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Christopher Newton
Christopher Newton (11 June 1936 – 20 December 2021) was a Canadian director and actor, who served as artistic director of the Shaw Festival from 1980 to 2002. Early life and education Newton was born in Deal, Kent, England and educated at Sir Roger Manwood's School. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a B.A., he moved to the United States for further study at Purdue University in Indiana and the University of Illinois, where he earned his M.A. in 1960. Summer jobs at the Vancouver Festival in 1959, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the next two summers, led Newton into acting. Bucknell University hired him as acting head of theatre department, where he continued to learn acting on the job. Career Newton performed with the Canadian Players, at the Manitoba Theatre Centre, the Vancouver Playhouse and the Stratford Festival. At Stratford, he played such roles as 'Oberon' in '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'' and 'Aramis' in ''The Three Musketeers''. He als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Canadian Encyclopedia
''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available for free online in both English and French, ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' includes more than 19,500 articles in both languages on numerous subjects including history, popular culture, events, people, places, politics, arts, First Nations, sports and science. The website also provides access to the ''Encyclopedia of Music in Canada'', the ''Canadian Encyclopedia Junior Edition'', ''Maclean's'' magazine articles, and ''Timelines of Canadian History''. , over 700,000 volumes of the print version of ''TCE'' have been sold and over 6 million people visit ''TCE'''s website yearly. History Background While attempts had been made to compile encyclopedic material on aspects of Canada, ''Canada: An Encyclopaedia of the Country'' (1898–1900), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theatre Calgary
Theatre Calgary, is a theatre company in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, established as a professional company in 1968. It was preceded by Workshop 14, a theatre study group founded in 1944 by Betty Mitchell. Calgary's ''Betty Mitchell'' awards are named after her. Artistic Directors *Christopher Newton (1968–1971) *Clarke Rogers (1971–1972) *Harold G. Baldridge (1972–1978) * Rick McNair (1978–1984) *Sharon Pollock (1984–1985) *Martin Kinch (1985–1991) *Brian Rintoul (1991–1996) *James Brewer, Acting Artistic Director (1996–1997) *Ian Prinsloo (1997–2005) *Dennis Garnhum (2005–2016) *Shari Wattling, Interim Artistic Director (2016–2017) *Stafford Arima (2017–present) 2017–2018 season *'' Blow Wind High Water'' - by Sharon Pollock *'' Sisters: The Belles Soeurs Musical'' - based on the play by Michel Tremblay, book and lyrics by René Richard Cyr, music by Daniel Belanger *''Twelfth Night'' - by William Shakespeare *'' The Humans'' - by Stephen Karam * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Gillette
William Hooker Gillette (July 24, 1853 – April 29, 1937) was an American actor-manager, playwright, and stage-manager in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best remembered for portraying Sherlock Holmes on stage and in a 1916 silent film thought to be lost until it was rediscovered in 2014. Gillette's most significant contributions to the theater were in devising realistic stage settings and special sound and lighting effects, and as an actor in putting forth what he called the "Illusion of the First Time". His portrayal of Holmes helped create the modern image of the detective. His use of the deerstalker cap (which first appeared in some ''Strand'' illustrations by Sidney Paget) and the curved pipe became enduring symbols of the character. He assumed the role on stage more than 1,300 times over thirty years, starred in the silent motion picture based on his Holmes play, and voiced the character twice on radio. His first Civil War drama ''Held by the Enemy'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Arthur Jones
Henry Arthur Jones (20 September 1851 – 7 January 1929) was an English dramatist, who was first noted for his melodrama '' The Silver King'' (1882), and went on to write prolifically, often appearing to mirror Ibsen from the opposite (conservative) viewpoint. As a right-winger, he engaged in extensive debates with left-wing writers such as George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells. Biography Jones was born at Granborough, Buckinghamshire, to Silvanus Jones, a farmer. Until he was 13, he attended Grace's Classical and Commercial Academy in Winslow, where he inherited property on his father's death in 1914. He began to earn his living early, his spare time being given to literary pursuits. Career overview He was twenty-seven before his first piece, ''It's Only Round the Corner'', was produced at the Exeter Theatre, but within four years of his debut as a dramatist he scored a great success with '' The Silver King'' (November 1882), written with Henry Herman, a melodrama produced by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
You Never Can Tell (play)
''You Never Can Tell'' is an 1897 four-act play by George Bernard Shaw that debuted at the Royalty Theatre. It was published as part of a volume of Shaw's plays entitled ''Plays Pleasant''. Characters *Mr. (or Dr.) Valentine, the dentist – Mr. Yorke Stephens *Gloria Clandon, the eldest daughter – Miss Margaret Halstan *Walter, the waiter – Mr. James Welch *Dolly Clandon, twin to Philip – Miss Winifred Fraser *Philip Clandon, twin to Dolly – Mr. Roland Bottomley *Mrs. Clandon, the mother – Miss Elsie Chester *Mr. Fergus Crampton, the landlord and father – Mr. Herman Vezin *Mr. Finch McComas, a solicitor – Mr. Sydney Warden *Bohun, a QC (Queens Counsel) – Mr. Charles Charrington *The Parlor-maid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Candida (play)
''Candida'', a comedy by playwright George Bernard Shaw, was written in 1894 and first published in 1898, as part of his '' Plays Pleasant''. The central characters are clergyman James Morell, his wife Candida and a youthful poet, Eugene Marchbanks, who tries to win Candida's affections. The play questions Victorian notions of love and marriage, asking what a woman really desires from her husband. The cleric is a Christian Socialist, allowing Shaw—himself a Fabian Socialist—to weave political issues, current at the time, into the story. Shaw attempted but failed to have a London production of the play put on in the 1890s, but there were two small provincial productions. However, in late 1903 actor Arnold Daly had such a great success with the play that Shaw would write by 1904 that New York was seeing "an outbreak of Candidamania". The Royal Court Theatre in London performed the play in six matinees in 1904. The same theatre staged several other of Shaw's plays from 1904 t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pygmalion (play)
''Pygmalion'' is a play by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, named after the Greek mythological figure. It premiered at the Hofburg Theatre in Vienna on 16 October 1913 and was first presented in German on stage to the public in 1913. Its English-language premiere took place at Her Majesty's Theatre in the West End in April 1914 and starred Herbert Beerbohm Tree as phonetics professor Henry Higgins and Mrs Patrick Campbell as Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle. In ancient Greek mythology, Pygmalion fell in love with one of his sculptures, which then came to life. The general idea of that myth was a popular subject for Victorian era British playwrights, including one of Shaw's influences, W. S. Gilbert, who wrote a successful play based on the story called '' Pygmalion and Galatea'' that was first presented in 1871. Shaw would also have been familiar with the musical ''Adonis'' and the burlesque version, ''Galatea, or Pygmalion Reversed''. Shaw's play has been adapted nu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Misalliance
''Misalliance'' is a play written in 1909–1910 by George Bernard Shaw. The play takes place entirely on a single Saturday afternoon in the conservatory of a large country house in Hindhead, Surrey in Edwardian era England. It is a continuation of some of the ideas on marriage that he expressed in 1908 in his play, ''Getting Married''. It was also a continuation of some of his other ideas on Socialism, physical fitness, the Life Force, and "The New Woman": i.e. women intent on escaping Victorian standards of helplessness, passivity, stuffy propriety, and non-involvement in politics or general affairs. Shaw subtitled his play ''A Debate in One Sitting'', and in the program of its first presentation in 1910 inserting this program note: "The debate takes place at the house of John Tarleton of Hindhead, Surrey, on 31 May 1909. As the debate is a long one, the curtain will be lowered twice. The audience is requested to excuse these interruptions, which are made solely for its conven ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Man And Superman
''Man and Superman'' is a four-act drama written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903. The series was written in response to a call for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. ''Man and Superman'' opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 21 May 1905 as a four-act play produced by the Stage Society, and then by John Eugene Vedrenne and Harley Granville-Barker on 23 May, without Act III ("Don Juan in Hell"). A part of the third act, ''Don Juan in Hell'' (Act 3, Scene 2), was performed when the drama was staged on 4 June 1907 at the Royal Court. The play was not performed in its entirety until 1915, when the Travelling Repertory Company played it at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. Summary Mr. Whitefield has recently died, and his will indicates that his daughter Ann should be left in the care of two men, Roebuck Ramsden and John Tanner. Ramsden, a venerable old man, distrusts John Tanner, an eloquent youth with revolutionary ideas, whom Shaw's stage directions describe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Major Barbara (play)
''Major Barbara'' is a three-act English play by George Bernard Shaw, written and premiered in 1905 and first published in 1907. The story concerns an idealistic young woman, Barbara Undershaft, who is engaged in helping the poor as a Major in the Salvation Army in London. For many years, Barbara and her siblings have been estranged from their father, Andrew Undershaft, who now reappears as a rich and successful munitions maker. The father gives money to the Salvation Army, which offends Barbara because she considers it "tainted" wealth. The father argues that poverty is a worse problem than munitions and claims that he is doing more to help society by giving his workers jobs and a steady income than she is doing by giving people free meals in a soup kitchen. The play script displays typical Shavian techniques in the omission of apostrophes from contractions and other punctuation, the inclusion of a didactic introductory essay explaining the play's themes, and the phonetic spe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heartbreak House
''Heartbreak House: A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes'' is a play written by George Bernard Shaw, first published in 1919 and first played at the Garrick Theatre in November 1920. According to A. C. Ward, the work argues that "cultured, leisured Europe" was drifting toward destruction, and that "Those in a position to guide Europe to safety failed to learn their proper business of political navigation". The "Russian manner" of the subtitle refers to the style of Anton Chekhov, which Shaw adapts. Characters *Ellie Dunn *Nurse Guinness *Captain Shotover *Lady Utterword *Hesione Hushabye *Mazzini Dunn *Hector Hushabye *Boss Alfred Mangan *Randall Utterword *Burglar (Billy Dunn) Plot summary Ellie Dunn, her father, and her fiancé are invited to one of Hesione Hushabye’s infamous dinner parties, to be held at the house of her father, the eccentric Captain Shotover, an inventor in his late eighties who is trying to create a "psychic ray" that will destroy dynamite. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caesar And Cleopatra (play)
''Caesar and Cleopatra'' is a play written in 1898 by George Bernard Shaw that depicts a fictionalized account of the relationship between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. It was first published with ''Captain Brassbound's Conversion'' and ''The Devil's Disciple (play), The Devil's Disciple'' in Shaw's 1901 collection ''Three Plays for Puritans''. It was first performed in a single staged reading at Newcastle upon Tyne on 15 March 1899, to secure the copyright. The play was produced in New York in 1906 and in London at the Savoy Theatre in 1907. Plot The play has a prologue and an "Alternative to the Prologue". The prologue consists of the Egyptian god Ra addressing the audience directly, as if he could see them in the theater (i.e., breaking the fourth wall). He says that Pompey represents the old Rome and Caesar represents the new Rome. The gods favored Caesar, according to Ra, because he "lived the life they had given him boldly". Ra recounts the conflict between Caesar and Pompey ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
