Eleanor Evans
Encyclopedia
Eleanor Evans was a Welsh actress, singer and stage director. She performed in the Gilbert and Sullivan
operas for over a span of more than 20 years with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
. In 1949, she was appointed as the company's Stage Director and Director of Productions, continuing in those positions until 1953, but she proved to be unpopular with actors whom she directed because of her inflexibility and strict devotion to the traditional staging and comic business that had been used by the company for decades.
, Denbighshire
. The younger daughter of John Evans, a veterinarian who specialised in gelding horses, she had three brothers. Her sister was the opera singer Laura Evans-Williams. Evans studied at the Royal Academy of Music
, as did her future husband, the bass-baritone Darrell Fancourt
, with whom she sang at a Royal Academy concert in May 1914. They married in January 1917.
Fancourt joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
as a principal in 1920, and Evans followed him into the company as a chorister in 1921. Evans, who acquired the nickname "Snookie", first played the role of the Plaintiff in Trial by Jury
later that year. According to fellow D'Oyly Carte performer Derek Oldham
, "Oh, she was so beautiful, was Snookie! We all fell for her, and we gave Darrell a busy time keeping us 'off'." Evans continued singing in the chorus until 1923 and also was given the small role of Ada in Princess Ida
. She again sang the Plaintiff during 1924, and also played the larger role of Lady Psyche in Princess Ida. Occasionally, she also filled in as Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore
. She continued to play the Plaintiff and Psyche in the 1925-26 season. After that, she returned to the chorus but on occasion she filled in as Psyche and as Gianetta in The Gondoliers
during the next season. From 1927 to 1937, she sang only chorus. She left the company in July 1937, but returned from 1941 to 1945, again singing in the chorus.
inherited the company, in 1949, she appointed Evans as Stage Director and Director of Productions to replace Anna Bethell
(Mrs. Sydney Granville
). The choice of the temperamental Snookie, the wife of a leading principal with the company, was a highly unpopular one and contributed to a wave of defections from the company culminating in 1951. One of the most important stars to leave the company was principal comedian Martyn Green
. He wrote in his 1952 memoir:
Historian Tony Joseph writes: "But Green was not the only member of the Company to leave.... Ella Halman
left too. So did Richard Watson
... Margaret Mitchell ... Radley Flynn and no fewer than twenty-two other small part players and choristers. It was the largest single exodus of performers in D'Oyly Carte history, and that was why the sense of sadness that hovered over the season was so marked.... August 1951 was the end of an era." Cynthia Morey, who joined the Company just before the mass exodus writes: I have never found out precisely why this great exodus took place.... We were always under the impression that we should feel honoured to be in the employ of the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company; it was patently obvious that the management held firmly to the policy that nobody is indispensable". Morey also writes:
Richard Walker
and others also criticised Evans's temperament and methods. She retired as stage director in 1953, the year that her husband retired and died, but she coached new D'Oyly Carte principals in their roles for some years thereafter. One of these was Kenneth Sandford
, who wrote, "It took me about two years to get rid of the shackles of [her direction]". She was replaced as Director of Productions by Robert Gibson.
She died in Colwyn Bay
, Wales, in 1969, aged 76.
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
operas for over a span of more than 20 years with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
. In 1949, she was appointed as the company's Stage Director and Director of Productions, continuing in those positions until 1953, but she proved to be unpopular with actors whom she directed because of her inflexibility and strict devotion to the traditional staging and comic business that had been used by the company for decades.
Early years
Evans was born in HenllanHenllan
Henllan is a village in Denbighshire, Wales with a population of approximately 750 and lies in the countryside, approximately 2.25 miles north-west of the walled-town of Denbigh.-Church and tower:...
, Denbighshire
Denbighshire
Denbighshire is a county in north-east Wales. It is named after the historic county of Denbighshire, but has substantially different borders. Denbighshire has the distinction of being the oldest inhabited part of Wales. Pontnewydd Palaeolithic site has remains of Neanderthals from 225,000 years...
. The younger daughter of John Evans, a veterinarian who specialised in gelding horses, she had three brothers. Her sister was the opera singer Laura Evans-Williams. Evans studied at the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
, as did her future husband, the bass-baritone Darrell Fancourt
Darrell Fancourt
Darrell Fancourt was an English bass-baritone, known for his performances and recordings of the Savoy Operas....
, with whom she sang at a Royal Academy concert in May 1914. They married in January 1917.
Fancourt joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
as a principal in 1920, and Evans followed him into the company as a chorister in 1921. Evans, who acquired the nickname "Snookie", first played the role of the Plaintiff in Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its...
later that year. According to fellow D'Oyly Carte performer Derek Oldham
Derek Oldham
Derek Oldham was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
, "Oh, she was so beautiful, was Snookie! We all fell for her, and we gave Darrell a busy time keeping us 'off'." Evans continued singing in the chorus until 1923 and also was given the small role of Ada in Princess Ida
Princess Ida
Princess Ida; or, Castle Adamant is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was their eighth operatic collaboration of fourteen. Princess Ida opened at the Savoy Theatre on January 5, 1884, for a run of 246 performances...
. She again sang the Plaintiff during 1924, and also played the larger role of Lady Psyche in Princess Ida. Occasionally, she also filled in as Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
. She continued to play the Plaintiff and Psyche in the 1925-26 season. After that, she returned to the chorus but on occasion she filled in as Psyche and as Gianetta in The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 554 performances , closing on 30 June 1891...
during the next season. From 1927 to 1937, she sang only chorus. She left the company in July 1937, but returned from 1941 to 1945, again singing in the chorus.
Stage director
Soon after Bridget D'Oyly CarteBridget D'Oyly Carte
Dame Bridget Cicely D'Oyly Carte, DBE , was the granddaughter of impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte and the only daughter of Rupert D'Oyly Carte...
inherited the company, in 1949, she appointed Evans as Stage Director and Director of Productions to replace Anna Bethell
Anna Bethell
Anna Bethell was an English actress, singer and stage director. She is best known for her performances in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. After playing other small mezzo-soprano parts, she played the role of Mrs. Partlett in The Sorcerer for many years. She...
(Mrs. Sydney Granville
Sydney Granville
Sydney Granville was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
). The choice of the temperamental Snookie, the wife of a leading principal with the company, was a highly unpopular one and contributed to a wave of defections from the company culminating in 1951. One of the most important stars to leave the company was principal comedian Martyn Green
Martyn Green
William Martyn-Green , better known as Martyn Green, was an English actor and singer. He is best known for his work as principal comedian in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas, which he performed and recorded with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and other troupes.After army service in World War I,...
. He wrote in his 1952 memoir:
I had heard there was some possibility of [the selection of Evans] happening and ... told Miss Carte that I thought she was making a great psychological error. During Anna Bethell's regime (Mrs. Sydney Granville), there had been growing signs of discontent and suggestions of favouritism being shown to some of the members of the chorus in respect to passing over existing understudies, selections for small parts, and so on.... But to appoint not only a woman who had for fifteen years worked in the chorus alongside several who were now principals, but the wife of one of the main principals, seemed to me to be a psychological error of the first magnitude. I felt that ... she would, rightly or wrongly, be accused of that very same favouritism. My views made no impression on Miss Carte, but time was to prove that I was right. Discontent grew, changes were constantly taking place, and criticism became rampant. Nor did it stop at the methods of production; it went so far as to suggest a complete lack of knowledge, evidenced ... by constant self-contradiction. There were other accusations levelled against her, of a more serious nature.... [Those] in control ... apparently assumed in the first place that the performers are little more than automatons and are completely devoid of brains or the ability to think for themselves. Production is done to a plan that takes no consideration of the individual, his personality or his histrionic ability – a stereotyped plan that results in a clockwork performance devoid of spontaneity.
Historian Tony Joseph writes: "But Green was not the only member of the Company to leave.... Ella Halman
Ella Halman
Ella Louise Halman was an English opera singer, best known for her performances in the contralto roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. She married another D'Oyly Carte performer, L. Radley Flynn, in 1940.-Life and career:Halman was born in Ealing, Middlesex...
left too. So did Richard Watson
Richard Watson (singer)
Richard Charles Watson was an Australian bass opera and concert singer and actor. He is probably best remembered as a long-time principal with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company who sang the comic bass-baritone roles of the Savoy Operas, but he appeared in a wide range of operas at the Royal Opera...
... Margaret Mitchell ... Radley Flynn and no fewer than twenty-two other small part players and choristers. It was the largest single exodus of performers in D'Oyly Carte history, and that was why the sense of sadness that hovered over the season was so marked.... August 1951 was the end of an era." Cynthia Morey, who joined the Company just before the mass exodus writes: I have never found out precisely why this great exodus took place.... We were always under the impression that we should feel honoured to be in the employ of the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company; it was patently obvious that the management held firmly to the policy that nobody is indispensable". Morey also writes:
[Snookie]'s career in the company commenced as a chorister in the 1920/21 season [and she then played several roles with the company]. In 1927 she was apparently demoted to the chorus, and there she remained for [fifteen years]. Then, in 1949, under the grand name of Stage Director we find the name: Eleanor Evans. I should not have thought these qualifications sufficient for such an important post; to spend all those years as a chorister seems to signify a lack of ambition or achievement. But I suppose a 'Director of productions' in those days merely needed to know every move and every gesture, and exactly when they occurred, for no departure from the set production was ever permitted.
Richard Walker
Richard Walker (singer)
Richard Walker, was an English opera singer and actor, best known for his performances in the baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Between 1932 and 1939 Walker was married to D'Oyly Carte chorister Ena Martin...
and others also criticised Evans's temperament and methods. She retired as stage director in 1953, the year that her husband retired and died, but she coached new D'Oyly Carte principals in their roles for some years thereafter. One of these was Kenneth Sandford
Kenneth Sandford
Kenneth Sandford was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in baritone roles of the Savoy Operas of Gilbert and Sullivan....
, who wrote, "It took me about two years to get rid of the shackles of [her direction]". She was replaced as Director of Productions by Robert Gibson.
She died in Colwyn Bay
Colwyn Bay
- Demography :Prior to local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974 Colwyn Bay was a municipal borough with a population of c.25,000, but in 1974 this designation disappeared leaving five separate parishes, known as communities in Wales, of which the one bearing the name Colwyn Bay encompassed...
, Wales, in 1969, aged 76.