Antony Holland

History

Holland completed his drama training at the Labour Stage in London. Shortly after, he was called into His Majesty's Armed Forces as a signalman at the onset of the Second World War. While training at the coastal town of South Shields, he put on a play in a local abandoned theatre. Holland continued to mount productions in his spare time throughout the course of the war. He was granted the officers' lounge for rehearsals and cast approximately 100 men in a wide variety of roles, including parts that required playing women. His plays continued through the North African Campaign, crossed the desert, and made it to Cairo where he would mount productions at the Khedivial Opera House. So successful were his plays that the military requisitioned stage materials for more elaborate productions. Holland was transferred into military intelligence where he served out the remainder of the war.

In 1946, Laurence Olivier founded the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School where Holland was vice principal for nearly a decade. Holland moved to Vancouver in 1957 and remained in British Columbia until his death in July 2015. In 1965, he founded a theatre arts program at the King Edward Campus of Vancouver Community College. The school relocated to Langara College and formally took on the name of Studio 58. Holland retired as artistic director in 1985, and returned to professional acting, directing and writing. Shortly after moving to Gabriola Island, he established a new theatre company at the Gabriola Theatre Centre.

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