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Derby Playhouse
Derby Playhouse was a theatre production company based in Derby, England and the former name of the theatre which it owned and operated from its opening in 1975 until 2008, when the company ceased operating after a period in administration. The theatre was subsequently reopened in 2009 as the Derby Theatre and is now owned and operated by the University of Derby, where it currently runs itTheatre Artsdegree. During its tenure at the theatre, the Derby Playhouse company gained a national reputation for its productions, particularly the works of Stephen Sondheim. It also premiered new theatrical works as well as giving the regional premieres of several others. History The original Playhouse had opened as the Little Theatre in a converted church hall on Becket Street in 1948. In 1952, the company moved to another converted venue in Sacheverel Street and survived a major fire in 1956. In the 1960s and early 1970s the British government invested in the Arts Council of Great Britain's ...
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Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gained city status in 1977, the population size has increased by 5.1%, from around 248,800 in 2011 to 261,400 in 2021. Derby was settled by Romans, who established the town of Derventio, later captured by the Anglo-Saxons, and later still by the Vikings, who made their town of one of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw. Initially a market town, Derby grew rapidly in the industrial era. Home to Lombe's Mill, an early British factory, Derby has a claim to be one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. It contains the southern part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. With the arrival of the railways in the 19th century, Derby became a centre of the British rail industry. Derby is a centre for advanced transport manufactur ...
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The Killing Of Sister George
''The Killing of Sister George'' is a 1964 play by Frank Marcus that was later adapted into a The Killing of Sister George (film), 1968 film directed by Robert Aldrich. Stage version Sister George is a beloved character in the popular radio series ''Applehurst'', a district nurse who ministers to the medical needs and personal problems of the local villagers. She is played by June Buckridge, who in real life is a gin-guzzling, cigar-chomping, slightly Sadomasochism, sadistic masculine woman, the antithesis of the sweet character she plays. She is often called George in real life, and lives with Alice "Childie" McNaught, a younger dimwitted woman she often verbally and sometimes physically abuses. When George discovers that her character is scheduled to be killed off, she becomes increasingly impossible to work and live with. Mercy Croft, an executive at the radio station, intercedes in her professional and personal lives, supposedly to help, but she actually has an agenda of her ...
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Arsenic And Old Lace (play)
''Arsenic and Old Lace'' is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. It has become best known through the 1944 film adaptation starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra. The play was produced by Lindsay and Crouse and directed by Bretaigne Windust, and opened on Broadway at the Fulton Theatre on January 10, 1941. On September 25, 1943, the play moved to the Hudson Theatre, closing there on June 17, 1944, having played 1,444 performances. The West End production - directed by Marcel Varnel and produced at London's Strand Theatre - enjoyed a similarly long run. Opening on December 23, 1942 and closing on March 2, 1946, it totalled 1,337 performances. Of the 12 plays written by Kesselring, ''Arsenic and Old Lace'' was by far the most successful. According to the opening night review in ''The New York Times'', the play was "so funny that none of us will ever forget it." Plot The play is a farcical black comedy revolving around the Brewster fami ...
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Annie Castledine
Ann "Annie" Castledine (26 February 1939 – 4 June 2016), was a British theatre director, teacher and dramaturg. Described in ''The Guardian'' as "one of the arts world's best-known secrets" who "shaped some of the most influential players in British theatre" and had a "genius for doing work that is unfashionable". Peter Brook described her as an "outstanding director of European classical and contemporary plays".Foreword to ''On Directing: Interviews with Directors'', Faber & Faber, 1999. She was regarded as an expert on the dramas of Bertolt Brecht, William Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov and Henrik Ibsen, as well as being noted for her championing of new talent in British theatre and the arts, including work with new playwrights and the training of new directors. In supporting the development of British theatre, she was often likened to Joan Littlewood – the "mother of modern (English) theatre". Early life Born in 1939, Ann Castledine grew up in Yorkshire and initially worke ...
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Blood Brothers (musical)
''Blood Brothers'' is a musical with book, lyrics, and music by Willy Russell. The story is a contemporary nature versus nurture plot, revolving around fraternal twins Mickey and Eddie, who were separated at birth, one subsequently being raised in a wealthy family, the other in a poor family. The different environments take the twins to opposite ends of the social spectrum, one becoming a councillor, and the other unemployed and in prison. They both fall in love with the same girl, causing a rift in their friendship and leading to the tragic death of both brothers. Russell says that his work was based on a one-act play that he read as a child "about two babies switched at birth ... it became the seed for Blood Brothers." Originally developed as a school play, ''Blood Brothers'' debuted in Liverpool before Russell transferred it to the West End for a short run in 1983. The musical won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical and went on to a year-long national tour before r ...
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Don Shaw (screenwriter)
Don Shaw is a British screenwriter and playwright. His credits include '' Survivors'', ''Doomwatch'', ''Orde Wingate'', and ''Bomber Harris''.''Derby Telegraph'' (20 June 2009)"No big screen return for Cloughie" Retrieved 13 January 2013. Shaw stated that before he took on writing for ''Survivors'', 'I was very much an up-and-coming hot-shot writer. I was being sought after by ''The Wednesday Play'' and ''Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...'' and things like that.' Awards In 1990 Shaw was nominated for a Bafta for his work on the TV film ''Bomber Harris''. References External links * British male screenwriters Living people English television writers English science fiction writers British science fiction writers 1934 births British ...
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Rony Robinson
Rony Robinson (born 24 December 1940 in Sheffield) is an English writer, educationalist and Sony Radio Academy Awards, Sony Award-winning BBC Radio Sheffield daytime presenter. His novels include: ''The Ted Carp Tradition'' (Hodder), ''The Beano'' (Faber). His plays include ''Snapshots'' (Theatre Royal, Stratford East), ''Events In An Upper Room'' (Belgrade, Coventry and ICA) and the Sony Award-winning ''Last Loves'' on BBC Radio 4. Childhood and education Born John Goronwy Robinson, he was educated at All Saints Church of England Primary School and King Edward VII School (Sheffield), King Edward VII School. He won a scholarship to Keble College, Oxford, where he studied History. While he was at Oxford he was the Editor of the weekly University newspaper Cherwell (newspaper), ''Cherwell''. He also gained a Diploma of Education. Working life and early writing Robinson taught English at two large inner-city London comprehensive schools, Eltham Green school and, as head of d ...
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Caroline Quentin
Caroline Quentin (born Caroline Jones; 11 July 1960) is an English actress, broadcaster and television presenter. Quentin became known for her television appearances: portraying Dorothy in ''Men Behaving Badly'' (1992–1998), Maddie Magellan in ''Jonathan Creek'' (1997–2000), and DCI Janine Lewis in '' Blue Murder'' (2003–2009). Early life Quentin was born in Reigate, Surrey, to Kathleen Jones and her husband Fred, a Royal Air Force pilot. She has three older sisters. She was educated at the independent Arts Educational School, in Tring, Hertfordshire, and appeared locally in the Pendley Open Air Shakespeare Festival. Career Television One of her earliest roles was in the Channel 4 comedy drama ''Hollywood Hits Chiswick'', alongside Derek Newark as W.C. Fields. Between 1992 and 1998, Quentin appeared as Dorothy in all 42 episodes of the sitcom ''Men Behaving Badly''. From 1997 until 2000, Quentin starred alongside Alan Davies in ''Jonathan Creek'' playing investigative ...
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Miranda Richardson
Miranda Jane Richardson (born 3 March 1958) is an English actress. She made her film debut playing Ruth Ellis in '' Dance with a Stranger'' (1985) and went on to receive Academy Award nominations for ''Damage'' (1992) and ''Tom & Viv'' (1994). A seven-time BAFTA Award nominee, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for ''Damage''. She has also been nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards, winning twice for '' Enchanted April'' (1992) and the TV film ''Fatherland'' (1994). In 1996, one critic asserted that she is "the greatest actress of our time in any medium" after she appeared in ''Orlando'' at the Edinburgh International Festival. After graduating from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Richardson began her career in 1979 and made her West End debut in the 1981 play ''Moving'', before being nominated for the 1987 Olivier Award for Best Actress for ''A Lie of the Mind''. Her television credits include ''Blackadder'' (1986–1989), ''A Dance to the Mus ...
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Christopher Honer
Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Christ" or "Anointed", and φέρειν (''phérein''), "to bear"; hence the "Christ-bearer". As a given name, 'Christopher' has been in use since the 10th century. In English, Christopher may be abbreviated as "Chris", "Topher", and sometimes " Kit". It was frequently the most popular male first name in the United Kingdom, having been in the top twenty in England and Wales from the 1940s until 1995, although it has since dropped out of the top 100. The name is most common in England and not so common in Wales, Scotland, or Ireland. People with the given name Antiquity and Middle Ages * Saint Christopher (died 251), saint venerated by Catholics and Orthodox Christians * Christopher (Domestic of the Schools) (fl. 870s), Byzantine general * Christopher Lekapenos (died 931) ...
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Mark Woolgar
Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finnish markka ( sv, finsk mark, links=no), the currency of Finland from 1860 until 28 February 2002 * Mark (currency), a currency or unit of account in many nations * Polish mark ( pl, marka polska, links=no), the currency of the Kingdom of Poland and of the Republic of Poland between 1917 and 1924 German * Deutsche Mark, the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until 2002 * German gold mark, the currency used in the German Empire from 1873 to 1914 * German Papiermark, the German currency from 4 August 1914 * German rentenmark, a currency issued on 15 November 1923 to stop the hyperinflation of 1922 and 1923 in Weimar Germany * Lodz Ghetto mark, a special currency for Lodz Ghetto. * R ...
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The Seagull
''The Seagull'' ( rus, Ча́йка, r=Cháyka, links=no) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises the romantic and artistic conflicts between four characters: the famous middlebrow story writer Boris Trigorin, the ingenue Nina, the fading actress Irina Arkadina, and her son the symbolist playwright Konstantin Treplev. Like Chekhov's other full-length plays, ''The Seagull'' relies upon an ensemble cast of diverse, fully developed characters. In contrast to the melodrama of mainstream 19th-century theatre, lurid actions (such as Konstantin's suicide attempts) are not shown onstage. Characters tend to speak in subtext rather than directly. The character Trigorin is considered one of Chekhov's greatest male roles. The opening night of the first production was a famous failure. Vera Komissarzhevskaya, playing Nina, was so intimidated b ...
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