|
Damsels In Distress (plays)
''Damsels in Distress'' is a trilogy of plays written in 2001 by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. The three plays, '' GamePlan'', ''FlatSpin'' and ''RolePlay'', were originally performed as a set by the Stephen Joseph Theatre Company (SJT). The plays were written to be performed by the same seven actors using the same set. Although the plays loosely shared some common themes, the three stories were independent of each other and unconnected. This trilogy is considered Alan Ayckbourn's first major success of the 21st century. It also began a dispute between Ayckbourn and the West End. Background ''Damsels in Distress'' began as an experiment to revive the Stephen Joseph Theatre's repertory system. Throughout the theatre's time at its first two venues, plays had largely been staged on a repertory basis, with plays being chosen and written around the actors available. After the move to the theatre's current venue in 1996, however, the system largely ended (apart from the ''10× ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Ayckbourn
Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director. He has written and produced as of 2021, more than eighty full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their first performance. More than 40 have subsequently been produced in the West End, at the Royal National Theatre or by the Royal Shakespeare Company since his first hit '' Relatively Speaking'' opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1967. Major successes include ''Absurd Person Singular'' (1975), ''The Norman Conquests'' trilogy (1973), '' Bedroom Farce'' (1975), ''Just Between Ourselves'' (1976), '' A Chorus of Disapproval'' (1984), ''Woman in Mind'' (1985), ''A Small Family Business'' (1987), '' Man of the Moment'' (1988), ''House'' & ''Garden'' (1999) and ''Private Fears in Public Places'' (2004). His plays have won numerous awards, includi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Really Useful Group
The Really Useful Group Ltd. (RUG) is an international company set up in 1977 by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It is involved in theatre, film, television, video and concert productions, merchandising, magazine publishing, records and music publishing. The name is inspired by a phrase from the children's book series ''The Railway Series'' (which also inspired Webber to create ''Starlight Express'') in which Thomas the Tank Engine and other locomotives are referred to as "Really Useful Engines". History The company was set up in 1977 when Lloyd Webber, frustrated with the terms of his contract with the impresario Robert Stigwood, decided to take greater control over the management of his creative works. All Lloyd Webber compositions and productions created from that point have been owned by the company. The Really Useful Group was floated on the stock market in 1986. Four years later, Lloyd Webber took it back into private ownership, selling 30% to film and music group PolyGram to fund ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richmond, London
Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Commission for England defines it as being in South London or the South Thames sub-region, pairing it with Kingston upon Thames for the purposes of devising constituencies. However, for the purposes of the London Plan, Richmond now lies within the West London (sub region), West London region. west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is on a meander of the River Thames, with many Richmond upon Thames parks and open spaces, parks and open spaces, including Richmond Park, and many protected conservation areas, which include much of Richmond Hill, London, Richmond Hill. A specific Richmond, Petersham and Ham Open Spaces Act 1902, Act of Parliament protects the scenic view of the River Thames from Richmond. Richmond was founded following Henry VII of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orange Tree Theatre
The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style. The theatre was founded in 1971 by its previous artistic director, Sam Walters, and his actress wife Auriol Smith in a small room above the Orange Tree pub opposite the present building, which opened in 1991. Walters, the UK's longest-serving theatre director, retired from the Orange Tree Theatre in June 2014 and was succeeded as artistic director by the present incumbent, Paul Miller, previously associate director at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Tom Littler, currently artistic director at the Jermyn Street Theatre, will take over from Miller in December 2022. The Orange Tree Theatre specialises in staging new plays and rediscovering classics. It has an education and participation programme that reaches over 10,000 people every ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Private Fears In Public Places
''Private Fears in Public Places'' is a 2004 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. The bleakest play written by Ayckbourn for many years, it intimately follows a few days in the lives of six characters, in four tightly-interwoven stories through 54 scenes. In 2006, it was made into a film ''Cœurs'', directed by Alain Resnais. Background The title was originally chosen for a play Ayckbourn was writing in 1994, but which was replaced by another new play, ''Communicating Doors''. Ten years later he used the title for this very different play — following the practice of rescuing redundant titles first employed by Ayckbourn for ''Absurd Person Singular'' back in 1972.Alan Ayckbourn, Preface to Three Plays (''Absurd Person Singular'', ''Absent Friends'', ''Bedroom Farce'') (1977) Penguin As with ''Absurd Person Singular'', ''Private Fears in Public Places'' has little in common with the play for which its title was first devised. It was written for performance by the Step ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guildford
Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildford" is thought to derive from a crossing of the River Wey, a tributary of the River Thames that flows through the town centre. The earliest evidence of human activity in the area is from the Mesolithic and Guildford is mentioned in the will of Alfred the Great from . The exact location of the main Anglo-Saxon settlement is unclear and the current site of the modern town centre may not have been occupied until the early 11th century. Following the Norman Conquest, a motte-and-bailey castle was constructed, which was developed into a royal residence by Henry III. During the late Middle Ages, Guildford prospered as a result of the wool trade and the town was granted a charter of incorporation by Henry VII in 1488. The River Wey Navig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre is a theatre located in Guildford, Surrey, England. Named after the actress Yvonne Arnaud, it presents a series of locally produced and national touring productions, including opera, ballet and pantomime. The theatre has two performance venues, the main auditorium and the smaller Mill Studio. History Replacing a former repertory theatre in North Street which had been gutted by a fire in 1963, the present complex was opened in 1965 in a riverside site, incorporating a restaurant and bar available to non-theatregoers. Sir Michael Redgrave had ceremonially driven the first pile in October 1962. The foundation stone was laid by Vanessa Redgrave, in September 1963, who commemorated the occasion by casting her foot in concrete. Susan Hampshire "topped out" the roof of the theatre on 11 November 1964. The company opted to dispense with traditional repertory theatre in favour of a more flexible model in which actors are cast as appropriate to different produc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sugar Daddies (play)
''Sugar Daddies'' is a 2003 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is about a student who forms a friendship with a rich man over three times her age, who has a sinister past, and maybe a sinister present too. Background Ayckbourn wrote ''Sugar Daddies'' in early 2003, shortly after concluding his family play ''The Jollies'' and shortly before starting rehearsals for Tim Firth's ''The Safari Party''.Allen, Paul (2004) ''A Pocket Guide to Alan Ayckbourn Plays'' Faber & Faber In some respects, it can be considered a follow-on from the ''Damsels in Distress'' trilogy. It again features a young female leading character in some kind of danger, and shares the theme of East End crime that frequently arose throughout the trilogy. The original productions also shared Alison Pargeter as one of the leading roles, but this had influence far beyond making ''Sugar Daddies'' a companion piece. Prior to acting at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Alison Pargeter had concentrated her career o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Up For Grabs (play)
Up For Grabs is a play by Australian playwright David Williamson. It is set in the booming international art market from 1990, which was fueled by the dot com boom. It involves scenes of an alternate sexual nature. It can be viewed as a play portraying an analysis of how wealth and power can corrupt the arts. The London West End theatre version saw Madonna, billed as 'Madonna Ritchie', starring on stage for the third time in her career, to overall poor critical review of her technical ability, being described as "the evening's biggest disappointment" by a critic. Background Williamson's play is about the booming international art market from 1990 to the present. In Australia in 1990, total art sales at auction were less than $17 million, by 1995 $27 million, by 1999 to $70 million, and in 2002 they were worth more than $90 million. According to investment analysts, art has been the fourth best-performing asset in Australia for the ten years to 2002. This pushed contemporary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Williamson
David Keith Williamson Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 24 February 1942) is an Australians, Australian dramatist and playwright. He has also written screenplays and teleplays. Early life David Williamson was born in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, on 24 February 1942, and was brought up in Bairnsdale. He initially studied mechanical engineering at the University of Melbourne from 1960, but left and graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1965. His early forays into the theatre were as an actor and writer of skits for the Engineers' Revue at Melbourne University's Union Theatre at lunchtime during the early 1960s, and as a satirical sketch writer for Monash University student reviews and the Emerald Hill Theatre Company. After a brief stint as design engineer for Holden, GM Holden, Williamson became a lecturer in mechanical engineering and thermodynamics at Swinburne University of Technology (then Swinburne Technical Col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, and visual presentation. She has pushed the boundaries of artistic expression in mainstream music, while continuing to maintain control over every aspect of her career. Her works, which incorporate social, political, sexual, and religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ... themes, have generated both controversy and critical acclaim. A prominent Cultural impact of Madonna, cultural figure crossing both the 20th and 21st centuries, Madonna remains one of the most "well-documented figures of the modern age", with a broad amount ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Billington (critic)
Michael Keith Billington OBE (born 16 November 1939) is a British author and arts critic. He writes for ''The Guardian'', and was the paper's chief drama critic from 1971 to 2019. Billington is "Britain's longest-serving theatre critic" and the author of biographical and critical studies relating to British theatre and the arts. He is the authorised biographer of the playwright Harold Pinter (1930–2008). Early life and education Billington was born on 16 November 1939, in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England, and attended Warwick School, an independent boys' school in Warwick. He attended St Catherine's College, Oxford, from 1958 to 1961, where he studied English and was appointed theatre critic of '' Cherwell''. He graduated with a BA degree. As a member of Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS), in 1959, Billington played the Priest in '' The Birds'', by Aristophanes, his only appearance as an actor, and, in 1960, he directed a production of Eugène Ionesco's ''The Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Guildford")
