Edward Gordon Craig

2016 sees the 50th anniversary of the death of Edward Gordon Craig, prophet of the New Theatre and founding father of twentieth-century stage design ̶ theatre director, actor, scenographer, artist, writer and theoretician ̶ who lived in Florence from 1906 to 1914. Florence was an inspiration to Craig; it was here that he published some of his most important work, founded his theatre school and created the set for Ibsen's Rosmersholm for Eleanora Duse.

On the occasion of the anniversary the l’Università degli Studi di Firenze, the Gabinetto Scientifico Letterario G. P. Vieusseux, the British Institute of Florence and the Fondazione Teatro della Toscana are celebrating Craig with a series of initiatives, including a conference to be held on 24 and 25 November 2016.

The British Institute in particular remembers Dorothy Nevile Lees, Craig's long-time collaborator on the theatre journal founded in Florence, The Mask. The Institute's Craig collection was built up and donated by Lees, who died in the same year as Craig.