# Herbert Prentice

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{{Short description|British theatre producer and director}}
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{{Use British English|date=February 2025}}
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'''Herbert Major Prentice''' (1890–1963{{efn|Some sources erroneously give his year of birth as 1896, and his year of death as 1955}}) was a British theatre producer and director, and founder of the [Sheffield Repertory Company](/source/Sheffield_Repertory_Company).<ref name="Elkind">{{cite book |last1=Elkind |first1=Elisabeth |title=Guide to the Herbert M. Prentice papers 1925-1960 |publisher=The New York Public Library Billy Rose Theatre Division |url=https://nyplorg-data-archives.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/collection/generated_finding_aids/the21400.pdf}}</ref> He also wrote scripts for some of his productions.<ref name="Elkind" />

He was born in June 1890, the son of Thomas and Hezia Prentice.<ref>{{cite web |title=1891 Census |url=https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/6598/images/LNDRG12_136_137-0492}}</ref>

His first credit was in 1918, as producer of ''[The Silver Box](/source/The_Silver_Box)'' at Sheffield's Little Theatre. After seven years working in Sheffield, where he undertook his own stage design, he worked at [Northampton Repertory Theatre](/source/Northampton_Repertory_Theatre).<ref name="Elkind" /> and [Terence Gray](/source/Terence_Gray)'s [Festival Theatre](/source/Cambridge_Festival_Theatre) at Cambridge, where in April 1927 he directed [George Bernard Shaw](/source/George_Bernard_Shaw)'s ''[Androcles and the Lion](/source/Androcles_and_the_Lion_(play))''.<ref name="Cornwell">{{cite journal |last1=Cornwell |first1=Paul |title=Sensational with the Greeks and Daring with Shakespeare but Not So Sure about Shaw: Performance of George Bernard Shaw at Terence Gray's Festival Theatre, Cambridge, England, 1926-1935 |journal=[Theatre History Studies](/source/Theatre_History_Studies) |date=2009 |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=171–199 |doi=10.1353/ths.2009.0030}}</ref>

In 1932 he was taken on by [Barry Jackson](/source/Barry_Jackson_(director)) as a producer for the [Birmingham Repertory Theatre](/source/Old_Rep), remaining until 1940, producing over nine hundred plays there.<ref name="Cornwell" /> During that period he also produced works in London (the first being ''Once in a Lifetime'' in 1933) and, from 1934 to 1937, for Barry Jackson's [Malvern Festivals](/source/The_Malvern_Festival_(1929-1939)).<ref name="Elkind" />

Several of his Birmingham Repertory productions were aired by [BBC radio](/source/BBC_radio),<ref>{{cite web |title=BBC Programme Index |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?q=Herbert.+Prentice+#search |website=[BBC Genome](/source/BBC_Genome) |access-date=9 February 2025}}</ref> and in 1938 he directed the Birmingham Repertory Company in a production of ''Laugh with Me'', a comedy, and another of ''The Wooing of Anne Hathaway'', which were screened by the [early BBC television service](/source/BBC_Television) on 2 October and 27 November respectively.<ref>{{cite web |title=Laugh with Me |publisher=[British Universities Film & Video Council](/source/British_Universities_Film_%26_Video_Council) |url=http://bufvc.ac.uk/screenplays/index.php/prog/838 |website=Learning on Screen |access-date=9 February 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Wyver |first1=John |title=OTD in early British television: 27 November 1938 |url=https://www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/on-this-day-in-early-british-television-27-november-1938/ |website=Illuminations |access-date=9 February 2025 |date=27 November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Wooing of Anne Hathaway |publisher=British Universities Film & Video Council |url=http://bufvc.ac.uk/screenplays/index.php/prog/1019 |website=Learning on Screen |access-date=9 February 2025}}</ref>

After leaving Birmingham Rep he worked at Sheffield, [Southport Repertory Theatre](/source/Southport_Repertory_Theatre), Stratford-on-Avon, Birmingham, [Chesterfield Civic Theatre](/source/Chesterfield_Civic_Theatre) and the [Pitlochry Festival](/source/Pitlochry_Festival).<ref name="Elkind" />

His dramatisation of ''[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland](/source/Alice's_Adventures_in_Wonderland)'' premiered at the [Shakespeare Memorial Theatre](/source/Shakespeare_Memorial_Theatre), Stratford-upon-Avon in 1947, and was in turn adapted for television by [John Glyn-Jones](/source/John_Glyn-Jones) and shown by the BBC on Christmas Day 1948.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass |publisher=British Universities Film & Video Council |url=http://bufvc.ac.uk/screenplays/index.php/prog/2027 |website=Learning on Screen |access-date=9 February 2025}}</ref> The BBC screened another adaptation of the play in 1956.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alice's Adventures in Wonderland |publisher=British Universities Film & Video Council |url=http://bufvc.ac.uk/screenplays/index.php/prog/55 |website=About Learning on Screen |access-date=9 February 2025}}</ref>

Prentice died on 1 June 1963 at [Cheltenham General Hospital](/source/Cheltenham_General_Hospital), two weeks before his 73rd birthday. He was living at The Beehive in Chipping Campden, and was survived by his wife.<ref>{{cite news |date=3 June 1963  |title=Theatre Producer Dies |work=[Birmingham Mail](/source/Birmingham_Mail) |page=1 |url= |issn= }}</ref> His papers were acquired by the [New York Public Library](/source/New_York_Public_Library) in August 1964.{{efn|The last of these is dated 1960<ref name="Elkind" />}}<ref name="Elkind" />

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://theatricalia.com/person/1b1j/herbert-m-prentice Theatre credits at Theatricalia]
* {{IMDb name|section=bio}}

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Category:1890 births
Category:1963 deaths
Category:British theatre directors
Category:British theatre managers and producers
Category:British theatre designers
Category:People from Sheffield
Category:Date of birth missing

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Herbert Prentice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Prentice) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Prentice?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.