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The Italian Straw Hat (play)
''The Italian Straw Hat'' (''Un chapeau de paille d'Italie'') is a five-act comedy by Eugène Labiche and Marc-Michel. It premiered at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris on 14 August 1851. It has been adapted for the cinema in French, English, German, Czech and Russian, and as a musical play in English and Italian versions. The piece remains regularly staged in France, where it entered the repertoire of the Comédie-Française in Paris and of theatres in other French cities. Plot The play is set in Paris in the middle of the 19th century, on the morning of the day on which Fadinard, a well-to-do bachelor, is to marry Hélène Nonancourt, daughter of a suburban market-gardener. Hélène, together with her cantankerous father and a fleet of eight cabs full of wedding guests, is on her way. Fadinard has ridden ahead to make final arrangements. On the way, his horse has eaten a straw hat hung on a bush. The hat belonged to Anaïs, an ex-girlfriend of Fadinard's, who has been dal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Oxenford
John Oxenford (12 August 1812 – 21 February 1877) was an English dramatist, critic and translator. Life Oxenford was born in Camberwell, London, his father a prosperous merchant. Whilst he was privately educated, it is reported that he was mostly self-taught in Greek, Latin and modern languages. He began his literary career by writing on finance, though later became the author of many translations from German, notably of Goethe's ''Dichtung und Wahrheit'' (1846) and Eckermann's '' Conversations with Goethe'' (1850). Oxenford's primary interest was in the theatre and over sixty-eight plays are attributed to him. His first play was ''My Fellow Clerk'', produced at the Lyceum Theatre in 1835. This was followed by a long series of pieces, the most famous of which was perhaps the ''Porter's Knot'' (1858) and ''Twice Killed'' (1835). He also wrote many operatic libretti, including eight for George Alexander Macfarren, including ''Robin Hood'' (1860) and ''Helvellyn'' (1864). Oxen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. While in his 20s, Welles directed high-profile stage productions for the Federal Theatre Project, including an adaptation of ''Macbeth'' with an entirely African-American cast and the political musical '' The Cradle Will Rock''. In 1937, he and John Houseman founded the Mercury Theatre, an independent repertory theatre company that presented a series of productions on Broadway through 1941, including ''Caesar'' (1937), an adaptation of William Shakespeare's ''Julius Caesar''. In 1938, his radio anthology series ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' gave Welles the platform to find international fame as the director and narrator of a radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel ''The War of the Worlds'', which caused s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edwin Denby (poet)
Edwin Orr Denby (February 4, 1903 – July 12, 1983) was an American writer of dance criticism, poetry, and a novel, but is perhaps now best known for his work with Orson Welles in translating and adapting the 1851 French comedy '' The Italian Straw Hat'' to the American stage in 1936 in the form of the farce ''Horse Eats Hat''. Early life, education and early career The son of Charles Denby, Jr. and Martha Dalzell Orr, Edwin was born in Tientsin, China, where Charles had been appointed as chief foreign advisor to Yuan Shi Kai a year earlier. Edwin's grandfather, Charles Harvey Denby, who had served as the United States Ambassador to China for an unprecedented 13 years, died when Edwin was age one. Denby spent his childhood first in Shanghai, China, then in Vienna, Austria, where his father served as consul general from 1909 to 1915, before coming to the United States in 1916. He was educated at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut; and attended Harvard Universit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horse Eats Hat
''Horse Eats Hat'' is a 1936 farce play co-written and directed by Orson Welles (at the time 21 years of age) and presented under the auspices of the Federal Theatre Project. It was Welles's second WPA production, after his highly successful ''Voodoo Macbeth''. The script, by Edwin Denby and Welles, was an adaptation of the classic French farce '' The Italian Straw Hat'' () by Eugène Marin Labiche and Marc-Michel. Starring Joseph Cotten, a mainstay of what would become known as the Mercury Theatre, the play premiered at the Maxine Elliott Theatre, New York City, on September 26, 1936, running until December 5, 1936. Assessment Welles spoke to filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich about the production: The farce ''Horse Eats Hat'' was the best of the Mercury shows – and, though successful, it divided the town. The press was mixed, yet it was always packed, and had an enormous following. Some people went to it every week as long as it ran. Welles biographer Simon Callow addressed th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Laboratory Theatre
The American Laboratory Theatre was an American drama school and theatrical company located in New York City that existed during the 1920s and 1930s. It was a publicly subsidized, student-subscription organization that held fund-raising campaigns to support itself. History The school itself was known as the Theatre Arts Institute. It was founded in 1923 by former Moscow Art Theatre members Richard Boleslavsky and Maria Ouspenskaya and stressed Stanislavski's system as its teaching method. Students were taught to be uninhibited, with exercises such as acting as a fish under water, a melting ice cream cone, or (for women) the mother of a sick child praying to the Madonna. Both actors and directors were trained, and Boleslavsky and Ouspenskaya became known as the leading promulgators of Stanislavski's ideas in America. Some five hundred students were trained at the school during its years of existence. These included Lee Strasberg, Harold Clurman, and Stella Adler, all of who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Cooney
Raymond George Alfred Cooney, OBE (born 30 May 1932) is an English playwright, actor, and director. His biggest success, '' Run for Your Wife'' (1983), ran for nine years in London's West End and is its longest-running comedy. He has had 17 of his plays performed there. Career Cooney began to act in 1946, appearing in many of the Whitehall farces of Brian Rix throughout the 1950s and 1960s. It was during this time that he co-wrote his first play, '' One For The Pot''. With Tony Hilton, he co-wrote the screenplay for the British comedy film '' What a Carve Up!'' (1961), which features Sid James and Kenneth Connor. In 1968 and 1969, Cooney adapted Richard Gordon's ''Doctor'' novels for BBC radio, as series starring Richard Briers. He also took parts in them. Cooney has also appeared on TV, (including an uncredited appearance in the ''Dial 999 (TV series)'' ' episode, 'A Mined Area', as a hold-up victim), and in several films, including a film adaptation of his successful t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Conti
Tommaso Antonio Conti (born 22 November 1941) is a Scottish actor, theatre director, and novelist. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1979 for his performance in '' Whose Life Is It Anyway?'' and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1983 film ''Reuben, Reuben''. Early life Tommaso Antonio Conti was born on 22 November 1941 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, the son of hairdressers Mary McGoldrick and Alfonso Conti. He was brought up Roman Catholic, but is now antireligious. His father was Italian, while his mother was born and raised in Scotland to Irish parents. Conti was educated at independent Catholic boys' school Hamilton Park and at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, both in Glasgow. Career Conti is a theatre, film, and television actor. He began working with the Dundee Repertory in 1959. He appeared on Broadway in '' Whose Life Is It Anyway?'' in 1979, and in London, he played the lead in '' Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell'' at the Ga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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) announ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gateway Theatre (Edinburgh)
The Gateway Theatre (built as the New Edinburgh Veterinary College) was a Category C listed building in Edinburgh, Scotland, situated on Elm Row at the top of Leith Walk. History Veterinary College The building was purpose-built by George Beattie and Sons in 1882 to accommodate W. Owen Williams' New Veterinary CollegeMackie, A.D (1965), "Forty-One Elm Row", in ''The Twelve Seasons of the Edinburgh Gateway Company, 1953 - 1965'', St. Giles Press, Edinburgh (not to be confused with the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College, which is still extant, elsewhere in the city). In 1904, the College vacated the building, with a professor and eleven students relocating to the veterinary faculty at Liverpool. The college buildings were sold to William Perry in 1908, who then applied for a roof to be built over the courtyard to create a roller-skating rink. Cinema Perry's rink did not last long and the building was converted again in 1910, by architect Ralph Pringle, into a cinema known as Pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurence Payne
Laurence Stanley Payne (5 June 1919 – 23 February 2009) was an English actor and novelist. Early life Payne was born in London. His father died when he was three years old, and he and his elder brother and sister were brought up by their mother, a Wesleyan Methodist in Wood Green, London. He attended Belmont School and Tottenham Grammar School, leaving at 16 to take a clerical job. After training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 1939, he was exempted from war service as a conscientious objector on condition that he went on tour with the Old Vic during the war. Career Actor Payne made his professional debut at the Old Vic theatre in 1939 and remained with the company for several years. He then performed at the Chanticleer and Arts theatres in London, also directing and broadcasting for the first times during this period. At Stratford-on-Avon he played, among other parts, Romeo in Peter Brook's 1947 production. After more work at London theatres, he played l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Old Vic
The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, not-for-profit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal Victoria Palace. It was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 and formally named the Royal Victoria Hall, although by that time it was already known as the "Old Vic". In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian Baylis, assumed management and began a series of Shakespeare productions in 1914. The building was damaged in 1940 during air raids and it became a Grade II* listed building in 1951 after it reopened. The Old Vic is the crucible of many of the performing arts companies and theatres in London today. It was the name of a repertory company that was based at the theatre and formed (along with the Chichester Festival Theatre) the core of the National Theatre of Great Britain on its formation in 1963, under Laurence Olivier. The National Theatre re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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