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Richard Wherrett
Richard Bruce Wherrett AM (10 December 19407 December 2001) was an Australian stage director, whose career spanned 40 years. he is known for being the founding director of the Sydney Theatre Company in 1979. Early life, education and family Richard Wherrett was born on 10 December 1940, the younger brother of motoring journalist Peter Wherrett. Their father was an abusive and violent alcoholic. He was educated at Trinity Grammar School in Sydney, before attending the University of Sydney, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1961. His contemporaries at the university included Clive James, Germaine Greer, Bruce Beresford, Mungo McCallum, Bob Ellis, John Bell, John Gaden, Laurie Oakes and Les Murray. He taught English and Ancient History at Trinity Grammar for four years. Wherrett knew he was gay from the age of 17. Nevertheless, he had a well-publicised relationship with the actress Jacki Weaver in the 1970s. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Member Of The Order Of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Government. Before the establishment of the order, Australian citizens received British honours. The Monarch of Australia is sovereign head of the order, while the Governor-General of Australia is the principal companion/dame/knight (as relevant at the time) and chancellor of the order. The governor-general's official secretary, Paul Singer (appointed August 2018), is secretary of the order. Appointments are made by the governor-general on behalf of the Monarch of Australia, based on recommendations made by the Council of the Order of Australia. Recent knighthoods and damehoods were recommended to the governor-general by the Prime Minister of Australia. Levels of membership The order is divided into a general and a military division. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacki Weaver
Jacqueline Ruth Weaver (born 25 May 1947) is an Australian theatre, film and television actress. Weaver emerged in the 1970s as a symbol of the Australian New Wave through her work in Ozploitation films such as '' Stork'' (1971), ''Alvin Purple'' (1973), and ''Petersen'' (1974). She later she starred in '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), '' Caddie'' (1976), ''Squizzy Taylor'' (1982), and well as number of made-for-television movies, miniseries, and Australian productions of some of the most revered plays including ''Death of a Salesman'' and '' Streetcar Named Desire''. In 2010, Weaver has garnered critical acclaim and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination and won National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the matriarch of a criminal family in the crime film '' Animal Kingdom''. She received another Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination for performance in the romantic comedy-drama film ''Silver Linings Play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glenys Fowles
Glenys Rae Fowles AM (born 4 November 1941; some sources say 1946) is an Australian operatic soprano who sang with Opera Australia and its predecessors for many years. She also sang at Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, and for the New York City Opera, San Diego Opera, and Scottish Opera. She also appeared at the BBC Proms and with the New York Philharmonic. Her recording with Heather Begg of the "Flower Duet" from Delibes's ''Lakmé'' has become famous. Early life Fowles was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1941; she studied there with Lucy Howell. She appeared as Gretel in Engelbert Humperdinck's ''Hansel and Gretel'' in her school's production, at age 12. Her adult debut was as Micaela in ''Carmen'' for West Australian Opera. In 1967 she won the vocal section in the ABC Instrumental and Vocal Competition (now known as the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards). In 1968 she was the first Australian to win a cash prize in the finals of the New York Metropolitan Opera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, stemming from the late-Baroque era. Though his early work was firmly rooted in traditional late-19th-century Romantic Italian opera, he later developed his work in the realistic ''verismo'' style, of which he became one of the leading exponents. His most renowned works are ''La bohème'' (1896), ''Tosca'' (1900), '' Madama Butterfly'' (1904), and ''Turandot'' (1924), all of which are among the most frequently performed and recorded of all operas. Family and education Puccini was born Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini in Lucca, Italy, in 1858. He was the sixth of nine children of Michele Puccini (1813–1864) and Albina Magi (1830–1884). The Puccini family was established in Lucca as a local musi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turandot
''Turandot'' (; see below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, posthumously completed by Franco Alfano in 1926, and set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. ''Turandot'' best-known aria is "Nessun dorma", which became globally popular in the 1990s following Luciano Pavarotti's performance of it for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. Though Puccini first became interested in the subject matter when reading Friedrich Schiller's 1801 adaptation,. ''Freely translated from Schiller by Sabilla Novello:'' . he based his work more closely on the earlier play ''Turandot'' (1762) by Count Carlo Gozzi. The original story is one of the seven stories in the epic ''Haft Peykar''—a work by twelfth-century Persian poet Nizami ( 1141–1209). Nizami aligned his seven stories with the seven days of the week, the seven colors, and the seven planets known in his era. This particular narrative is the story of Tuesday, as told to the king of Iran, Bahram V (), by his c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
State Theatre (Melbourne)
The State Theatre opened in 1984 and is part of the Arts Centre Melbourne located by the Yarra River and St Kilda Road. Like the other performance venues within the Arts Centre, the State Theatre is underground. It has over 2,000 seats and its stage is one of the largest in the world. The State Theatre is typically used as a venue for ballet, opera and musical theatre. The first opera in the State Theatre was the John Copley production of Verdi's ''Don Carlos'' in 1984 by the Victoria State Opera. Opera Australia and The Australian Ballet each use the State Theatre as their main Melbourne venue. It is also used by The Production Company for short seasons of musical theatre. Over summer, the State Theatre usually hosts a major musical or large-scale theatre production. Notable summer productions have included ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby'', ''My Fair Lady'', ''The King and I'', ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', '' Hello, Dolly!'', ''H.M.S. P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victoria State Opera
The Victoria State Opera (VSO), based in Melbourne, Australia, was founded in Melbourne in 1962. The company, founded by Leonard Spira, was a move into grand opera by the then amateur Gilbert and Sullivan-oriented Victorian Light Opera Co. The name changed to the Victorian Opera Company in 1964 in a move to enable the company to perform a broader repertoire. Early years Victoria Opera 1962–1976 An attempt to professionalise the company as the Victorian Opera Co was made by Alfred Ruskin, foundation chairman and Peter Burch, general manager (1970–1974), who in 1971 appointed Dame Joan Hammond to the board. In 1972 she brought Richard Divall to Melbourne. Richard Divall was to remain with the company as Music Director until 1996. In 1976 Dame Joan Hammond accepted a position at the Victorian College of the Arts and was replaced as chairman by John Day (1976–1982). Richard Divall instantly made his mark on the company, raising it to a new level of professionalism with a land ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alma De Groen
Alma De Groen is an Australian feminist playwright, born in New Zealand on 5 September 1941. Biography Alma Margaret Mathers, born in Manawatu, grew up in Mangakino, a small township founded to serve a hydro-electric power station in the North Island of New Zealand. Her earliest experience of theatre was being taken, as a high school student, to a New Zealand Players production of '' Saint Joan'', which starred Edith Campion, the mother of Jane Campion, as Saint Joan. This, along with a tiny local library which contained works by Shaw and Wilde, began her interest in theatre. In 1964 she moved to Australia and through the artist Geoffrey De Groen, whom she married in 1965, Alma De Groen was introduced to the film maker Sandy Harbutt, who read her first play, ''The Sweatproof Boy''. Harbutt persuaded theatre director Brian Syron to read it and a mentorship lasting many years began. Syron was the first Aboriginal Australian to study at RADA and at the legendary Stella Adler Studio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nimrod Theatre Company
The Nimrod Theatre Company, commonly known as The Nimrod, was an Australian theatre company based in Sydney. It was founded by in 1970 by Australian actor John Bell, Richard Wherrett and Ken Horler, and gained a reputation for producing more "good new Australian drama" from 1970 to 1985 than any other Australian theatre company. The company's original theatre located in Nimrod Street, Kings Cross is now home to Griffin Theatre Company. The company moved in 1974 to Belvoir Street, Surry Hills, but retained its original name. From 1981 to 1988 it also played in the Seymour Centre theatres. The company ceased operations in 1988. Subsequently, the Surry Hills venue became known as the Belvoir St Theatre. The history of the company was documented by Julian Meyrick Julian may refer to: People * Julian (emperor) (331–363), Roman emperor from 361 to 363 * Julian (Rome), referring to the Roman gens Julia, with imperial dynasty offshoots * Saint Julian (other), several ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Tote Theatre Company
The Old Tote Theatre Company (1963–1978) was a New South Wales theatre company that began as the standing acting and theatre company of Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). It was the predecessor to the Sydney Theatre Company. The Old Tote was one of the leading Australian theatre companies. History The Old Tote Theatre was established in 1962 by the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), which had been created in 1958. It began in a converted tin shed on the campus of University of New South Wales in Sydney. The wood and corrugated iron building (originally an army recreation hall) became known as the "Old Tote" because it had previously been part of the group of buildings that had formerly housed the totalisator betting machine when the site had been Kensington Racecourse, Sydney, Kensington Racecourse. The building still stands, and is now known as the Figtree Theatre. The company was founded by the University's Professor of Drama, Robert Quentin, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Lovejoy
Robin Casper Lovejoy, OBE (17 December 1924 – 14 December 1985) was an Australian director, actor, and designer best known for his work on television and in theatre. He was one of Australia's leading theatre directors of the 1960s and 1970s and significantly influenced the Australian drama and theatre stage. Early life Lovejoy was born on 17 December 1924 in Labasa, Fiji. His father, Casper Ebenezer Lovejoy (1886–1971) had English and Irish ancestry, and his mother Viti Clarke (1887–1951) had predominantly Scottish ancestry. During his younger years, he spent time at Suva Boys Grammar School, until his whole family moved from Fiji to Sydney, Australia in 1939. Shortly after, he began to work as an accountant. In 1942, he volunteered for the Australian Imperial Army and was stationed in the Torres Strait. It was at this time as a soldier that Lovejoy began to play readings of stories and plays to entertain his fellow troops. He was discharged from the army in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Greater London to the south and south-west. There are three cities in Essex: Southend, Colchester and Chelmsford, in order of population. For the purposes of government statistics, Essex is placed in the East of England region. There are four definitions of the extent of Essex, the widest being the ancient county. Next, the largest is the former postal county, followed by the ceremonial county, with the smallest being the administrative county—the area administered by the County Council, which excludes the two unitary authorities of Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea. The ceremonial county occupies the eastern part of what was, during the Early Middle Ages, the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Essex. As well as rural areas and urban areas, it forms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
