A Man For All Seasons (play)
''A Man for All Seasons'' is a play by Robert Bolt based on the life of Sir Thomas More. An early form of the play had been written for BBC Radio in 1954, and a one-hour live television version starring Bernard Hepton was produced in 1957 by the BBC, but after Bolt's success with ''The Flowering Cherry'', he reworked it for the stage. It was first performed in London opening at the Globe Theatre (now Gielgud Theatre) on 1 July 1960. It later found its way to Broadway, enjoying a critically and commercially successful run of over a year. It has had several revivals, and was subsequently made into a multi-Academy Award-winning 1966 feature film and a 1988 television movie. The plot is based on the historical events leading up to the execution of More, the 16th-century Chancellor of England, who refused to endorse Henry VIII's wish to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon, who did not bear him a son, so that he could marry Anne Boleyn, the sister of his former mistress. The ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Bolt
Robert Oxton Bolt (15 August 1924 – 20 February 1995) was an English playwright and a two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter, known for writing the screenplays for ''Lawrence of Arabia'', ''Doctor Zhivago'', and '' A Man for All Seasons'', the latter two of which won him the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Career He was born in Sale, Cheshire, to Methodist parents; his father owned a small furniture shop. At Manchester Grammar School his affinity for Sir Thomas More first developed. After leaving school aged sixteen, he worked in an insurance office, which he disliked; after studying in the evening for five weeks he passed three A-levels and went on to attend the University of Manchester, from which, after a year, he undertook wartime service, initially as a pilot officer candidate in the RAF (air-sickness preventing him from continuing past training) from 1943 to 1946. He then served as an Army officer in West Africa until 1947, when he returned to the Universit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (Crown of Castile, Castile and Crown of Aragon, Aragon) from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy from 1506 to 1555. He was heir to and then head of the rising House of Habsburg during the first half of the 16th century, his dominions in Europe included the Holy Roman Empire, extending from Kingdom of Germany, Germany to Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire), northern Italy with direct rule over the Austrian hereditary lands and the Burgundian Low Countries, and Habsburg Spain, Spain with its southern Italy, southern Italian possessions of Kingdom of Naples, Naples, Kingdom of Sicily, Sicily, and Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia. He oversaw both the continuation of the long-lasting Spanish colonization of the Americas and the short-live ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke Of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, (1473 – 25 August 1554) was a prominent English politician and nobleman of the Tudor era. He was an uncle of two of the wives of King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, both of whom were beheaded, and played a major role in the machinations affecting these royal marriages. After falling from favour in 1546, he was stripped of his Dukedom and imprisoned in the Tower of London, avoiding execution when Henry VIII died on 28 January 1547. He was released on the accession of the Roman Catholic queen, Mary I, whom he aided in securing her throne, thus setting the stage for tensions between his Catholic family and the Protestant royal line that would be continued by Mary I's half-sister, Elizabeth I. Early life Thomas was the son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk (1443–1524), by his first wife, Elizabeth Tilney (died 1497), the daughter of Sir Frederick Tilney and widow of Sir Humphrey Bourchier. He was descended in the female ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich
Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich (July 1496 – 12 June 1567), was Lord Chancellor during King Edward VI of England's reign, from 1547 until January 1552. He was the founder of Felsted School with its associated almshouses in Essex in 1564. He was a beneficiary of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and persecuted perceived opponents of the king and their policies. He played a role in the trials of Catholic martyrs Thomas More and John Fisher as well as that of Protestant martyr Anne Askew. Origins According to some sources, Rich was born in the London parish of St Lawrence Jewry, the second son of Richard Rich by Joan Dingley, but this is disputed. Also, according to Carter, he was born at Basingstoke, Hampshire, the son of John Rich (d. 1509?), of Penton Mewsey, Hampshire, and a wife named Agnes whose surname is unknown. In 1509, Richard inherited his father's house in Islington, Middlesex. Early in 1551 he was described in an official document as "fifty-four years of age and mo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Thomas More
Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to May 1532. He wrote ''Utopia'', published in 1516, which describes the political system of an imaginary island state. More opposed the Protestant Reformation, directing polemics against the theology of Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin and William Tyndale. More also opposed Henry VIII's separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church of England and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason and executed. On his execution, he was reported to have said: "I die the King's good servant, and God's first". Pope Pius XI canonised More in 1935 as a martyr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Leo McKern
Reginald "Leo" McKern, Order of Australia, AO (16 March 1920 – 23 July 2002) was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British, Australian and American television programmes and films, and in more than 200 stage roles. His notable roles include Clang in ''Help! (film), Help!'' (1965), Thomas Cromwell in ''A Man for All Seasons (1966 film), A Man for All Seasons'' (1966), Tom Ryan in ''Ryan's Daughter'' (1970), Paddy Button in ''The Blue Lagoon (1980 film), The Blue Lagoon'' (1980), Dr. Grogan in ''The French Lieutenant's Woman (film), The French Lieutenant's Woman'' (1981), Father Imperius in ''Ladyhawke (film), Ladyhawke'' (1985), and the role that made him a household name as an actor, Rumpole of the Bailey, Horace Rumpole, whom he played in the British television series ''Rumpole of the Bailey''. He also portrayed Carl Bugenhagen in the The Omen, first and Damien: Omen II, second instalments of The Omen (film series), ''The Omen'' series and Number Two (The Pris ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Noel Willman
Noel Willman (4 August 1918 – 24 December 1988) was an Irish actor and theatre director. Born in Derry, Ireland, Willman died aged 70 in New York City, United States. Willman's films included '' The Man Who Knew Too Much'' (1956), '' Across the Bridge'' (1957), ''Carve Her Name with Pride'' (1958), ''The Kiss of the Vampire'' (1963), ''Doctor Zhivago'' (1965), ''The Reptile'' (1966), and ''The Odessa File'' (1974). He was also a theatre director and actor, and won a Tony Award in 1962 for his direction of the original Broadway production of Robert Bolt's '' A Man For All Seasons''. According to Bolt, he was instrumental in many aspects of the play's development, including the casting of Paul Scofield as Thomas More. In 1966 he was nominated in the same category for James Goldman's '' The Lion in Winter.'' He later directed Katharine Hepburn and Christopher Reeve in ''A Matter of Gravity'' in 1976. He frequently collaborated with Bolt, directing ''The Tiger and the Horse'' a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in Midtown Manhattan. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances. One is also given for regional theatre. Several discretionary non-competitive awards are given as well, including a Special Tony Award, the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, and the Isabelle Stevenson Award. The awards were founded by theatre producer and director Brock Pemberton and are named after Antoinette "Tony" Perry, an actress, producer and theatre director who was co-founder and secretary of the American Theatre Wing. The trophy consists of a spinnable medallion, with faces portraying an adaptation of the comedy and tragedy masks, mounted on a black base with a pewter swivel. The rules for the Tony Awards are set forth in the off ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was a British actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the US Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Awards, Academy Award, Emmy Award, Emmy, and Tony Award, Tony for his work. He won the three awards in a seven-year span, the fastest of any performer to accomplish the feat. Scofield received Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play at the 16th Tony Awards, 1962 Tony Awards for portraying Sir Thomas More in the Broadway theatre, Broadway production of ''A Man for All Seasons (play), A Man for All Seasons''. Four years later, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor when he reprised the role in the A Man for All Seasons (1966 film), 1966 film adaptation, making him one of nine to receive a Tony and Academy Award for the same role. His Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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State Of Revolution
''State of Revolution'' is a two act play by Robert Bolt, written in 1977. It deals with the Russian Revolution of 1917 and Civil War, the rise to power of Vladimir Lenin, and the struggles of his chief lieutenants – namely Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky – to gain power under Lenin in the chaos of the Revolution. The play originally opened at the Repertory Theatre in Birmingham on 3 May 1977, and the production then moved to the Lyttleton auditorium of the National Theatre in London, where it opened on 18 May. Despite the painstaking work put into the show by Bolt (he spent almost three years researching the Revolution and then editing the script), ''State of Revolution'' was at best a modest success. He was particularly criticised for having a play which, many felt, lacked Bolt's usual humour and a clear point (see ''Times'' review below). Others criticised the play for depicting the Russian characters in too much of an Anglicized manner. The play received its share of pos ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alienation Effect
The distancing effect, also translated as alienation effect (german: Verfremdungseffekt or ''V-Effekt''), is a concept in performing arts credited to German playwright Bertolt Brecht. Brecht first used the term in his essay "Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting" published in 1936, in which he described it as performing "in such a way that the audience was hindered from simply identifying itself with the characters in the play. Acceptance or rejection of their actions and utterances was meant to take place on a conscious plane, instead of, as hitherto, in the audience's subconscious". Origin The term ''Verfremdungseffekt'' is rooted in the Russian Formalist notion of the device of ''making strange'' (приём отстранения ''priyom otstraneniya''), which literary critic Viktor Shklovsky claims is the essence of all art. Lemon and Reis's 1965 English translation of Shklovsky's 1917 coinage as "defamiliarization", combined with John Willett's 1964 translation of Brec ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fourth Wall
The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th century onward, the rise of illusionism in staging practices, which culminated in the realism and naturalism of the theatre of the 19th century, led to the development of the fourth wall concept. The metaphor suggests a relationship to the mise-en-scène behind a proscenium arch. When a scene is set indoors and three of the walls of its room are presented onstage, in what is known as a box set, the fourth of them would run along the line (technically called the proscenium) dividing the room from the auditorium. The ''fourth wall'', though, is a theatrical convention, rather than of set design. The actors ignore the audience, focus their attention exclusively on the dramatic world, and remain absorbed in its fiction, in a state that ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |