In this personal chronicle, Sheridan Morley and Ruth Leon trace the history of the plays and the people who made the world of twentieth-century theatre. This is the story of our stage, of its actors, directors and dramatists, and of the most remarkable generation of classical player kings and queens that the world has ever known, from Olivier to Gielgud, by way of Redgrave, Richardson, Ashcroft, Thorndike and Evans, to the later generation of McKellen, Finney, Bates, Rigg and Smith. Informal and informative, A Century of Theatre highlights theatre events for each year, as well as providing a review of other events that year which changed drama history.
Sheridan A. Morley (5 December 1941 − 16 February 2007) was an English author, biographer, critic and broadcaster. He was the official biographer of Sir John Gielgud and wrote biographies of many other theatrical figures he had known, including Noël Coward.
Morley was the eldest son of actor Robert Morley and grandson, via his mother Joan Buckmaster, of the actress Dame Gladys Cooper.