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David Mercer (playwright)
David Mercer (27 June 1928 – 8 August 1980) was an English dramatist. Early life Mercer was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, the son of an engine driver while his mother had been a domestic servant. Both of his grandfathers had been miners. After failing to gain entry to the local grammar school, Mercer left school at 14, worked as a laboratory technician and in the Merchant Navy before attending university. After attending courses at Wakefield Technical College he matriculated at University College, Durham to study chemistry, but eventually grew bored of this and switched to studying art at King's College Newcastle – which was then part of Durham University. Just after graduation he married Jitke Sigmund, a Czechoslovakian refugee who was studying Economics at King's. Her father had been killed by the Gestapo. With his wife, he spent a year in Paris living with emigres from Communist regimes, where he attempted to become a painter. On realising he was not cut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight. The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic period, but takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe deriving its name from the Anglia peninsula, who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century and has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century. The English language, the Anglican Church, and Engli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Taylor (English Director And Playwright)
Donald Victor Taylor (30 June 1936 – 11 November 2003) was an English writer, director and producer, active across theatre, radio and television for over forty years. He is most noted for his television work, particularly his early 1960s collaborations with the playwright David Mercer, much of whose early work Taylor directed for the BBC. The BBC Born in Marylebone in London, Taylor attended Chiswick Grammar School and subsequently studied English Literature at Pembroke College, Oxford. While at university he became actively involved in student theatre, particularly with the Experimental Theatre Club. It was for the club that Taylor directed, in 1957, the world premiere of ''Epitaph for George Dillon'' by the acclaimed playwright John Osborne. After graduating, he joined the BBC as a general trainee in 1960, quickly becoming a television director in the drama department. His first directing work was an episode of the crime series ''Scotland Yard'', but he rapidly became mor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Hordern
Sir Michael Murray Hordern CBE (3 October 19112 May 1995)Morley, Sheridan"Hordern, Michael Murray (1911–1995)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, May 2009, accessed 22 July 2015 was an English actor whose career spanned nearly 60 years. He is best known for his Shakespearean roles, especially that of King Lear, which he played to much acclaim on stage in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1969 and London in 1970. He then successfully assumed the role on television five years later. He often appeared in film, rising from a bit part actor in the late 1930s to a member of the main cast; by the time of his death he had appeared in nearly 140 cinema roles. His later work was predominantly in television and radio. Born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, into a family with no theatrical connections, Hordern was educated at Windlesham House School in Pulborough, West Sussex, where he became interested in drama. He went on to Brighton Coll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Criterion Theatre
The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre at Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has a seating capacity of 588. Building the theatre In 1870, the caterers Spiers and Pond began development of the site of the White Bear, a seventeenth-century posting inn. The inn was located on sloping ground stretching between Jermyn Street and Piccadilly Circus, known as Regent Circus. A competition was held for the design of a concert hall complex, with Thomas Verity winning out of 15 entries. He was commissioned to design a large restaurant, dining rooms, ballroom, and galleried concert hall in the basement. The frontage, which was the façade of the restaurant, showed a French Renaissance influence using Portland stone. After the building work began, it was decided to change the concert hall into a theatre. The composers' names, which line the tiled staircases, were retained and can still be seen. The redesign placed the large Criterio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratford-upon-Avon, and on tour across the UK and internationally. The company's home is in Stratford-upon-Avon, where it has redeveloped its Royal Shakespeare and Swan theatres as part of a £112.8-million "Transformation" project. The theatres re-opened in November 2010, having closed in 2007. The new buildings attracted 18,000 visitors within the first week and received a positive media response both upon opening, and following the first full Shakespeare performances. Performances in Stratford-upon-Avon continued throughout the Transformation project at the temporary Courtyard Theatre. As well as the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, the RSC produces new work from living artists and develops creative links with theatre-make ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gorilla
Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or five subspecies. The DNA of gorillas is highly similar to that of humans, from 95 to 99% depending on what is included, and they are the next closest living relatives to humans after chimpanzees and bonobos. Gorillas are the largest living primates, reaching heights between 1.25 and 1.8 metres, weights between 100 and 270 kg, and arm spans up to 2.6 metres, depending on species and sex. They tend to live in troops, with the leader being called a silverback. The Eastern gorilla is distinguished from the Western by darker fur colour and some other minor morphological differences. Gorillas tend to live 35–40 years in the wild. The oldest gorilla known is Fatou (b. 1957), who is still alive at the advanced age of 65 years. Gorillas' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was a British stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic and with the English Stage Company. In 1959 he made his West End debut in '' The Long and the Short and the Tall'', and played the title role in ''Hamlet'' in the National Theatre's first production in 1963. Excelling on the London stage, O'Toole was known for his "hellraiser" lifestyle off it. Making his film debut in 1959, O'Toole achieved international recognition playing T. E. Lawrence in ''Lawrence of Arabia'' (1962) for which he received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He was nominated for this award another seven times – for playing King Henry II in both ''Becket'' (1964) and ''The Lion in Winter'' (1968), ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' (1969), '' The Ruling Class'' (1972), ''The Stunt Man'' (1980), ''My Fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West End Theatre
West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1195, Along with New York City's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London. Famous screen actors, British and international alike, frequently appear on the London stage. There are a total of 39 theatres in the West End, with the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, opened in May 1663, the oldest theatre in London. The Savoy Theatre – built as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan – was entirely lit by electricity in 1881. Opening in October 2022, @sohoplace is the first new West End theatre in 50 years. The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) announced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Family Life (1971 British Film)
''Family Life'' (US: ''Wednesday's Child'') is a 1971 British drama film directed by Ken Loach from a screenplay by David Mercer. It is a remake of ''In Two Minds'', an episode of the BBC's ''Wednesday Play'' series first transmitted by the BBC in March 1967, which was also written by Mercer and directed by Loach. Plot A young woman, Janice, is living with her conservative, working-class parents, who become concerned at her rebellious behaviour, and are shocked when she becomes pregnant. At a time when pregnancy and being unmarried were widely considered shameful, they insist she has an abortion, but this has terrible emotional and mental effects on her. They constantly berate her for her behaviour, even when they visit her in hospital. Cast Production Half the budget was provided by the National Film Finance Corporation the other half by Nat Cohen and Anglo-EMI. The film was screened at the New York Film Festival on 3 October 1972. Awards Won * 1972 Berlin International Fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Loach
Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty (''Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessness ('' Cathy Come Home'', 1966), and labour rights ('' Riff-Raff'', 1991, and '' The Navigators'', 2001). Loach's film '' Kes'' (1969) was voted the seventh greatest British film of the 20th century in a poll by the British Film Institute. Two of his films, '' The Wind That Shakes the Barley'' (2006) and ''I, Daniel Blake'' (2016), received the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, making him one of only nine filmmakers to win the award twice. Early life Kenneth Charles Loach was born on 17 June 1936 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, the son of Vivien (née Hamlin) and John Loach. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School and at the age of 19 went to serve in the Royal Air Force. He read law at St Peter's College, Oxford< ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Russell Taylor
John Russell Taylor (born 19 June 1935) is an English critic and author. He is the author of critical studies of British theatre; of critical biographies of such figures in film as Alfred Hitchcock, Alec Guinness, Orson Welles, Vivien Leigh, and Ingrid Bergman; of ''Strangers in Paradise: The Hollywood Emigres 1933–1950'' (1983); and several books on art. Personal Taylor was born in Dover, the son of Arthur Russell and Kathleen Mary (Picker) Taylor and now lives in London and West Wales. He attended Dover Grammar School, took a double first in English at Jesus College, Cambridge, and studied Art Nouveau book illustration at the Courtauld Institute of Art. In 2006, he entered a Civil Partnership with his longtime companion, the artist and photographer Ying Yeung Li. Career In the 1960s Taylor wrote on cinema for '' Sight and Sound'' and the ''Monthly Film Bulletin'', on the theatre in ''Plays and Players'', on television for '' The Listener'' and the ''Times Educatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
In Two Minds
''In Two Minds'' is a television play by David Mercer commissioned for ''The Wednesday Play'' (BBC 1) anthology drama series. First transmitted on 1 March 1967, it was directed by Ken Loach and produced by Tony Garnett and features Anna Cropper in the lead role. Outline and production The play depicts the experiences of Kate Winter (Cropper), a young woman with schizophrenia, and her experiences with the medical professionals who attempt to care for her in a mental hospital. She is shown being given Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) as a clinical treatment and being discussed at a lecture for medical students. ''In Two Minds'' was influenced by the ideas of R. D. Laing expressed in his co-authored book, ''Sanity and Madness in the Family''. Attempting to demonstrate that schizophrenia lacks an organic basis in the brain, Laing believed that the family had the potential to make people mentally ill. Mercer and producer Tony Garnett were introduced to Laing and his colleague David ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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