John Counsell

OBE
John Counsell
Born(1905-04-24)24 April 1905
Beckenham, London, England
Died23 February 1987(1987-02-23) (aged 81)
United Kingdom
Occupation(s)Theatre director, actor, theatre manager
Spouse
​
(m. 1939)​
ChildrenElizabeth Counsell
Jenny Counsell

John William Counsell OBE[1] (24 April 1905 – 23 February 1987)[2][3] was an English actor, director and theatre manager, who (with his wife Mary Kerridge) ran the Theatre Royal, Windsor and its in-house repertory company from the 1930s to the 1980s. His daughter is the actress Elizabeth Counsell, and he was uncle to the actress and painter Jean Miller.[4] Born in Beckenham, to Claud Counsell and Evelyn Fleming, the bulk of Counsell's career was spent in Windsor repertory theatre and the West End stage.[5][6]

World War 2

He was the author of the German Instrument of Surrender document signed on 7 May 1945 which he wrote when he served as a colonel in the British Army during World War 2.[7]

Theatre management

Theatre Royal, Windsor in 2006

In 1930, Counsell served as an apprentice at the Theatre Royal in Windsor, Berkshire, when it reopened as a theatre after a short time as a cinema. In 1933, he took over managing the theatre; the venture lasted only a few months before it went bankrupt, but the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II attended one of the last performances, coming from nearby Windsor Castle.[8]: 74  Counsell re-opened the theatre in 1938[9] and was able to establish a viable company that ran without government subsidies.[8]: 74, 115  He and his actress wife Mary Kerridge ran the theatre until his retirement in 1986, the year before his death.[10]

John William Counsell was awarded the OBE in 1975 for services to the Theatre Royal in Windsor.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Award of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) to John William Counsell - Supplement to The London Gazette 1 January 1975
  2. ↑ Birth of John William Counsell in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 - Ancestry.com (subscription required)
  3. ↑ Obituary for John Counsell - The Times 25 February 1987 - Archive of the National Library of Australia
  4. ↑ Theatre Archive Project, British Library. Jean Miller – interview transcript Interviewer: Emily Blakey. 14 May 2008
  5. ↑ Jean Miller obituary: Telegraph
  6. ↑ Eric Shorter (3 August 1999). "Mary Kerridge". the Guardian.
  7. ↑ "VE day: 'Our dad wrote the peace document'". BBC News. 4 May 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  8. 1 2 Rowell, G, et al. The Repertory Movement: A History of Regional Theatre in Britain. Cambridge University Press, 1984 ISBN 9780521319195
  9. ↑ Douglas Mayo for Britishtheatre.com 22 December 2014 Weekly Rep Returns To Theatre Royal Windsor
  10. ↑ "Obituary: Mary Kerridge". The Independent. 3 August 1999.

Further reading

  • Counsell, John. "So Who Needs Subsidy, Anyway?", Scottish Theatre, Inverkeithing, Scottish Theatre, Vol.2 No.3, pp. 6–8 (May 1970)
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