in opera, which she preferred to every other art form. She joined forces with Charles Corri to arrange and perform operas at the Old Vic with a small orchestra and limited resources. Plays were introduced to the Old Vic by Rosina Filippi, husband and wife team, Matheson Lang and Hutin Britton, and Sir Philip Ben Greet. The plays of William Shakespeare were often performed and Baylis claimed that the Old Vic had become the London 'Home of Shakespeare'. In the run up to the 300th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio Baylis produced all of Shakespeare's plays, even the ones she knew would be unlikely to generate many ticket sales. The tradition of doing Shakespeare at the Old Vic continued for many years and performers such as John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier were willing to work for low wages if they could play the great Shakespearean roles. Sadler's Wells In 1925, Baylis began a campaign to re-open the derelict Sadler's Wells Theatre, something she finally achieved with a gala opening on 6 January 1931 of a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night starring John Gielgud as Malvolio and Ralph Richardson as Toby Belch. Acquiring Sadler's Wells enabled Baylis to develop her plans for a dance company, something she had wished to do since 1928 when she hired Ninette de Valois to improve the standard of dancing in operas and plays at the Old Vic. For several years the opera, drama and ballet companies known as the "Vic-Wells" companies, moved between the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells but by 1935 the ballet company, which now included Margot Fonteyn and Robert Helpmann, with guest appearances from Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin, tended to perform at Sadler's Wells. Musical direction was by Constant Lambert, and choreography for new works by de Valois and rising star Frederick Ashton. The ballet company's descendants today are the Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Today the Sadler's Wells Theatre is primarily a dance venue. Growing stars The Vic-Wells nurtured the careers of stars such as Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, Sybil Thorndike, Edith Evans, Alec Guinness, Marius Goring, Michael Redgrave, Maurice Evans and Ralph Richardson, and became famous for stylish productions under the artistic directorship of Tyrone Guthrie during the 1930s. In 1937 Guthrie's production of Hamlet played at Elsinore/Helsingør in Denmark, with Olivier in the title role, and Vivien Leigh as Ophelia. Gielgud's