Michael Gerald Hastings (2 September 1938 – 19 November 2011)
was a British playwright, screenwriter, and occasional novelist and poet.
He is best known for his 1984 stage play and 1994 screenplay ''
Tom & Viv'', about the poet
T.S. Eliot and his wife
Vivienne Haigh-Wood
Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot, also spelt Vivien (28 May 1888 – 22 January 1947), was the first wife of American-British poet T. S. Eliot, whom she married in 1915, less than three months after their introduction by mutual friends, when Vivienne ...
.
Biography
Hastings was born in
London, UK. His early plays – ''Don't Destroy Me'' (1956), ''Yes And After'' (1957) – reflected the influence of the
Angry Young Men movement and his brief involvement with the circle surrounding
Colin Wilson.
Hastings later enjoyed mainstream
West End success with ''Gloo Joo'' (1978), a farce about a West Indian threatened with deportation from the United Kingdom, which won the ''
Evening Standard'' Comedy of the Year Award in 1979. He wrote numerous stage plays, television screen plays, and in addition to the ''Tom & Viv'' film, scripts for two motion pictures, ''
The American'' (1998) and ''
The Nightcomers'' (1971, based on the
Henry James novella ''
The Turn of the Screw'' and starring
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...
). Hastings also wrote two
libretti for
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his length ...
: ''
Man and Boy: Dada'' (2003, assisted by Victoria Hardie) and ''
Love Counts
''Love Counts'' is a 2005 opera in two acts by Michael Nyman to a libretto by Michael Hastings.
Performance history
The opera premiered 12 March 2005 at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Germany, directed by Robert Tannenbaum. It was perfo ...
'' (2005).
Hastings' 1950's play ''The Cutting of the Cloth'' saw its world premiere at the
Southwark Playhouse in London, from 11 March till 4 April 2015. The cast were Alexis Caley,
Andy de la Tour, James El-Sharawy, Paul Rider and
Abigail Thaw
Abigail J. Thaw (born 1 October 1965) is an English actress.
Early life
Abigail Thaw was born in London to actor John Thaw and his first wife, Sally Alexander, an academic/feminist activist who taught modern history at Goldsmiths College. Her ...
, directed by Tricia Thorns.
Hastings published his first novel, ''The Game'' in 1957, followed by ''The Frauds''. His 1970 novel ''Tussy Is Me'' – about
Eleanor Marx – won him the
Somerset Maugham Award. As a poet, he published one collection, ''Love Me, Lambeth, and Other Poems'', in 1961, and his work appeared in
Michael Horovitz's 1969 anthology ''
Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground in Britain''.
[Robert Sheppard]
''The Poetry of Saying: British Poetry and Its Discontents 1950-2000''
Liverpool University Press, 2005, p. 42.
Hastings died aged 73 on 19 November 2011.
Selected works
Theatre
*''Don't Destroy Me'' (1956)
*''Yes And After'' (1957)
*''The World's Baby'' (1964)
*''For the West (Congo)'' (1965)
*''Blue as His Eyes the Tin Helmet He Wore'' (1966)
*''Lee Harvey Oswald: A Far Mean Streak of Independence Brought on by Negleck'' (also known as ''The Silence of Lee Harvey Oswald'') (1967)
*''The Silence of Saint-Just'' (1972)
*''The Cutting of the Cloth'' (written 1973)
*''For the West (Uganda)'' (1977)
*''Gloo Joo'' (1978)
*''
Full Frontal'' (1979)
*''Carnival War a Go Hot'' (1979)
*''Murder Rap'' (1980)
*''Midnight at the Starlight'' (1980)
*''
Tom & Viv'' (1984)
*''Calico'' (2004)
Television
*''Gloo Joo'' (1979)
Books
;Fiction
*''The Game'' (1957)
*''The Frauds'' (1960)
*''Tussy Is Me'' (1970)
*''
The Nightcomers'' (1971; based on his own screenplay)
*''And in the Forest the Indians'' (1975)
*''Bart's Mornings and Other Tales of Modern Brazil'' (1975) (short stories)
;Non-fiction
*''
Rupert Brooke
Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915)The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. was an En ...
: The Handsomest Young Man in England'' (1967)
*''
Sir Richard Burton
Sir Richard Francis Burton (; 19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, orientalist scholar,and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary kn ...
: A Biography'' (1978)
;Poetry
* ''Love Me, Lambeth, and Other Poems'' (1961)
References
External links
*
Michael Hastings Papersat the
Harry Ransom Center
Profile at Doollee.com*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hastings, Michael
1938 births
2011 deaths
20th-century English dramatists and playwrights
20th-century English male writers
People educated at Alleyn's School
English screenwriters
English male screenwriters
People from Brixton
English male dramatists and playwrights