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Edith Craig
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Standard Name: Craig, Edith
Birth Name: Ailsa Edith Geraldine Craig
Nickname: Edy
Self-constructed Name: Ailsa Craig
EC
was primarily a theatre practitioner, known chiefly for her Pioneer Players
, the women's theatre company she founded in 1911. Her literary output was scant. She published a handful of articles on stagecraft, and contributed to a revised edition of her mother Ellen Terry
's memoirs. She also wrote one unpublished play for children. Her unpublished papers—correspondence, prompt books, and playbills—document her significant contribution to feminist theatre history.
Connections
| Connections | Author name Sort ascending | Excerpt |
|---|---|---|
| Textual Production | Christopher St John | CSJ
wrote a biographical introduction to Edy: Recollections of Edith Craig, edited by Eleanor Adlard
. The University of Alberta
Library copy contains a handwritten note from CSJ
that reads: To Christopher Wood
In... |
| Cultural formation | Christopher St John | At some point after CSJ
met her long-time partner Edith Craig
, she converted from her family's Anglicanism
to Roman Catholicism
. Auerbach, Nina. Ellen Terry: Player in Her Time. W.W. Norton. 389 Glendinning, Victoria. Vita. Penguin. 250 |
| Cultural formation | Christopher St John | She had since childhood, apparently, believed that she ought have been male because of her love for women. According to Ellen Terry's biographer Nina Auerbach
: Many lesbians of that period gave themselves men's names... |
| Residence | Christopher St John | After leaving 7 Smith Square, CSJ
and Edith Craig
moved to Adelphi Terrace House. Cockin, Katharine. Edith Craig (1869-1947): Dramatic Lives. Cassell. 61-2 |
| Friends, Associates | Christopher St John | Christabel Marshall (later CSJ
) met the actress Ellen Terry
and her daughter Edith Craig
; they soon became intimate friends. Auerbach, Nina. Ellen Terry: Player in Her Time. W.W. Norton. 480 |
| Friends, Associates | Christopher St John | In 1933 Vita Sackville-West
formally introduced CSJ
and Edith Craig
to Virginia Woolf
.Woolf was not as fascinated by St John as she was by Craig and Terry, and saw her as a burden on... |
| Family and Intimate relationships | Christopher St John | CSJ
and Edith Craig
rented a flat together at 7 Smith Square, Westminster, in London; they lived together, there and elsewhere, until Craig's death in 1947. Auerbach, Nina. Ellen Terry: Player in Her Time. W.W. Norton. 480 Holledge, Julie. Innocent Flowers: Women in the Edwardian Theatre. Virago. 115 Cockin, Katharine. Edith Craig (1869-1947): Dramatic Lives. Cassell. 61-2 |
| Family and Intimate relationships | Christopher St John | Shortly before St John's death, she burned most of Craig
's papers. According to Ellen Terry's biographer, Nina Auerbach: Whether Christopher's bonfire was a response to Edy's expressed wish, or a gesture of murderous irony... |
| Residence | Christopher St John | |
| Textual Features | Christopher St John | This thinly disguised autobiographical fiction (both roman à clef and bildungsroman) depicts a lesbian or invert relationship at a time when public attention to unorthodox sexual relationships (following such attention by sexologists), was on the... |
| Health | Christopher St John | After CSJ
learned of Martin Shaw
's marriage proposal to Edith Craig
, she attempted suicide, taking an overdose of cocaine. Cockin, Katharine. Edith Craig (1869-1947): Dramatic Lives. Cassell. 62-3 Holledge, Julie. Innocent Flowers: Women in the Edwardian Theatre. Virago. 116 |
| Textual Production | Christopher St John | The Theatre of the Soul's greatest innovations on the English stage lay in its representation of female desire through the character of a female dancer and in the use of innovative stage lighting techniques... |
| Residence | Christopher St John | CSJ
and Edith Craig
rented a residence in London, a third-floor flat at 31 Bedford Street, Covent Garden; this flat became a refuge for suffragists just out of prison or wanted by police. Cockin, Katharine. Edith Craig (1869-1947): Dramatic Lives. Cassell. 81 Holledge, Julie. Innocent Flowers: Women in the Edwardian Theatre. Virago. 121-2 Auerbach, Nina. Ellen Terry: Player in Her Time. W.W. Norton. 407 |
| Performance of text | Christopher St John | This had reached print bearing the date of 1911. Solo: Search Oxford University Libraries Online. http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=OXVU1&fromLogin=true&reset_config=true. |
| politics | Christopher St John | Sime Seruya
established the International Suffrage Shop
as a feminist publisher and bookseller; it operated out of CSJ
and Edith Craig
's home in Bedford Street. Cockin, Katharine. Edith Craig (1869-1947): Dramatic Lives. Cassell. 87 |
Timeline
June 1908: The Women Writers' Suffrage League was established...
National or international item
June 1908
23 July 1910: A march in London was held in support of...
Building item
23 July 1910
A march in London was held in support of the Conciliation Bill; originally proposed by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies
, it was eventually taken over by the Women's Social and Political Union
.
June 1925: The Independent Labour Party founded an Arts...
Writing climate item
June 1925
The Independent Labour Party
founded an Arts Guild
to promote socialist drama and performance.
December 1927: Three months after the dancer Isadora Duncan...
Building item
December 1927
Three months after the dancer Isadora Duncan
died at nearly fifty, as melodramatically as she had lived, her autobiography, My Life, appeared from the new publishing firm Gollancz
. It became an immediate best-seller...
Texts
Terry, Ellen. “Preface; Biographical Chapters”. Ellen Terry’s Memoirs, edited by Edith Craig and Christopher St John, Benjamin Blom, 1969, pp. v - xi; 279.