|
John Whiting Award
Between 1965 and 2010, the John Whiting Award (from 2007 renamed the Peter Wolff Trust Supports the John Whiting Award) was awarded annually to a British or Commonwealth playwright who, in the opinion of a consortium of UK theatres, showed a new and distinctive development in dramatic writing with particular relevance to contemporary society. The award was established in 1965 to commemorate John Whiting and his distinctive contribution to post-war British theatre. Until 2006, the selection was made by the drama panel of Arts Council England, and the play did not need to have been staged, which allowed plays produced on radio to be considered. From 2007, only plays which had been performed in the subsidised sector were eligible. The award was initially worth £1000, but grew to £6000 per year. From 2007, the award was supplied by the Peter Wolff Theatre Trust and was administered by a consortium of UK theatres which specialise in new writing. The theatres involved were: *Birmi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder (as in a wheelwright or cartwright). The words combine to indicate a person who has "wrought" words, themes, and other elements into a dramatic form—a play. (The homophone with "write" is coincidental.) The first recorded use of the term "playwright" is from 1605, 73 years before the first written record of the term "dramatist". It appears to have been first used in a pejorative sense by Ben Jonson to suggest a mere tradesman fashioning works for the theatre. Jonson uses the word in his Epigram 49, which is thought to refer to John Marston: :''Epigram XLIX — On Playwright'' :PLAYWRIGHT me reads, and still my verses damns, :He says I want the tongue of epigrams ; :I have no salt, no bawdry he doth mea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead
''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'' is an absurdist, existential tragicomedy by Tom Stoppard, first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1966. The play expands upon the exploits of two minor characters from Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'', the courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and the main setting is Denmark. The action of Stoppard's play takes place mainly "in the wings" of Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'', with brief appearances of major characters from ''Hamlet'' who enact fragments of the original's scenes. Between these episodes, the two protagonists voice their confusion at the progress of events occurring onstage without them in ''Hamlet'', of which they have no direct knowledge. Comparisons have also been drawn with Samuel Beckett's '' Waiting for Godot'', for the presence of two central characters who almost appear to be two halves of a single character. Many plot features are similar as well: the characters pass time by playing Questions, impersonating other ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Arden
John Arden (26 October 1930 – 28 March 2012) was an English playwright who at his death was lauded as "one of the most significant British playwrights of the late 1950s and early 60s". Career Born in Barnsley, son of the manager of a glass factory, he was educated at Sedbergh School in Cumbria, King's College, Cambridge and the Edinburgh College of Art, where he studied architecture. He first gained critical attention for the radio play ''The Life of Man'' in 1956 shortly after finishing his studies. Arden was initially associated with the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre in London. His 1959 play, ''Serjeant Musgrave's Dance'', in which four army deserters arrive in a northern mining town to exact retribution for an act of colonial violence, is considered to be his best. His work was influenced by Bertolt Brecht and Epic Theatre as in ''Left-Handed Liberty'' (1965, on the anniversary of Magna Carta). Other plays include ''Live Like Pigs'', ''The Workhouse Donk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heathcote Williams
John Henley Heathcote-Williams (15 November 1941 – 1 July 2017), known as Heathcote Williams, was an English poet, actor, political activist and dramatist. He wrote a number of book-length polemical poems including ''Autogeddon'', ''Falling for a Dolphin'' and ''Whale Nation'', which in 1988 was described by Philip Hoare as "the most powerful argument for the newly instigated worldwide ban on whaling." Williams invented his idiosyncratic "documentary/investigative poetry" style which he put to good purpose bringing a diverse range of environmental and political matters to public attention. His last published work, ''American Porn'' was a critique of the American political establishment and the election of President Donald Trump; its publication date was the day of Trump's inauguration (20 January 2017). In June 2015 he published a book-length investigative poem about the "Muslim Gandhi", Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, ''Badshah Khan''. As well as being a playwright and screenwrit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mustapha Matura
Mustapha Matura (17 December 1939 – 29 October 2019) was a Trinidadian playwright living in London. Characterised by critic Michael Billington as "a pioneering black playwright who opened the doors for his successors", Matura was the first British-based dramatist of colour to have a play in London's West End, with '' Play Mas'' in 1974.Michael Billington"Mustapha Matura obituary" ''The Guardian'', 1 November 2019. He was described by the ''New Statesman'' as "the most perceptive and humane of Black dramatists writing in Britain." Early years Born Noel Mathura in 1939, in Port of Spain, Trinidad, he changed his name when he became a writer, and explained: "I liked the sound of it.... It was the sixties."Biography Mustapha Matura website. Leaving the Caribbean, he travelled to England by ship in 1962, and after a year working as a hospital porter he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christie In Love
''Christie in Love'' is an early play by Howard Brenton concerning the life of serial killer John Christie, who murdered at least seven women between 1943 and 1953, after which he was caught, tried and hanged. Stage history The play, Brenton's first for Portable Theatre, was directed by David Hare, designed by Tony Bicat and the stage management was by Snoo Wilson. Hare continued on as director when the play was presented at the Royal Court on 12 March 1970. John Russell Taylor reviewed the play favourably in ''The Second Wave'', while Ronald Bryden in The Observer noted that “Brenton catches the peculiar cosy horror which surrounded our most sensational murder trial of the fifties”. The play won Brenton the John Whiting Award for 1970. There have been revivals of the play in 1972 (Liverpool Playhouse, starring Colin Baker); in 2003 starring Paul Dundee, Strath Martin and Paul Pirie undee Rep; and in 2008 (Edinburgh Fringe). The play was revived in 2009 in a co-produc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Howard Brenton
Howard John Brenton FRSL (born 13 December 1942) is an English playwright and screenwriter. While little-known in the United States, he is celebrated in his home country and often ranked alongside contemporaries such as Edward Bond, Caryl Churchill, and David Hare. Early years Brenton was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, son of policeman (later Methodist minister) Donald Henry Brenton and his wife Rose Lilian (née Lewis). He was educated at Chichester High School For Boys and read English Literature at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. In 1964 he was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal for Poetry.ADC Theatre Archives, Cambridge. While at Cambridge he wrote a play, ''Ladder of Fools'' which was performed at the ADC Theatre as a double bill with "Hello-Goodbye Sebastian" by John Grillo in April 1965, and at the Oxford Playhouse in June of that year. It was described by Eric Shorter of ''The Daily Telegraph'' as "Actable, gripping, murky and moody: how often can you say that of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Narrow Road To The Deep North
*
*
{{disambiguation ...
Narrow may refer to: * The Narrow, rock band from South Africa * Narrow banking, proposed banking system that would eliminate bank runs and the need for a deposit insurance * narrow gauge railway, a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the 4 ft 8½ in of standard gauge railways * Narrow vs wide format, a style of displaying tabular data * Narrowboat or narrow boat, a boat of a distinctive design made to fit the narrow canals of Great Britain * ''Narrow'' (album), a 2012 album by Austrian musical project Soap&Skin * "Narrow", a song by Mayday Parade from ''Black Lines'' See also * Narro (other) * The Narrows (other) * Narrowing (other) Narrowing may refer to: *Narrowing (computer science), a type of algorithm for solving equations between symbolic expressions **Narrowing of algebraic value sets, a method for the elimination of values from a solution set which are inconsistent wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Bond
Edward Bond (born 18 July 1934) is an English playwright, theatre director, poet, theorist and screenwriter. He is the author of some fifty plays, among them '' Saved'' (1965), the production of which was instrumental in the abolition of theatre censorship in the UK. Other well-received works include ''Narrow Road to the Deep North'' (1968), ''Lear'' (1971), ''The Sea'' (1973), ''The Fool'' (1975), ''Restoration'' (1981), and the ''War'' trilogy (1985). Bond is broadly considered among the major living dramatists but he has always been and remains highly controversial because of the violence shown in his plays, the radicalism of his statements about modern theatre and society, and his theories on drama. Early life Edward Bond was born on 18 July 1934 into a lower-working-class family in Holloway, North London. As a child during World War II he was evacuated to the countryside but was present during the bombings on London in 1940 and 1944. This early exposure to the vio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ruling Class (play)
''The Ruling Class'' is a 1968 British play by Peter Barnes. The black comedy centres on Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, the 14th Earl of Gurney and the attempts to cure him of insanity. Peter O'Toole acquired the film rights and starred in the 1972 film adaptation. Plot After a speech at a dinner proposing a toast to England, the 13th Earl of Gurney is got ready for bed by his butler Tucker. This includes setting up a silken noose above his four-poster, which the Earl uses for a bizarre autoerotic asphyxiation ritual. He survives this the first time, but it goes wrong the second time he tries it and kills him. His half-brother Sir Charles, Charles' wife Lady Claire and their son Dinsdale gather to hear the reading of the 13th Earl's will. Three of the Earl's sons have already died overseas in the British Empire and the one survivor, Jack, is in a mental institution and thought to be unable to be present. He has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic prone to delu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Barnes (playwright)
Peter Barnes (10 January 1931 – 1 July 2004) was an English Olivier Award-winning playwright and screenwriter. His best known work is the play '' The Ruling Class'', which was made into a 1972 film for which Peter O'Toole received an Oscar nomination. Biography Early career Barnes was educated at Marling School in Stroud, Gloucestershire and performed his national service with the Royal Air Force. He then worked briefly for London County Council. Bored with his job, Barnes took a correspondence course in theology and began to visit the British Museum Reading Room, which he used as an office on a daily basis. During this period he worked as a film critic, story editor, and a screenwriter. He achieved critical and box-office success with his baroque comedy ''The Ruling Class'' (1968), which debuted at the Nottingham Playhouse. The play was notorious for its anti- naturalistic approach, unusual in theatre at the time. Critic Harold Hobson deemed it to be one of the best first p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version can be written in two forms: the double-storey a and single-storey ɑ. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English grammar, " a", and its variant " an", are indefinite articles. History The earliest certain ancestor of "A" is aleph (also written 'aleph), the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, which consisted entirely of consonants (for that reason, it is also called an abjad to distinguish it f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
%2C_2006..jpg "Click for more on -> Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead")
