Michel Saint-Denis

Once he had decided to settle in England, MSD started his project, namely the combination of a school and of a professional company. In London, he was welcomed by a whole team: Tyrone Gunthrie, John Gielguld, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Marius Goring and George Devine.

The Studio was officially created in August 1935. It was based on three different elements, a company of professional actors, a team of technicians and a theater school. MSD aimed at teaching actors a whole range of classical as well as contemporary plays. In the summer season of 1936, the LTS was granted permanent access to the rehearsing rooms of the Old Vic, directed at the time by Tyrone Gunthrie. In the meantime, Marcel Breuer, one of Gropius’s disciples, began refurbishing an old Methodist chapel in Islington, in the suburbs. Nevertheless, there were only two hundred seats there and the place was too small for professional shows. It thus remained an experimental theater.

The school fell into two distinct camps, professional actors and students. The professional crew worked as the school’s showcase and it was supposed to be renewed by the best students. In addition to the two main teaching classes, there were four specific classes reserved for smaller groups: production department, mise en scène, introduction to French texts, settings and costumes, which were all organized by the Motleys. There were full-time teachers such as Marius Goring, Iris Warren, gerda Rink, John Burrel and Suria Magito and a few occasional teachers such as John Gielguld and Tyrone Gunthrie. The school provided a large range of courses including voice and gesture, improvisation, masks, acting techniques, literature and drama history. MSD himself was in charge of the mime courses as well as the interpretation and improvisation courses.

Pierre Lefèvre, a young non-professional actor, was one of MSD’s students. MSD had met him while directing Sophocles’s Antigone for the French Institute and more particularly for Peter Ustinov, Chattie and Merule Salaman ( he would work with them for more than twenty years).MSD was really strict and he demanded that they wear uniforms for most of the classes.
In April 1937, the first public performance took place. The actors were all students and they played in front of an audience of professionals and critics. The critical response to the LTS was very positive. In the summer, other performances were given and for the two following years, students offered two series of shows.

MSD was not only involved in the school. He also directed a number of plays such as the Lanceur de Graines, an adaptation of Giono’s book, at the Westminster Theater. He participated in the creation of The Witch of Edmonton, by Thomas Dekker at the Old Vic and he directed Laurence Olivier in Macbeth. However, ha was better acknowledged for his direction of Russian plays such as The three Sisters by Tchekov and The White Guard by Boulgakov rather than for his direction of Shakespeare’s plays.
France and England declared war on Germany, so, as war broke out, the LTS closed. MSD was 43 and he was drafted as a liaison agent to maintain communication links between England and the French Resistance.

Read Sophie Jump’s article on the LTS

A few pictures of the LTS