- Jose Levy
Jose Levy (1884? -
October 6 ,1936 ) was the theatre practitioner who attempted to import the ghoulish and grislyGrand Guignol aesthetic for London audiences.Levy was born in
Portsmouth, England and educated at theEcole de Commerce ,Lausanne .In 1920, Levy opened the
Grand Guignol theatre in the Little Theatre located in the London's Strand District. Levy's productions featured performances by the English stage actressSybil Thorndike , who would eventually originate the role ofJoan of Arc inGeorge Bernard Shaw 's Saint Joan. During its inaugural season, Levy's company staged such notorious thrillers asAndre de Lorde 's "The Hand of Death".The
Grand Guignol experiment ended in 1922 when Levy met with interference from England's censoriousLord Chamberlain 's Department. Upon announcing its demise, Levy stated that "the reason I am finishing withGrand Guignol is the too rigid censorship. . . it is impossible to carry on while the Lord Chamberlain's Department raises so many difficulties."In March, 1934 Levy received the
Légion d'honneur for recognition of his contributions to French drama and theatre in England.In an obituary published on
October 10 ,1936 in "The Times ",James Agate praised Levy’s passion for the theatre. He wrote that “unlike many theatre managers, (Levy) was intensely interested in theatre. The fact that managing a theatre was his business never destroyed his love for the drama as an art.”References
* Appleton Post-Crescent, Thursday,
July 27 1922
* The Times, Friday, Oct 09, 1936
* The Times, Saturday,10 October 1936
* Gordon, Mel. Grand Guignol. New York: Amok Press, 1988.
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