Thirty-Minute Theatre
''Thirty-Minute Theatre'' was a British anthology drama series of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, which was used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short running length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known. It was produced initially by Harry Moore, later by Graeme MacDonald, George Spenton-Foster, Innes Lloyd and others. ''Thirty-Minute Theatre'' began on BBC2 in 1965 with an adaptation of the black comedy ''Parson's Pleasure'' (author, Roald Dahl). Dennis Potter contributed '' Emergency – Ward 9'' (1966), which he partially recycled in the much later '' The Singing Detective'' (1986). In 1967 BBC2 launched the UK's first colour service, with the consequence that ''Thirty-Minute Theatre'' became the first drama series in the country to be shown in colour. As well as single plays, the series showed several linked collections of plays, including a group of four plays by John M ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been contrasted with the Epic poetry, epic and the Lyric poetry, lyrical modes ever since Aristotle's ''Poetics (Aristotle), Poetics'' ()—the earliest work of dramatic theory. The term "drama" comes from a Ancient Greek, Greek word meaning "deed" or "Action (philosophy), act" (Classical Greek: , ''drâma''), which is derived from "I do" (Classical Greek: , ''dráō''). The two masks associated with drama represent the traditional Genre, generic division between Comedy (drama), comedy and tragedy. In English (as was the analogous case in many other European languages), the word ''Play (theatre), play'' or ''game'' (translating the Old English, Anglo-Saxon ''pleġan'' or Latin ''ludus'') wa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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David Rudkin
James David Rudkin (born 29 June 1936) is an England, English playwright. Early life Rudkin was born in London. Coming from a family of strict evangelical Christians, he was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and read Mods and Greats at St Catherine's College, Oxford. Beginning to write during Conscription in the United Kingdom, national service in the Royal Corps of Signals, Rudkin taught Latin, Greek and music at North Bromsgrove High School in Worcestershire until 1964,Biographical information on cover of ''The Triumph of Death'', Methuen Publishing, Methuen 1981 and ''The Saxon Shore'', Methuen Publishing, Methuen 1986 while also directing amateur theatre productions. Career Following the success of his first play ''Afore Night Come'' (1962), Rudkin translated works by Aeschylus, Roger Vitrac, the libretto of Arnold Schoenberg, Schoenberg's ''Moses und Aron, Moses and Aaron'', and wrote the book to the Western Theatre Ballet's ''Sun into Darkness'' (Sadlers Wel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Irene Worth
Irene Worth, CBE (June 23, 1916March 10, 2002), born Harriett Elizabeth Abrams, was an American stage and screen actress who became one of the leading stars of the British and American theatre. She pronounced her first name with three syllables: "I-REE-nee". Worth made her Broadway debut in 1943, joined the Old Vic company in 1951 and the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1962. She won the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress for the 1958 film '' Orders to Kill''. Her other film appearances included '' Nicholas and Alexandra'' (1971) and '' Deathtrap'' (1982). A three-time Tony Award winner, she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for '' Tiny Alice'' in 1965 and '' Sweet Bird of Youth'' in 1976, and won the 1991 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for '' Lost in Yonkers'', a role she reprised in the 1993 film version. One of her later stage performances was opposite Paul Scofield in the 2001 production of ''I Take Your Hand in Mine'' at the Almeida Thea ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Patrick Troughton
Patrick George Troughton (; 25 March 1920 – 28 March 1987) was an English actor. He became best known for his roles in television, most notably starring as the Second Doctor, second incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the long-running British science-fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' from 1966 to 1969; he reprised the role three times between 1972 and 1985. Classically trained, Troughton's early work included appearances in Laurence Olivier's films ''Hamlet (1948 film), Hamlet'' (1948) and ''Richard III (1955 film), Richard III'' (1955), and he later appeared in films including ''Jason and the Argonauts (1963 film), Jason and the Argonauts'' (1963), ''The Gorgon'' (1964), ''Scars of Dracula'' (1970) and ''The Omen'' (1976), as well as the fantasy television series ''The Box of Delights (TV series), The Box of Delights'' (1984). Early life Troughton was born on 25 March 1920 [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brenda Bruce
Brenda Bruce OBE (7 July 1919Some sources cite 17 July 1919. – 19 February 1996) was an English actress. She was focused on the theatre, radio, film, and television. Career Bruce was born in Prestwich, Lancashire, in 1919, and started her acting career as a teenager on stage as a chorus girl. She appeared with the Birmingham Repertory Company (1936–39) and was a long-time actress with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). She was the RSC's resident Mistress Page in ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'', playing the role in 1964, 1968, 1975 and 1995. She appeared as Irma in the RSC's production of Jean Genet's '' The Balcony'' in 1971. In the 1950s, she appeared on television in many dramas and in a chat show ''Rich and Rich'' with her husband. She starred as Winnie in the 1962 British premiere of Samuel Beckett's ''Happy Days'', and in 1977 as Lucilla Edith Cavell Teatime in ''Murder Most English''. Bruce played Aunt Dahlia in the 1990s production of ''Jeeves and Wooster'' w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Parson's Pleasure (short Story)
"Parson's Pleasure" is a short story written by Roald Dahl, first published in ''Esquire'' in April 1958, and collected in Dahl's 1960 book ''Kiss Kiss''. Plot Boggis is a skilled antiques dealer who has a small shop in Chelsea, London. He manages to make a profit each year by buying valuable furniture cheaply from unsuspecting country people while posing as a parson and president of the Society for the Preservation of Rare Furniture. He gains entry to their houses in the guise of cataloguing their old furniture; if he sees something he can re-sell, he offers to buy it. In order to buy the furniture for less than it is worth he uses his knowledge and a number of tricks, such as substituting machine-made screws for the genuine old ones. One trip sees him exploring Buckinghamshire. After leaving his station wagon hidden so as not to spoil his image as an old clergyman, he walks to a rundown farmhouse where he meets three locals – the farmer Rummins, his son Bert, and their ass ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Malcolm Taylor (actor)
Malcolm Taylor may refer to: * Malcolm Taylor (American football) (born 1960), American football player * Malcolm Taylor (cricketer) (1904–1978), English cricketer * Malcolm Campbell Taylor (1832–1922), Scottish minister and professor * Malcolm Tink Taylor, American politician *Malcolm McDowell Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is an English actor. He first became known for portraying Mick Travis in Lindsay Anderson's ''if....'' (1968), a role he later reprised in ''O Lucky Man!'' (1973) and ''Britannia Hospital ... (born Malcolm Taylor; 1943), British actor, producer, and television presenter See also * Malcolm Cartwright-Taylor (1911–1969), British Royal Marines officer {{hndis, Taylor, Malcolm ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Anne Blake
''Anne Blake'' is an 1852 melodrama by the British writer John Westland Marston. Tuker p.371 It premiered at the Princess's Theatre in London on 28 October 1852. The original cast included Charles Kean as Thorold, Walter Lacy as Llaniston, Ellen Kean as Anne Blake. The same year it appeared at the Broadway Theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, American and British English spelling differences), many of the List of ... in New York. References Bibliography * Booth, Michael R. ''Prefaces to English Nineteenth-century Theatre''. Manchester University Press, 1980. * Taylor, George. ''Players and Performances in the Victorian Theatre''. Manchester University Press, 1993. * Tucker, Herbert F (ed.) ''A New Companion to Victorian Literature and Culture''. John Wiley & Sons, 2014. 1852 plays West End plays British plays Tragedy plays ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Melvyn Hayes
Melvyn Hayes ('' né'' Hyams; born 11 January 1935) is an English actor and voice-over performer. He is best known for playing the effeminate Gunner (later Bombardier) "Gloria" Beaumont in the 1970s BBC sitcom '' It Ain't Half Hot Mum'', for appearing in the Cliff Richard musical films '' The Young Ones'', '' Summer Holiday'' and '' Wonderful Life'' as well as '' Here Come the Double Deckers'' (1970–1971). Professional career Early life and stage roles Born in Wandsworth, South London, Hayes attended Sir Walter St John's Grammar School For Boys, Battersea. As a youth he worked in Fleet Street, carrying advertising print blocks between newspapers. In 1950, he saw an advertisement seeking an assistant for the conjurer The Great Massoni. He got the job and was soon "disappearing twice daily for £4 per week" performing the Indian rope trick in Maskelyne's Mysteries at The Comedy Theatre in London. He was also in a theatrical troupe called Terry's Juveniles and later appear ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Derek Francis
Derek Francis (7 November 1923 – 27 March 1984) was an English comedy and character actor. Biography Francis was a regular in the Carry On film players, appearing in six of the films in the 1960s and 1970s. He appeared in '' The Tomb of Ligeia'' (1964), the last film in Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe series. He also took roles in several BBC adaptations of Charles Dickens novels. His last role was in the 1984 version of ''A Christmas Carol''. Other roles included parts in television series of the period such as ''Rising Damp'', '' Bless Me, Father'', '' Thriller'', '' The Professionals'', '' The Sweeney'', ''Sherlock Holmes'', '' The New Avengers'', ''Danger Man'', '' Jason King'', '' Up Pompeii!'', '' Wild, Wild Women'', ''Coronation Street'', and ''Z-Cars''. He also appeared as the Emperor Nero, a comic turn in the early ''Doctor Who'' story entitled '' The Romans'' opposite William Hartnell. Possibly his most prominent role was as Father Bernard, the Master of Novices in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Richard Pearson (actor)
Richard de Pearsall Pearson (1 August 1918 – 2 August 2011) was a British character actor who appeared in numerous film, television and stage productions over a period of 65 years. He played leading roles in several London West End plays and also supported Maggie Smith, Robert Morley and others in long-running West End stage productions. His many screen appearances included character parts in three Roman Polanski films. Personal life Richard Pearson was born and brought up in Monmouth. He was educated at Aymestrey Court,Former schoolRetrieved 31 August 2018./ref> Worcester, and at Monmouth School, where his father, Cyril Pearson (1888–1946), taught French. Richard Pearson's early stage career was interrupted by military service in the Second World War with the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division. He was mentioned in dispatches and left the army with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He married the actress Patricia Dickson (1927–2014) in 1949. They lived until the late ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Philip Levene
Philip Levene (9 June 1926 – 25 March 1973) was an English television writer, actor, and producer. Education and career Levene trained as an actor at the Webber Douglas School of Dramatic Art and subsequent work included a small role in Brian Rix's long-running Whitehall farce ''Reluctant Heroes'' in the West End from 1950 to 1954. Suffering from chronic ill health, he began writing radio plays in 1956. He used to work at the morgue before becoming a writer. Levene wrote nineteen episodes of the 1960s television series ''The Avengers'' (winning a Writer's Guild Award) beginning in 1965, and served as script consultant for the series in 1968–69. In 1967 and 1968, he created the television series ''Sanctuary'' and '' The First Lady''. He also contributed to the television series ''The Flying Doctor'', ''The Invisible Man'' and the films '' The Firechasers'' and '' Deadly Strangers''. His stage play ''Kill Two Birds'', a thriller with Roger Livesey and Renée Asherson ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |