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The Uninvited Guest (play)
''The Uninvited Guest'' is a 1953 play by the British writer Mary Hayley Bell. It premiered at the Kings Theatre, Southsea before transferring to St James's Theatre in the West End where it ran for 21 performances between 27 May and 13 June 1953. The West End cast included John Mills, Joan Greenwood, Cathleen Nesbitt, Clive Morton, and Lyndon Brook. Mills, who was married to the playwright, played a son returning home after some time spent in an insane asylum. A review in '' The Spectator'' described it as a "modern and much diminished version of Oedipus emerging out of a background suggestive of ''Lady Chatterley's Lover ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' is the last novel by English author D. H. Lawrence, which was first published privately in 1928, in Italy, and in 1929, in France. An unexpurgated edition was not published openly in the United Kingdom until 1960, w ...''".Wearing p.231 References Bibliography * Wearing, J.P. ''The London Stage 1950-1959: A Calendar o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Hayley Bell
Mary Hayley Bell, Lady Mills (22 January 1911 – 1 December 2005) was an English actress and writer, married for 64 years to actor Sir John Mills. Her novel '' Whistle Down the Wind'' was adapted as a film, starring her teenaged daughter, actress Hayley Mills. Background Mary Hayley Bell was born in Shanghai International Settlement, Shanghai, China, where her father, Colonel Francis Hayley Bell, served in the Chinese Maritime Customs Service with postings to various Treaty Ports. Her mother was Agnes (née McGowan). Her father, a Boer War veteran, served, from 1925 to 1928, as Customs Commissioner for Kowloon (within Hong Hong, although this position had no connection with the British colonial administration). During this period Mary attended school in Hong Kong and frequently spent weekends of leisure at the Commissioner's official country bungalow near Fan Ling Golf Club. The family later (1930) moved to Tianjin (then known as Tientsin). In the run-up to World War II, Fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kings Theatre, Southsea
The Kings Theatre is a theatre in Southsea, Portsmouth, designed by the architect Frank Matcham. It opened on 30 September 1907. It is operated by the Kings Theatre Trust Ltd. The building was designated a Grade II* listed building in 1976. History The theatre opened on 30 September 1907 with a production of ''Charles I'' followed by two further of Sir Henry Irving's Works. During the 1930s it was used to premiere several works by Ian Hay before they transferred to the West End including '' Orders Are Orders'' and '' Admirals All''. The musical ''This'll Make You Whistle'' premiered there in 1935. The theatre stayed in the control of its original owners, The Portsmouth Theatre Company, until 1964 when it was purchased by Commander Reggie & Mrs Joan Cooper. In 1990 it was sold again to Hampshire County Council. In 2001, after a successful campaign by AKTER (Action for Kings Theatre Restoration) to keep the theatre open, the theatre was purchased by Portsmouth City Council and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St James's Theatre
The St James's Theatre was in King Street, St James's, London. It opened in 1835 and was demolished in 1957. The theatre was conceived by and built for a popular singer, John Braham; it lost money and after three seasons he retired. A succession of managements over the next forty years also failed to make it a commercial success, and the St James's acquired a reputation as an unlucky theatre. It was not until 1879–1888, under the management of the actors John Hare and Madge and W. H. Kendal that the theatre began to prosper. The Hare-Kendal management was succeeded, after brief and disastrous attempts by other lessees, by that of the actor-manager George Alexander, who was in charge from 1891 until his death in 1918. Under Alexander the house gained a reputation for programming that was adventurous without going too far for the tastes of London society. Among the plays he presented were Oscar Wilde's ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' (1892) and ''The Importance of Being Earn ... [...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) announced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Mills
Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portrayed guileless, wounded war heroes. In 1971, he received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in ''Ryan's Daughter''. For his work in film Mills was knighted by Elizabeth II in 1976. In 2002, he received a BAFTA Fellowship from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and was named a Disney Legend by The Walt Disney Company. Early life John Mills was born on 22 February 1908 in North Elmham, Norfolk, the son of Edith Mills (née Baker), a theatre box office manager, and Lewis Mills, a mathematics teacher. Mills was born at Watts Naval School, where his father was a master. He spent his early years in the village of Belton where his father was the headmaster of the village school. He first felt the thrill o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Greenwood
Joan Mary Waller Greenwood (4 March 1921 – 28 February 1987) was an English actress. Her husky voice, coupled with her slow, precise elocution, was her trademark. She played Sibella in the 1949 film ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'', and also appeared in ''The Man in the White Suit'' (1951), ''Young Wives' Tale'' (1951), ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' (1952), '' Stage Struck'' (1958), '' Tom Jones'' (1963) and ''Little Dorrit'' (1987). Greenwood worked mainly on the stage, where she had a long career, appearing with Donald Wolfit's theatre company in the years following World War II. Later, after the war, her appearances in Ealing comedies are among her memorable screen appearances: '' Whisky Galore!''; as the seductive Sibella in the black comedy ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (1949); and in ''The Man in the White Suit'' (1951). She opened ''The Grass Is Greener'' in the West End in 1952 and played Gwendolen in a film version of ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' released in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cathleen Nesbitt
Cathleen Nesbitt (born Kathleen Mary Nesbitt; 24 November 18882 August 1982) was an English actress. Biography Born in Birkenhead, Cheshire,Before 1 April 1974 Birkenhead was in Cheshire England to Thomas and Mary Catherine (née Parry) Nesbitt as Kathleen Mary Nesbitt in 1888 of Welsh and Irish descent, she was educated in Lisieux, France, and at the Queen's University of Belfast and the Sorbonne. Her younger brother, Thomas Nesbitt, Jr., acted in one film in 1925, before his death in South Africa in 1927 from an apparent heart attack. She made her debut in London in the stage revival of Arthur Wing Pinero's ''The Cabinet Minister'' (1910). She acted in many plays after that. In 1911, she joined the Irish Players, went to the United States and debuted on Broadway in ''The Well of the Saints''. She also was in the cast of John Millington Synge's ''The Playboy of the Western World'' with the Irish Players when the whole cast was pelted with fruits and vegetables by the offend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clive Morton
Clive Morton (16 March 1904 – 24 September 1975) was an English actor best known for playing upper class Englishmen, he made many screen appearances, especially on television. In 1955, he appeared in Laurence Olivier's '' Richard III'' and is recalled by fans of ''Doctor Who'' for his role as prison governor George Trenchard in ''The Sea Devils'' in 1972. He played Commander Julius Rogue in the first series of the fondly-remembered children's TV series '' Rogue's Rock'' in 1974. One of his last roles was as an aged butler in an episode of ''Upstairs Downstairs''. :: Morton was also a Shakespearian actor and an Associate Artiste of the Royal Shakespeare Company. In the 1964 'Histories' Repertoire he played the Bishop of Carlisle in Richard II, the Earl of Worcester in Henry IV and the ferocious Earl of Talbot in Henry VI. :: Morton was married to ''Fresh Fields'' actress Fanny Rowe. They acted together on stage in the 1955 J.B. Priestley play ''Mr. Kettle and Mrs. Moon''. Selec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyndon Brook
Lyndon Brook (10 April 1926 – 9 January 2004) was a British actor, on film and television. Family and early life Lyndon Brook was born on 10 April 1926 in Los Angeles, California, to British parents. He came from an established acting family: his father, Clive Brook, had been a star of the silent movies and had moved to Hollywood to play quintessential Englishmen in a host of films. His parents sent their son back to England to be educated at Stowe School, and he subsequently gained stage experience at Cambridge University. His elder sister, Faith, also became an actress. Career In 1949, Brook was given a minor part in the film ''Train of Events'', which starred Valerie Hobson (the future Mrs John Profumo) and John Clements. In 1951 he was asked by Laurence Olivier to join his company at the St James's Theatre, London, in Shakespeare’s ''Anthony and Cleopatra'' and George Bernard Shaw’s '' Caesar and Cleopatra''. The double production was set up to celebrate the Fe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Insane Asylum
The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry. While there were earlier institutions that housed the "insane", the conclusion that institutionalization was the correct solution to treating people considered to be "mad" was part of a social process in the 19th century that began to seek solutions outside of families and local communities. History Medieval era In the Islamic world, the '' Bimaristans'' were described by European travellers, who wrote about their wonder at the care and kindness shown to lunatics. In 872, Ahmad ibn Tulun built a hospital in Cairo that provided care to the insane, which included music therapy. Nonetheless, physical historian Roy Porter cautions against idealising the role of hospitals generally in medieval Islam, stating that "They were a drop in the oce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The Daily Telegraph'' newspaper, via Press Holdings. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture. It is politically conservative. Alongside columns and features on current affairs, the magazine also contains arts pages on books, music, opera, film and TV reviews. Editorship of ''The Spectator'' has often been a step on the ladder to high office in the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. Past editors include Boris Johnson (1999–2005) and other former cabinet members Ian Gilmour (1954–1959), Iain Macleod (1963–1965), and Nigel Lawson (1966–1970). Since 2009, the magazine's editor has been journalist Fraser Nelson. ''The Spectator Australia'' offers 12 pages on Australian politics and affairs as well as the full UK maga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oedipus
Oedipus (, ; grc-gre, Οἰδίπους "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus accidentally fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to his city and family. The story of Oedipus is the subject of Sophocles' tragedy '' Oedipus Rex'', which is followed in the narrative sequence by ''Oedipus at Colonus'' and then ''Antigone''. Together, these plays make up Sophocles' three Theban plays. Oedipus represents two enduring themes of Greek myth and drama: the flawed nature of humanity and an individual's role in the course of destiny in a harsh universe. In the best-known version of the myth, Oedipus was born to King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes. Laius wished to thwart the prophecy, so he sent a shepherd-servant to leave Oedipus to die on a mountainside. However, the shepherd took pity on the baby and passed him to another shepherd who gave Oedipus to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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