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The Village Bike
''The Village Bike'' is a 2011 play by Penelope Skinner which premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London. It won the 2011 George Devine Award and received rave reviews and had an extended sellout run. Plot Becky, a newly-pregnant school teacher, has just moved into the countryside with her husband John. While he no longer has any interest in sex and prefers to read baby books and save the environment, Becky becomes increasingly frustrated and flirts with the plumber Mike. Off work due to the summer holidays and with high rising temperatures, Becky decides to get fit by buying a bike from the local eccentric, Oliver. Despite neighbour Jenny plying the couple with her second-hand baby equipment, Becky finds herself sexually frustrated and desperate for someone to view her as an attractive woman. Soon Becky embarks on a secret affair with Oliver but is determined not to become attached, instead playing out her fantasies from John's old stash of porn films, which she has been dri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penelope Skinner
Penelope Skinner is a British playwright. She came to prominence after her play ''Fucked'' was first produced in 2008 at the Old Red Lion Theatre and the Edinburgh Festival to huge critical acclaim and has had successive plays staged in London including at the Bush Theatre, National Theatre and Royal Court Theatre, where she is a member of the Young Writers Programme. Her play ''Eigengrau'' staged at the Bush Theatre in 2010 was a critical and box office hit and Skinner was nominated for the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright in 2010. Skinner's play ''The Village Bike'' was her first play to be staged at the Royal Court Theatre where it had a sell out, twice-extended run starring Romola Garai and directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins, winning her the George Devine Award and the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright in 2011. In 2011, she wrote episodes for the Channel 4 series '' Fresh Meat''. In 2011, her play ''The Sound of Heavy Rain'' was produ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. In 1956 it was acquired by and remains the home of the English Stage Company, which is known for its contributions to contemporary theatre and won the Europe Prize Theatrical Realities in 1999. History The first theatre The first theatre on Lower George Street, off Sloane Square, was the converted Nonconformist Ranelagh Chapel, opened as a theatre in 1870 under the name The New Chelsea Theatre. Marie Litton became its manager in 1871, hiring Walter Emden to remodel the interior, and it was renamed the Court Theatre. Several of W. S. Gilbert's early plays were staged here, including ''Randall's Thumb'', ''Creatures of Impulse'' (with music by Alberto Randegger), ''Great Expectations'' (adapted from the Dickens novel), and ''On G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Roman Empire, Romans as ''Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city#National capitals, Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national Government of the United Kingdom, government and Parliament of the United Kingdom, parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the Counties of England, counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Britain
Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United Kingdom and Europe. Britain may also refer to: Places * British Isles, an archipelago comprising Great Britain, Ireland and many other smaller islands * Roman Britain, a Roman province corresponding roughly to modern-day England and Wales * Historical predecessors to the present-day United Kingdom: ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707 to 1801) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801 to 1922) * Britain (place name) * Britain, Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States People * Calvin Britain (1800–1862), an American politician * Kristen Britain, an American novelist Other uses * Captain Britain, a Marvel Comics superhero See also * * * Terminology of the British Isles * England * Britains * Britannia * Brit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the island of Great Britain. Existing on a dialect continuum with Scots, and then closest related to the Low Saxon and Frisian languages, English is genealogically West Germanic. However, its vocabulary is also distinctively influenced by dialects of France (about 29% of Modern English words) and Latin (also about 29%), plus some grammar and a small amount of core vocabulary influenced by Old Norse (a North Germanic language). Speakers of English are called Anglophones. The earliest forms of English, collectively known as Old English, evolved from a group of West Germanic (Ingvaeonic) dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century and further mutated by Norse-speaking Viking settlers starting in the 8 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Devine Award
George Alexander Cassady Devine (20 November 1910 – 20 January 1966) was an English theatrical manager, director, teacher, and actor based in London from the early 1930s until his death. He also worked in TV and film. Early life and education Devine was born in Hendon, London to Georgios Devine (son of an Irish father and a Greek mother) and a Canadian mother, Ruth Eleanor Cassady (from Vancouver). His father was a clerk in Martins Bank. Ruth Devine became mentally unstable after her son's birth, and his parents' marriage, deeply unhappy throughout his early childhood, had broken down by the time he was in his early teens. At this time he was sent to Clayesmore School, an independent boys' boarding school founded by his uncle Alexander "Lex" Devine, who took his nephew under his wing hoping that he would take over the running of the school. In 1929, Devine went to Oxford University to read for a degree in history at Wadham College. It was at Oxford that his interest in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Hill-Gibbins
Joe Hill-Gibbins (born as Joseph Hill-Gibbins) is a British theatre and opera director. Background Hill-Gibbins was born and raised in Surrey. He attended a local comprehensive, George Abbot School, and later read Drama at Manchester University. Career Hill-Gibbins directed his first professional production, Wallace Shawn’s ''A Thought In Three Parts'', at the Battersea Arts Centre as winner of the 2002 James Menzies-Kitchen Trust Award for young directors He trained at the Royal Court Theatre, both as an assistant director and script reader in the literary office. In 2004 he became Trainee Associate Director at the Royal Court, helping curate the Young Writer’s Festival for which he directed ''A Girl In A Car With A Man'' by Rob Evans. In 2006 Hill-Gibbins joined the staff of the Young Vic theatre. After directing Bertolt Brecht’s one-act comedy ''A Respectable Wedding'' in a new translation by Rory Bremner, he became an Associate Director. In 2010 he was appoint ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romola Garai
Romola Sadie Garai (; born 6 August 1982) is a British actress and film director. She appeared in ''Amazing Grace'', ''Atonement'', and '' Glorious 39'', and in the BBC series '' Emma'', '' The Hour'' and ''The Crimson Petal and the White''. In 2022, she portrayed Mary Tudor in Becoming Elizabeth. She has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award twice and for a BAFTA award. Early life Garai was born in Hong Kong, to British parents. Her father's family is Jewish. Her mother, Janet A. (''née'' Brown), brought up Romola and her three siblings. Her father, Adrian Earl Rutherford Garai (born 1945), is a bank manager. Garai's great-grandfather, Bernhard "Bert" Garai, an immigrant from Hungary, founded the Keystone Press Agency, a photographic agency and archive, in London, in the early 20th century. Garai is the third of four siblings. Her family moved to Singapore when she was five, and returned to Wiltshire in England when she was eight. She attended an independent boarding scho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicholas Burns (actor)
Nicholas Burns (born 1977) is an English actor, best known for his comic performance as the title character in '' Nathan Barley''. He played Martin Weedon in '' Benidorm'' and Alex in '' No Heroics'', as well as making appearances alongside various ''Nathan Barley'' co-stars in ''The Mighty Boosh'' and '' The IT Crowd''. Early life Burns was born in Derbyshire, and educated at Repton School. He trained at LAMDA. Career Beyond ''Nathan Barley'' Burns has had recurring roles in the TV series '' Absolute Power'', ''Roman's Empire'' and the sketch show ''Man Stroke Woman''. Burns also made an appearance in ''The Mighty Boosh'' as the ruler of the planet Xooberon; in '' The IT Crowd'' as Jerome, the director of a musical called ''Gay!''; and in episode "At Bertram's Hotel" of ''Marple'' as Jack and Joel Britten. He turned up as an Aussie tennis coach in ''The McClintock Factor'', a mockumentary chronicling the rise and fall of the former media tycoon and internet blogger Jeremy M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dominic Rowan
Dominic Rowan (born 17 June 1971) is an English television, film and theatre actor. He played CPS prosecutor Jacob Thorne in the ITV crime drama '' Law and Order: UK'' and Tom Mitford in the Channel 4 drama series ''North Square''. Rowan has also had an extensive stage career. Career Rowan trained at Central School of Speech and Drama. Theatre Rowan's work in theatre includes: ''A Dream Play'', ''Iphigeneia at Aulis'', '' Mourning Becomes Electra'', '' Three Sisters'', ''The Talking Cure'' and ''Private Lives'' at the National Theatre, London; ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona'', ''The Merchant of Venice'' and ''Talk of the City'' for the RSC; ''A Voyage Round My Father'' and ''Lobby Hero'' at the Donmar Warehouse, London; ''Playhouse Creatures'' at the Old Vic, London; '' Way to Heaven'' and ''Forty Winks'' at the Royal Court Theatre, London; ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' at The Oxford Playhouse; '' Sexual Perversity in Chicago'' at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield; ''The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandra Gilbreath
Alexandra Gilbreath (born 28 March 1969) is an English actress, born in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Widely known for her role as depressed author Lucy Moss in ''Not Going Out''. Work both on stage and onscreen (in film and on television), Gilbreath is an Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company, gaining notice for her work in productions of ''Romeo and Juliet'', ''As You Like It'', ''The Taming of the Shrew'' (for which she received a Helen Hayed Award nomination for Best Actress), ''The Tamer Tamed'', ''The Winter's Tale'' and ''Merry Wives: the Musical''. She was nominated for an Olivier award as Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Olivia in the RSC's ''Twelfth Night'', directed by Greg Doran, which played at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End in 2010. She was also awarded the 1996 Ian Charleson Award for her performance as the title character in ''Hedda Gabler'' for the English T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phil Cornwell
Philip Cornwell (born 5 October 1957) is an English actor, comedian, impressionist and writer. He is part of the '' Dead Ringers'' television and radio series, and was the voice of Murdoc Niccals in the virtual band Gorillaz. Cornwell has co-written and performed principal roles in ''The Glam Metal Detectives'' and ''Stella Street''. He also portrayed DJ Dave Clifton from ''I'm Alan Partridge'' and '' Alpha Papa''. Early life and career Cornwell was born in Leigh-on-Sea, in the County of Essex. He first appeared on TV in 1980 in the BBC youth programme Something Else - Southend as an episode presenter. He is popularly known for voicing Murdoc Niccals in the virtual band, Gorillaz. He provided the voices of Mick Jagger and David Bowie for the ''Steve Wright in the Afternoon'' show on BBC Radio 1 in the late-1980s and early-1990s. These impersonations - augmented by many others, including the series narrator, Michael Caine - formed the backbone of the BBC TV series ''Stella ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
