Henry Irving - a merchant's clerk who became the saviour of British theatre - an
d Ellen Terry, who made her first theatre appearance as soon as she could walk,
were the king and queen of the Victorian stage. Creatively interdependent, they
founded a power-house of arts at the Lyceum Theatre, with Bram Stoker as busines
s manager, where they recast Shakespeare's plays on an epic scale and took the c
ompany on lucrative and exhilarating international tours. In his masterly new bi
ography, award-winning writer Michael Holroyd explores their public and private
lives, showing how their artistic legacy and their brilliant but troubled childr
en came to influence the modern world.
