J. B. Fagan

James Bernard Fagan (18 May 1873 – 17 February 1933) was an Irish-born actor, theatre manager, producer and playwright active in England. After turning from the law to the stage, Fagan began his acting career, including four years from 1895 to 1899 with Herbert Beerbohm Tree's company at Her Majesty's Theatre. He then began to write plays, returning eventually to acting during World War I. In 1920, he took over London's Court Theatre as a Shakespearean playhouse and soon began to produce plays at other West End theatres. His adaptation of Treasure Island in 1922 was a hit and became an annual Christmas event.

He was the first manager of the Oxford Playhouse for several years in the 1920s. As a producer, he popularised Anton Chekhov and Seán O'Casey in Britain. In 1929, he was a director of the Festival Theatre, Cambridge. Several of his plays were adapted for film, and he moved to Hollywood in his last years.

Early life and career Fagan was born in Belfast, the eldest of the five children (three boys and two girls). His father, Sir James Fagan, was a surgeon at the Belfast Royal Hospital and an inspector of Irish reformatories, and his mother was Mary Catherine Fagan, née Hughes. He attended Clongowes Wood College near Clane, County Kildare and then moved to England. Initially interested in a career in the church, Fagan began studying law at Trinity College, Oxford in 1892 but left in 1893 without a degree.

Fagan began his career as an actor with the company of Sir Frank Benson for two years, then joining, from 1895 to 1899, the company of Herbert Beerbohm Tree at Her Majesty's Theatre. The Times called his revivals of Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice, Henry the Fourth (Part Two) and A Midsummer Night's Dream "memorable for their freshness, sanity and distinction, and [deserving of] a place in theatrical history". The Merchant of Venice transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre, where Fagan also produced The Government Inspector and Madame Sand (both 1920). In 1922 he produced his play The Wheel at the Apollo Theatre. Its success allowed him to repay his creditors. Even more successful was his adaptation of Treasure Island at the Savoy Theatre with Arthur Bourchier as "Long John Silver", which opened 26 December 1922. It was to be revived every Christmas until the outbreak of World War II.

Oxford Playhouse and later years Fagan was persuaded by Jane Ellis, the actress who with Alfred Ballard founded the Oxford Playhouse "Red Barn" in 1923, to be its first manager. A misfortune occurred while his effects were being transferred from London to Oxford; the lorry caught fire at Gerrard's Cross, and his rare book collection and irreplaceable original writings were destroyed, as well as stage properties and costumes. His attempt to license the theatre was stymied by the university's vice-chancellor, Dr Lewis Farnell, who had the power to prohibit staging of plays of which he disapproved (he had banned a Grand Guignol play starring Sybil Thorndike in Oxford in 1922 and a lecture by birth-control pioneer Marie Stopes in 1923). But Fagan's supporters, including the Chancellor George Curzon, forced a partial backdown.

His first production at the Oxford Playhouse was a restaging of Heartbreak House; Shaw was in the audience. Flora Robson, John Gielgud, Raymond Massey, Margaret Rutherford, Robert Donat and Tyrone Guthrie were in his company at the theatre. He produced The Cherry Orchard, at other theatres, to favourable reviews, popularising Anton Chekhov in Britain. He staged O'Casey's The Plough followed the next year. Fagan received little support from the University of Oxford or the play-going public and resigned in 1929. His successor was Stanford Holme, who broadened its appeal and, despite the straitened times, made it financially viable. née Ada Bryant, a sister of actor Charles Bryant. The couple's daughter, Gemma Fagan, was also an actress, who married the cricketer Oliver Battcock. Fagan's hobbies included golf and tennis.

He died in Hollywood, California, at the age of 59 of a heart attack following influenza.

Selected plays

The Prayer of the Sword (1904) The Earth (1910) Bella Donna (1912) Hawthorne of the U.S.A. (1913) The Wheel of Life (1922) And So, to Bed (1926) The Greater Love (1927) The Improper Duchess (1931) Doctor O'Toole (1938)