Envoy Extraordinary (novella)
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Envoy Extraordinary (novella)
"Envoy Extraordinary" is a 1956 novella by British writer William Golding, first published by Eyre & Spottiswoode as one third of the collection '', Never'', alongside "Consider Her Ways" by John Wyndham and "Boy in Darkness" by Mervyn Peake. It was later published in 1971 as the second of three novellas in Golding's collection ''The Scorpion God''. The story concerns an inventor who anachronistically brings the steam engine to ancient Rome, along with three of the Four Great Inventions of China (gunpowder, the compass, and the printing press). Golding later adapted "Envoy Extraordinary" into a play called ''The Brass Butterfly'', first performed in Oxford in 1958 starring Alistair Sim and George Cole. Leighton Hodson compares it to "The Rewards of Industry" from Richard Garnett's 1888 collection ''The Twilight of the Gods and Other Tales'', in which three Chinese brothers bring printing, gunpowder and chess to the West, but only chess is accepted. Plot A Greek librarian' ...
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William Golding
Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel ''Lord of the Flies'' (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980, he was awarded the Booker Prize for ''Rites of Passage (novel), Rites of Passage'', the first novel in what became his sea trilogy, ''To the Ends of the Earth''. He was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Literature. As a result of his contributions to literature, Golding was Knight Bachelor, knighted in 1988. The house was known as ''Karenza'', the Cornish language, Cornish word for ''love'', and he spent many childhood holidays there. He grew up in Marlborough, Wiltshire, where his father, Alec Golding, was a science master at Marlborough Grammar School (1905 to retirement), the school the young Golding and his elder brother Joseph attended. His mother, Mildred (Curnoe), kept house at 29, The Green, Marlborough, and was a campaigner for f ...
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Talos (automaton)
In Greek mythology, Talos — also spelled Talus (; el, Τάλως, ''Tálōs'') or Talon (; el, Τάλων, ''Tálōn'') — was a giant automaton made of bronze to protect Europa in Crete from pirates and invaders. He circled the island's shores three times daily. Narrative Talos is usually said to have been made by Hephaestus at the request of Zeus, to protect Europa from people who would want to kidnap her. (According to B.A. Sparkes (1996), "The most detailed treatment in literature is to be found in the ''Argonautica'' rd century BC... however, we have detailed images of the episode, 150 years earlier, dated to around 400 BC." ) According to (pseudo-)Apollodorus, however, there were three theories regarding Talos: # Talos may have been a survivor from the Age of Bronze, a descendant of the brazen race () that sprang from ''meliae'' "ash-tree nymphs" according to ''Argonautica'' (The conception that Hesiod's men of the Age of Bronze were actually made of ...
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George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as ''Man and Superman'' (1902), ''Pygmalion'' (1913) and '' Saint Joan'' (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Dublin, Shaw moved to London in 1876, where he struggled to establish himself as a writer and novelist, and embarked on a rigorous process of self-education. By the mid-1880s he had become a respected theatre and music critic. Following a political awakening, he joined the gradualist Fabian Society and became its most prominent pamphleteer. Shaw had been writing plays for years ...
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Clive Barnes
Clive Alexander Barnes (13 May 1927 – 19 November 2008) was an English writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977, he was the dance and theater critic for ''The New York Times'', and, from 1978 until his death, ''The New York Post.'' Barnes had significant influence in reviewing new Broadway productions and evaluating the international dancers who often perform in New York City. Life and career Born in Lambeth, London, Barnes was educated at Emanuel School in Battersea and St Catherine's College, Oxford. He was the dance and drama critic at the ''New York Post'' from 1978 until 2008, and senior consulting editor at ''Dance Magazine'', where he wrote a monthly column called "Attitudes." He also contributed regularly to the British journal ''Dance Now;'' he edited and wrote for British newspapers such as ''The Times,'' ''The Daily Express'', and the weekly magazine ''Spectator''. Barnes authored and contributed to numerous books related to theater and the performing arts, particularl ...
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Sam Waterston
Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor. Waterston is known for his work in theater, television and, film. He has received a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award, and has received various award nominations including an Academy Award, Tony Award, and a British Academy Film Award. Having starred in over 80 film and television productions during his 50-year career, he is also known for numerous stage productions on Broadway and Off-Broadway. AllMovie historian Hal Erickson characterized Waterston as having "cultivated a loyal following with his quietly charismatic, unfailingly solid performances." Waterston received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010 and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2012. Waterston studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and the American Actors Workshop. He started his career in theater on the New York stage, appearing in multiple revivals of Shakespeare. In 1975, he st ...
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Paxton Whitehead
Francis Edward Paxton Whitehead (born 17 October 1937) is an English actor, theatre director and playwright. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical, Drama Desk Award for his performance as Pellinore in the 1980 revival of ''Camelot (musical), Camelot''. He has had many Broadway theatre, Broadway roles. He is also known for his film roles and is well known, especially to US and television audiences in general, for his many guest appearances on several US shows, especially guest appearances on major sitcoms of the 90's, such as ''Frasier, Caroline in the City, Ellen, 3rd Rock from the Sun,'' ''The Drew Carey Show, The Drew Carry Show, Mad About You,'' and ''Friends.'' Early life Paxton was born in East Malling and Larkfield, East Malling and Larkfield, Kent, the son of Louise (''née'' Hunt) and Charles Parkin Whitehead. His father was a lawyer. He trained at London's Web ...
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Chelsea Theater Center
The Chelsea Theater Center was a not-for-profit theater company founded in 1965 by Robert Kalfin, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. It opened its doors in a church in the Chelsea district of Manhattan, then moved to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1968, where it was in residence for ten years. History Kalfin, the artistic producer, wanted to do the kind of work that had marked commercial off-Broadway in its prime but which, as a result of escalating production costs, could no longer realize a profit. By 1969, he was working with two new partners, also Yale graduates, Michael David, executive producer, and Burl Hash, production manager. They made it possible for him to realize the work he envisioned. In the 1970s, the Chelsea produced plays that were unfamiliar to most spectators, even to many theater professionals. These included unusual European classics, new plays, and major works by well-known playwrights that were too complex and expensive for most non-profit theater ...
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Love And War (Australian TV Series)
''Love and War'' is a 1967 Australian TV series. It consists of six plays shot in ABC's Gore Hill studios. All of the self-contained episodes were produced by John Croyston, but not all of them were written by Australian script-writers. '' Man of Destiny'' by George Bernard Shaw Date: 6 September 1967Producer: Patrick BartonIt aired in Sydney as part of ''Wednesday Theatre'' and ran for 60 minutes. The play had already been filmed by the ABC in 1963. Cast *Brian Hannan - Napoleon Bonaparte *Anne Charleston - The Lady *Dennis Miller - The Lieutenant *Stanley Page - The Innkeeper ''Serjeant Musgrave's Dance'' by John Arden Date: 13 September 1967Director: John CroystonIt aired in Sydney as part of ''Wednesday Theatre'' and ran for 90 minutes. Plot An anti-war fanatic falls victim to anarchy of his own making. In England at the end of the 19th century a small group of soldiers, led by the ''hardest man in the line'', goes to a strike bound mining town in the north of England. C ...
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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 ...
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Novello Theatre
The Novello Theatre is a West End theatre on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster. It was known as the Strand Theatre between 1913 and 2005. History The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre on either side of The Waldorf Hilton, London, both being designed by W. G. R. Sprague. The theatre was opened by The Shubert Organization as the Waldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was renamed the Strand Theatre, in 1909. It was again renamed as the Whitney Theatre in 1911, before again becoming the Strand Theatre in 1913. In 2005, the theatre was renamed by its owners (Delfont Mackintosh Theatres) the Novello Theatre in honour of Ivor Novello, who lived in a flat above the theatre from 1913 to 1951. The black comedy ''Arsenic and Old Lace (play), Arsenic and Old Lace'' had a run of 1337 performances here in the 1940s, and ''Sailor Beware! (play), Sailor Beware!'' ran for 1231 performances from 1955. Stephen Sondheim's musical ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to ...
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New Theatre Oxford
New Theatre Oxford (formerly the Apollo Theatre Oxford and The Apollo, from 1977–2003) is the main commercial theatre in Oxford, England. It has a capacity of 1,785 people; is on George Street, in the centre of the city; and puts on a wide variety of shows, including musical theatre, stand-up comedy, and concerts. The first "New Theatre" on this site opened in 1836 and presented music hall entertainment. This was replaced in 1886 by new premises, which were the home of Oxford University Dramatic Society. The theatre was damaged by fire in 1892 and enlarged in 1908, from which time it was continuously under the management of the Dorrill family until 1972. The present building dates from 1933 and was designed by Milburn Brothers with an art deco interior by T.P. Bennet and Sons. The colour scheme was originally in shades of deep brown with gilt friezes but in later years (circa 1980?) a multi-colour scheme was introduced, which did not reflect the original design. Ther ...
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Capri
Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been a resort since the time of the Roman Republic. Some of the main features of the island include the (the little harbour), the Belvedere of Tragara (a high panoramic promenade lined with villas), the limestone crags called sea stacks that project above the sea (the ), the town of Anacapri, the Blue Grotto (), the ruins of the Imperial Roman villas, and the vistas of various towns surrounding the Island of Capri including Positano, Amalfi, Ravello, Sorrento, Nerano, and Naples. Capri is part of the region of Campania, Metropolitan City of Naples. The town of Capri is a and the island's main population centre. The island has two harbours, and (the main port of the island). The separate of Anacapri is located high on the hills to the w ...
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