Playfair, Sir Nigel [key], 1874–1934, English actor-manager. He made his acting debut in 1902 and later appeared in major London productions of Shaw and Shakespeare. He took on the management of the Lyric Theatre from 1919 to 1932. There Playfair's greatest achievements were his revival (1920) of John Gay's Beggar's Opera, which ran for more than three years, and a stylized production of The Importance of Being Earnest. Playfair was knighted in 1928.
See his two volumes of memoirs of the Lyric Theatre (1925 and 1930).
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