Shakespeare described actors in Hamlet, writing 'they are the abstract and brief chronicles of our time'. Actors tell stories that reflect the hopes and anxieties of our times from Oedipus Rex to Jerusalem. Often seen in the past as rogues and vagabonds, the road to respectability was a long and lively journey with some fascinating characters along the way. It was at the start of the 20th century that the actor was established as an 'honourable' profession with the knighthood of Sir Henry Irving; and the great generation of actors emerged including John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Peggy Ashcroft and Edith Evans.
Watercolour of Actors in their Dressing Room by William McConnell 1860