Annie Russell began her career as a child and toured all over South and North America. Illness forced her retirement for a time, but she returned to the stage when she was thirty and first played in London in 1898. Although she had played some Shakespeare earlier in her career, in 1912 she formed the Old English Comedy Troupe and after that presented several Shakespeare comedies such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream (shown here). She retired in 1918.

Leslie French, the English actor, played Puck in this 1935 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He joined the Old Vic in 1930. French became well known for playing Shakespeare’s spirit characters and clowns and fools. He played roles such as Ariel in The Tempest, the Fool in King Lear, and Touchstone in As You Like It frequently. In the 1960s, he played in a number of films. He was also engaged in promoting multi-racial theaters in South Africa in the 1950s and 1960s.