Aldwych Theatre.

Robert Muller of The Daily Mail found the acting of the Royal Shakespeare Company splendid and the direction by Peter Hall as vigorous and deft.

The translation by Lucienne Hill and the acting of Christopher Plummer as King Henry and Eric Porter as Thomas Becket also drew tributes.

W.A. Darlington said in The Daily Telegraph that "Becket" was one of Anouilh's "finest feats."

The Times of London found the living relationship between the two men was the play's strength.

"Its weakness" it added "is not that there is no historical warrant for the author's assumption that Becket was of Saxon origin, but that altogether too much is made of the matter * * * "

Bernard Levin in The Daily Express said: "So 'Becket' is a splendid play. It's sweeping, lofty imagination, the superb balance it keeps between the two protagonists; its unerring dramatic sense * * * constitute M. Anouilh's sign - manual as a master-man of the theatre."