Independent Theatre Society

The Independent Theatre Society was a by-subscription-only organisation in London from 1891 to 1897, founded by Dutch drama critic Jacob Grein to give "special performances of plays which have a literary and artistic rather than a commercial value." The society was inspired by its continental forerunners, the Théâtre-Libre (Free Theatre) and Die Freie Bühne (Free Stage). The Society produced modern realist plays, mostly by continental European playwrights, on the London stage.

The Society's performances, using professional actors, were given in theatres that were otherwise 'dark' — on Sundays, when no normal performances were scheduled. Because membership was by subscription, the performances were not "public", and so the Society was allowed to perform plays that had not received a licence from the Lord Chamberlain's Office; and in this way they were able to avoid the censorship of the London stage.

During 1891, the Royalty Theatre fell vacant and offered the Society an opportunity to stage plays with a professional cast and crew. The first performance for the Society there was of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts, on 13 March 1891 — in a translation by William Archer. This was followed by Émile Zola's Thérèse Raquin on 9 October 1891. Both plays were greeted with a storm of protest. Ghosts was described thus: "an orderly audience, including many ladies... listened attentively to the dramatic exposition of a subject which is not usually discussed outside the walls of an hospital". Other critics called for the withdrawal of Kate Santley's licence. The following year, Grein approached the (then) young theatre critic George Bernard Shaw for a play for the Society. Shaw's first play, Widowers' Houses, premièred for the Society at the Royalty Theatre on 9 December 1892.A Question of Memory by Michael Field premièred on 27 October 1893; and The Black Cat by Irish playwright, John Todhunter received its only performance, on 8 December 1893, at the Opera Comique. The Society premièred Ibsen's The Wild Duck (in translation) in 1894. In 1895, Grein invited Aurélien Lugné-Poe to present a season of productions in French, of Ibsen's Rosmersholm, The Master Builder and Maurice Maeterlinck's symbolist L'Intruse and Pelléas and Mélisande.

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