Esme Church
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Esme Church
Esme Church (10 February 1893 – 31 May 1972) was a British actress and theatre director. In a long career she acted with the Old Vic Company, the Royal Shakespeare Company and on Broadway. She directed plays for the Old Vic, became head of the Old Vic Theatre School and then director of the Bradford Civic Playhouse, with its associated Northern Theatre School. Career In 1916, after training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and RADA, at the invitation of Lena Ashwell, she joined a concert party entertaining troops in France and, at the end of World War I, Germany. Among Church's earliest London appearances was a series of poetry recitals at the Æolian Hall in 1920. In the following year she was in ''The Child in Flanders'' by Cicely Hampton at the Lyric, Hammersmith, the first of several London seasons with the Lena Ashwell Players. In 1926 she progressed, with "high distinction", to the title role of a bored housewife in '' Jane Clegg'' by St. John Ervine at the Ce ...
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Old Vic
Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Maine, United States People *Old (surname) Music *OLD (band), a grindcore/industrial metal group * ''Old'' (Danny Brown album), a 2013 album by Danny Brown * ''Old'' (Starflyer 59 album), a 2003 album by Starflyer 59 * "Old" (song), a 1995 song by Machine Head *''Old LP'', a 2019 album by That Dog Other uses * ''Old'' (film), a 2021 American thriller film *'' Oxford Latin Dictionary'' * Online dating *Over-Locknut Distance (or Dimension), a measurement of a bicycle wheel and frame *Old age See also *List of people known as the Old * * *Olde, a list of people with the surname *Olds (other) Olds may refer to: People * The olds, a jocular and irreverent online nickname for older adults * Bert Olds (1891–1953), Australian ru ...
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Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth is a leading character in William Shakespeare's tragedy '' Macbeth'' (). As the wife of the play's tragic hero, Macbeth (a Scottish nobleman), Lady Macbeth goads her husband into committing regicide, after which she becomes queen of Scotland. After Macbeth becomes a murderous tyrant, she is driven to madness by guilt over their crimes, and commits suicide offstage. Lady Macbeth is a powerful presence in the play, most notably in the first two acts. Following the murder of King Duncan, however, her role in the plot diminishes. She becomes an uninvolved spectator to Macbeth's plotting and a nervous hostess at a banquet dominated by her husband's hallucinations. Her sleepwalking scene in the fifth act is a turning point in the play, and her line "Out, damned spot!" has become a phrase familiar to many speakers of the English language. The report of her death late in the fifth act provides the inspiration for Macbeth's "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech. Th ...
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Anew McMaster
Anew McMaster (24 December 1891 – 24 August 1962) was a British stage actor who during his nearly 45 year acting career toured the UK, Ireland, Australia and the United States. For almost 35 years he toured as actor-manager of his own theatrical company performing the works of Shakespeare and other playwrights. Early life He was born as Andrew McMaster, the son of Liverpool-born Andrew McMaster (1855–1940), a Master Stevedore, and Alice Maude ( Thompson; 1865–1895). A number of sources make the erroneous claims, based on details supplied by McMaster himself, that he was born in 1893 or 1894 or even 1895 in County Monaghan in Ireland,Peter Raby''The Cambridge Companion to Harold Pinter'' Cambridge University Press (2001) - Google Books p. 176 but according to the Birth Register and the 1901 Census he was actually born in 1891 in Birkenhead, England. Like his future brother-in-law Micheál Mac Liammóir, who was born in London as Alfred Willmore but who claimed to h ...
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Shakespeare Memorial Theatre
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) (originally called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) is a grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is located in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon – Shakespeare's birthplace – in the English Midlands, beside the River Avon. The building incorporates the smaller Swan Theatre. The Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres re-opened in November 2010 after undergoing a major renovation known as the Transformation Project. History The original Shakespeare Memorial Theatre came about after a polemic 'The Tercentenary' was published by James Cox, mayor of Stratford-upon-Avon, in 1865, two years after the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, for a fitting memorial in the town. Eventually, through the efforts and donations of Edward Fordham Flower and his son Charles Edward Flower, owners of a local brewery business in Stratford, a ...
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William Bridges-Adams
William Bridges-Adams (1 March 1889 – 17 August 1965) was an English theatre director and designer, associated closely with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, from 1919 until 1934. Life and career Early years William Bridges-Adams was born in Harrow, England, the only son of Walter Bridges Adams, tutor, and his wife, Mary Jane ''née'' Daltry (1854–1939)Speaight, Robert, Adams, William Bridges- (1889–1965), rev. Stanley Wells, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200accessed 18 November 2007/ref> and grandson of the author and inventor William Bridges Adams. He was educated at Bedales School and Worcester College, Oxford.''The Times'', 19 August 1965, p. 12. At Oxford, Bridges-Adams joined the Oxford University Dramatic Society and played the leading roles of Leontes in ''The Winter's Tale'' and Prospero in '' The Tempest'', but his talent for direction and design was already leading him from acting to a backstage role. H ...
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The Lake (play)
''The Lake'' is a British play written by Dorothy Massingham and Murray MacDonald. It debuted on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on December 26, 1933 and was one of acting legend Katharine Hepburn's first major Broadway roles. Directed by Jed Harris, the notorious "big bad wolf" of American theater, the play was a critical and popular flop, though it had a respectable run of 55 nights. Hepburn in particular drew sharp rebukes in the newspapers, many of which were penned by the same critics who loved her in ''The Warrior's Husband''. Columnist Dorothy Parker famously remarked that Hepburn "ran the gamut of emotions — from A to B." Despite the poor response, Harris decided to take the show to Chicago, saying to Hepburn, "My dear, the only interest I have in you is the money I can make out of you." Hepburn refused, and paid Harris everything she had, $13,675, to close the production instead. Hepburn later referred to Harris as "hands-down the most diabolical person I have eve ...
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Dorothy Massingham
Dorothy Massingham ( – ) was a British actress and playwright. Dorothy Massingham was born on in Highgate, daughter of the journalist H. W. Massingham and Emma Snowdon. She was educated at the Graham High Street School and the Academy for Dramatic Art and studied under Rosina Filippi. Her stage debut was in February 1912 at the Liverpool Reparatory Theatre as Kalleia in Alfred Sutro's '' The Perplexed Husband.'' She then appeared as Mrs. Perrin in Charles McEvoy's '' The Situation at Newbury''. Her London debut was in 1913 at the Vaudeville Theatre as Claire in the debut of George Bernard Shaw's '' Great Catherine: Whom Glory Still Adores.'' From 1917 to 1919 she performed with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Her roles there included the title character in ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' and Gwendoline in ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' by Oscar Wilde, Viola in ''Twelfth Night'' and Hero in ''Much Ado About Nothing'' by Shakespeare, the title character in ''Everyman' ...
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Tyrone Guthrie
Sir William Tyrone Guthrie (2 July 1900 – 15 May 1971) was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at his family's ancestral home, ''Annaghmakerrig'', near Newbliss in County Monaghan, Ireland. He is famous for his original approach to Shakespearean and modern drama. Early life Guthrie was born in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, the son of Dr. Thomas Clement Guthrie (a grandson of the Scottish people, Scottish preacher Thomas Guthrie) and Norah Power. His mother was the daughter of Sir W. Tyrone Power, William James Tyrone Power, Commissariat, Commissary-General-in-chief of the British Army from 1863 to 1869 and Martha, daughter of Dr. John Moorhead of Annaghmakerrig House and his Philadelphia-born wife, Susan (née Allibone) Humphreys. His great-grandfather was Irish people, Irish actor Tyrone Power (Irish actor), Tyr ...
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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 t ...
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Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensive shopping district and night-time economy. The entire town had a population of 192,064 as of 2011, whilst the wider borough had a population of 384,837. Historically an ancient parish in the Wallington hundred of Surrey, at the time of the Norman conquest of England Croydon had a church, a mill, and around 365 inhabitants, as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Croydon expanded in the Middle Ages as a market town and a centre for charcoal production, leather tanning and brewing. The Surrey Iron Railway from Croydon to Wandsworth opened in 1803 and was an early public railway. Later 19th century railway building facilitated Croydon's growth as a commuter town for London. By the early 20th century, Croydon was an important industria ...
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Mrs Malaprop
A malapropism (also called a malaprop, acyrologia, or Dogberryism) is the mistaken use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, sometimes humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed to baseball player Yogi Berra, regarding switchhitters, "He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious." Malapropisms often occur as errors in natural speech and are sometimes the subject of media attention, especially when made by politicians or other prominent individuals. Philosopher Donald Davidson has said that malapropisms show the complex process through which the brain translates thoughts into language. Humorous malapropisms are the type that attract the most attention and commentary, but bland malapropisms are common in speech and writing. Etymology The word "malapropism" (and its earlier form, "malaprop") comes from a character named "Mrs. Malaprop" in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1775 play ''The Rivals''. Mrs. Malapro ...
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Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (30 October 17517 July 1816) was an Irish satirist, a politician, a playwright, poet, and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He is known for his plays such as ''The Rivals'', ''The School for Scandal'', ''The Duenna'' and ''A Trip to Scarborough''. He was also a Whig MP for 32 years in the British House of Commons for Stafford (1780–1806), Westminster (1806–1807), and Ilchester (1807–1812). He is buried at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. His plays remain a central part of the canon and are regularly performed worldwide. Early life Sheridan was born in 1751 in Dublin, Ireland, where his family had a house on then fashionable Dorset Street. His mother, Frances Sheridan, was a playwright and novelist. She had two plays produced in London in the early 1760s, though she is best known for her novel ''The Memoirs of Miss Sidney Biddulph'' (1761). His father, Thomas Sheridan, was for a while an actor-manager at ...
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