Editing Herbert Beerbohm Tree (section)

==Shakespeare==
[[Image:H Beerbohm Tree Hamlet 1892.jpg|thumb|left|upright |Tree as [[Hamlet]] in 1892.]]
Under Tree, however, Her (later His) Majesty's Theatre was most famous for its work with Shakespeare, building an international reputation as the premier British playhouse for his works during the [[Edwardian era]], which had for so long belonged to [[Henry Irving]] at the [[Lyceum Theatre, London|Lyceum Theatre]] during the Victorian period. Tree worked untiringly to make Shakespeare popular with the theatregoing public. He mounted sixteen Shakespeare productions, many of which earned enough success to justify revivals during subsequent seasons. He also established an annual Shakespeare festival from 1905 to 1913 that showcased a total over two hundred performances by his company and other acting troupes.<ref name=dnbold/> Tree overturned the popular wisdom at the time that Shakespeare productions would lose money, creating stagings that appealed widely to patrons. In fact, the theatre's first Shakespearian play, ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'', was its first commercial success in 1898, running for 165 consecutive performances and selling 242,000 tickets. The next two years saw two more hits, ''[[King John (play)|King John]]'' and ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]''. Tree's longest-running revival, ''[[Henry VIII (play)|Henry VIII]]'', ran for a sensational 254 consecutive performances from 1 September 1910 to 8 April 1911. Many of the others were similar hits.<ref name=DNB/>

Tree staged the Shakespeare plays, in particular, to appeal to the broad public taste for realistic scenery and scenic effects and lavish spectacle, mirroring the Edwardian fashion for luxury and extravagance. For example, in ''[[The Winter's Tale]]'' (1906), there was a woodland glade with a shepherd's cottage and babbling brook; in ''[[The Tempest]]'' (1904), a replica of a sixteenth-century vessel was tossed in a storm; in ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'' (1908), he recreated an authentic Renaissance ghetto. Tree expounded his views on staging in 1897:
{{quote| Everything that tends to aid illusion, to stimulate the imagination of an audience, is legitimate on the stage. Everything that detracts from illusion is illegitimate. We hear a great deal of cant talked by those who insist that the ideal stage setting should be a green baize, whose decoration should consist of placards inscribed, "This is a street," "This is a house," "This is heaven." In all this there seems to me something of affectation. If Shakespeare's poetry could be better or more reverently illustrated by such means, I would say: "Take away those baubles of scenery, of costume, and of archaeological accessories!"<ref name=tree>Tree, Herbert Beerbohm, "Some Aspects of the Drama of To-day", ''The North American Review'', Vol. 164, No. 482 (January 1897), pp. 66–74</ref>}}

[[File:Macbeth 1916 still.jpg|thumb|''Macbeth'' (1916)]]
Tree sometimes interpolated scenes of famous historical events into the plays to provide even more spectacle, such as King John's granting of [[Magna Carta]] or Anne Boleyn's coronation in [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref name=DNB/>

Tree also pursued four Shakespeare film projects during his career at Her Majesty's. Of great historical interest is the filming, in 1899, of three brief segments from his production of ''King John'', in which he starred and directed. This is the first film record of a Shakespeare play. [[Charles Urban]] filmed the opening shipwreck from the 1904 revival of ''The Tempest'' at the theatre in 1905; Tree, whose role in the production was Caliban, did not appear in this scene.<ref name=hb/> Tree played Cardinal Wolsey in a 1911 studio film by [[Will Barker (director)|William Barker]] of a five-scene version of ''Henry VIII'', based on the theatre's 1910 production. Tree was paid the unprecedented sum of £1,000 lest the film prove unsatisfactory, or damage ticket sales of the theatre presentation. Filming took place at studios in [[Ealing]], west London and took only one day, thanks to careful preparation beforehand. The film was presented to the public on 27 February 1911 in various theatres in London and in the provinces, and was a huge success. ''[[The Moving Picture World]]'' wrote, "The picture is without doubt the greatest that has even been attempted in this country, and I am almost tempted to say in any other ... the acting passes anything ever seen in moving pictures before.... The effect on the moving picture industry here will be enormous."<ref name=hb>Hamilton Ball, Robert. "The Shakespeare Film as Record: Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree", ''Shakespeare Quarterly'', Vol. 3, No. 3 (July 1952), pp. 227–36</ref> In California in 1916, Tree played the title role in a film of ''[[Macbeth (1916 film)|Macbeth]]'', by [[D. W. Griffith]] (considered a [[lost film]]).<ref name=hb/>