1.
Order of the British Empire
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There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. Recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire were at first made on the nomination of the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions of the Empire, nominations continue today from Commonwealth countries that participate in recommending British honours. Most members are citizens of the United Kingdom or the Commonwealth realms that use the Imperial system of honours and awards. Honorary knighthoods are appointed to citizens of nations where the Queen is not head of state, occasionally, honorary appointees are, incorrectly, referred to as Sir or Dame – Bill Gates or Bob Geldof, for example. In particular, King George V wished to create an Order to honour many thousands of those who had served in a variety of non-combatant roles during the First World War, when first established, the Order had only one division. However, in 1918, soon after its foundation, it was divided into Military. The Orders motto is For God and the Empire, at the foundation of the Order, the Medal of the Order of the British Empire was instituted, to serve as a lower award granting recipients affiliation but not membership. In 1922, this was renamed the British Empire Medal, in addition, the BEM is awarded by the Cook Islands and by some other Commonwealth nations. The British monarch is Sovereign of the Order, and appoints all members of the Order. The next most senior member is the Grand Master, of whom there have been three, Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales, Queen Mary, and the current Grand Master, the Duke of Edinburgh. The Order is limited to 300 Knights and Dames Grand Cross,845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8,960 Commanders. There are no limits applied to the number of members of the fourth and fifth classes. Foreign recipients, as members, do not contribute to the numbers restricted to the Order as full members do. Though men can be knighted separately from an order of chivalry, women cannot, and so the rank of Knight/Dame Commander of the Order is the lowest rank of damehood, and second-lowest of knighthood. Because of this, Dame Commander is awarded in circumstances in which a man would be created a Knight Bachelor, for example, by convention, female judges of the High Court of Justice are created Dames Commander after appointment, while male judges become Knights Bachelor. The Order has six officials, the Prelate, the Dean, the Secretary, the Registrar, the King of Arms, the Bishop of London, a senior bishop in the Church of England, serves as the Orders Prelate. The Dean of St Pauls is ex officio the Dean of the Order, the Orders King of Arms is not a member of the College of Arms, as are many other heraldic officers. From time to time, individuals are appointed to a higher grade within the Order, thereby ceasing usage of the junior post-nominal letters
2.
Allan Warren
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Michael Allan Warren is an English portrait photographer, primarily known for his images of members of high society. After growing up in post-war London with his mother, Warren attended Terrys Juveniles and it was during this period that he attended auditions through which he received several assignments. Warren started his career at the age of 17 when he was acting in Alan Bennetts play Forty Years On with John Gielgud in the West End at the Apollo Theatre. Around this time Warren bought his first second-hand camera and began to take photographs of his fellow actors and his first major assignment was when his friend Mickey Deans asked him to cover his wedding to Judy Garland, which marked the beginning of Warrens work as a professional photographer. When in New York for personal reasons, he attended an audition for the Broadway production of Minnies Boys, however, he later declined the role offered to him in favour of returning to London and pursuing photography as his vocation. In the early 1980s Warren embarked on a quest to photograph all 26 non-royal, together with the 12th Duke of Manchester he set up the Dukes Trust, a charity for children in need. Warren has uploaded many pictures from his archive to Wikimedia Commons, in the early 90s Warren embarked on writing plays. One of his works, The Lady of Phillimore Walk, was directed by Frank Dunlop and critics went as far as comparing it to Sleuth, the cast of The Lady of Phillimore Walk consisted of Zena Walker and Philip Lowrie, and saw productions in the United States. Warren invented the Hankybreathe, a handkerchief which allows the user to inhale air through a filter at the mouth. The invention, which is meant to be dabbed in eucalyptus oil, harks back to the nosegay and stems from Warrens experience with asthma in heavily polluted London
3.
Bristol
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Bristol is a city and county in South West England with a population of 449,300 in 2016. The district has the 10th largest population in England, while the Bristol metropolitan area is the 12th largest in the United Kingdom, the city borders North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, with the cities of Bath and Gloucester to the south-east and north-east, respectively. Iron Age hill forts and Roman villas were built near the confluence of the rivers Frome and Avon, Bristol received a royal charter in 1155 and was historically divided between Gloucestershire and Somerset until 1373, when it became a county of itself. From the 13th to the 18th century, Bristol was among the top three English cities after London in tax receipts, Bristol was surpassed by the rapid rise of Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham in the Industrial Revolution. Bristol was a place for early voyages of exploration to the New World. On a ship out of Bristol in 1497 John Cabot, a Venetian, in 1499 William Weston, a Bristol merchant, was the first Englishman to lead an exploration to North America. At the height of the Bristol slave trade, from 1700 to 1807, the Port of Bristol has since moved from Bristol Harbour in the city centre to the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Dock. Bristols modern economy is built on the media, electronics and aerospace industries. The city has the largest circulating community currency in the U. K. - the Bristol pound, which is pegged to the Pound sterling. It is connected to London and other major UK cities by road, rail, sea and air by the M5 and M4, Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway mainline rail stations, and Bristol Airport. The Sunday Times named it as the best city in Britain in which to live in 2014 and 2017, the most ancient recorded name for Bristol is the archaic Welsh Caer Odor, which is consistent with modern understanding that early Bristol developed between the River Frome and Avon Gorge. It is most commonly stated that the Saxon name Bricstow was a calque of the existing Celtic name, with Bric a literal translation of Odor. Alternative etymologies are supported with the numerous variations in Medieval documents with Samuel Seyer enumerating 47 alternative forms. The Old English form Brycgstow is commonly used to derive the meaning place at the bridge, utilizing another form, Brastuile, Rev. Dr. Shaw derived the name from the Celtic words bras, or braos and tuile. The poet Thomas Chatterton popularised a derivation from Brictricstow linking the town to Brictric and it appears that the form Bricstow prevailed until 1204, and the Bristolian L is what eventually changed the name to Bristol. Iron Age hill forts near the city are at Leigh Woods and Clifton Down, on the side of the Avon Gorge, a Roman settlement, Abona, existed at what is now Sea Mills, another was at the present-day Inns Court. Isolated Roman villas and small forts and settlements were scattered throughout the area. Bristol was founded by 1000, by about 1020, it was a centre with a mint producing silver pennies bearing its name
4.
Gloucestershire
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Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the fertile valley of the River Severn. The county town is the city of Gloucester, and other towns include Cheltenham, Cirencester, Stroud. Gloucestershire is a historic county mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in the 10th century, though the areas of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire originally included Bristol, then a small town. The local rural community moved to the city, and Bristols population growth accelerated during the industrial revolution. Bristol became a county in its own right, separate from Gloucestershire and it later became part of the administrative County of Avon from 1974 to 1996. Upon the abolition of Avon in 1996, the north of Bristol became a unitary authority area of South Gloucestershire and is now part of the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire. The official former postal county abbreviation was Glos, rather than the frequently used but erroneous Gloucs. or Glouc. In July 2007, Gloucestershire suffered the worst flooding in recorded British history, the RAF conducted the largest peace time domestic operation in its history to rescue over 120 residents from flood affected areas. The damage was estimated at over £2 billion, the county recovered rapidly from the disaster, investing in attracting tourists to visit the many sites and diverse range of shops in the area. This is a chart of trend of gross value added of Gloucestershire at current basic prices published by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. Gloucestershire has mainly comprehensive schools with seven schools, two are in Stroud, one in Cheltenham and four in Gloucester. There are 42 state secondary schools, not including sixth form colleges, all but about two schools in each district have a sixth form, but the Forest of Dean only has two schools with sixth forms. All schools in South Gloucestershire have sixth forms, each has campuses at multiple locations throughout the county. Most of the old market towns have parish churches, at Deerhurst near Tewkesbury, and Bishops Cleeve near Cheltenham, there are churches of special interest on account of the pre-Norman work they retain. These are, however, adjudged to be of English workmanship, other notable buildings include Calcot Barn in Calcot, a relic of Kingswood Abbey. Thornbury Castle is a Tudor country house, the pretensions of which evoked the jealousy of Cardinal Wolsey against its builder, Edward Stafford, duke of Buckingham, near Cheltenham is the 15th-century mansion of Southam de la Bere, of timber and stone. Memorials of the de la Bere family appear in the church at Cleeve, the mansion contains a tiled floor from Hailes Abbey
5.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
6.
Denham, Buckinghamshire
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Denham is a village and civil parish in the South Bucks district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is north west of Uxbridge and north of junction 1 of the M40 motorway, Denham contains the Buckinghamshire Golf Club. The village name is derived from the Old English for homestead in a valley and it was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Deneham. The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary has a flint and stone Norman tower, the tree-lined Village Road includes several old red brick houses with mature Wisteria on them, and has been used as a location in British films and television. Southlands Manor is a Grade II listed building and its entry on the English Heritage website states that it was built in the 16th century, with a variety of later changes including the addition of four chimney stacks in the early 17th-century. Denham Film Studios were near the village, housing growth has over the years created new parts to Denham. Modern-day Denham consists of, Denham Village, as above, the original settlement Denham Garden Village, Denham Green grew up around the shops beside the railway station. Alexander Kordas Denham Film Studios used the Broadwater Park land between the junction of the road to Rickmansworth and Moor Hall Road towards Harefield, after the War, the camp land was sold off piecemeal for housing, following a similar trend all over Metro-land. Denham railway station has services to London Marylebone and High Wycombe and limited services to Princes Risborough. Connecting services link to Birmingham Snow Hill, Stratford-on-Avon and Kidderminster, the 331 bus service between Uxbridge and Ruislip stations calls at the Station Parade shops in Denham Green. The 724 Green Line bus service between Harlow and Heathrow passes through Denham Green to Uxbridge and onwards to Heathrow Airport, terminating at the Bus Station at Heathrow Central, the 581 circular bus service provides a link between the various areas of Denham and Uxbridge bus station. The Saturdays-only 582 service links the various Denhams with Iver, Slough, the R21 bus service between Uxbridge and Mount Vernon Hospital in Northwood stops twice daily at Denham Station every day except Sunday. This service is run by Red Rose Travel and forms part of a regular service between Northwood and Maple Cross. Denham Aerodrome was established during the 1930s and is sited on land to the north of the village. It is the base of private and executive aircraft and helicopters and has several hangars. InterContinental Hotels Group has its headquarters and European head office in Denham. Denham Village Infant School, in Cheapside Lane, was the school for Denham. The school building dates from 1832 and is listed, Denham Green E-ACT Primary Academy is located on Nightingale Way, Denham Green
7.
Buckinghamshire
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Development in this region is restricted by the Metropolitan Green Belt. Other large settlements include the county town of Aylesbury, Marlow in the south near the Thames and Princes Risborough in the west near Oxford. Some areas without rail links to London, such as around the old county town of Buckingham. The largest town is Milton Keynes in the northeast, which with the area is administered as a unitary authority separately to the rest of Buckinghamshire. The remainder of the county is administered by Buckinghamshire County Council as a non-metropolitan county, in national elections, Buckinghamshire is considered a reliable supporter of the Conservative Party. A large part of the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, runs through the south of the county and attracts many walkers, in this area older buildings are often made from local flint and red brick. Chequers, an estate owned by the government, is the country retreat of the incumbent Prime Minister. To the north of the county lies rolling countryside in the Vale of Aylesbury, the Thames forms part of the county’s southwestern boundary. Notable service amenities in the county are Pinewood Film Studios, Dorney rowing lake, many national companies have offices in Milton Keynes. Heavy industry and quarrying is limited, with agriculture predominating after service industries, the name Buckinghamshire is Anglo-Saxon in origin and means The district of Buccas home. Buccas home refers to Buckingham in the north of the county, the county has been so named since about the 12th century, however, the county has existed since it was a subdivision of the kingdom of Mercia. Historically, the biggest change to the county came in the 19th century, Buckinghamshire is a popular home for London commuters, leading to greater local affluence, however, some pockets of relative deprivation remain. As a result, most county institutions are now based in the south of the county or Milton Keynes, the county can be split into two sections geographically. The county includes parts of two of the four longest rivers in England, the River Thames forms the southern boundary with Berkshire, which has crept over the border at Eton and Slough so that the river is no longer the sole boundary between the two counties. The River Great Ouse rises just outside the county in Northamptonshire and flows east through Buckingham, Milton Keynes, the main branch of the Grand Union Canal passes through the county as do its arms to Slough, Aylesbury, Wendover and Buckingham. The canal has been incorporated into the landscaping of Milton Keynes, the southern part of the county is dominated by the Chiltern Hills. The two highest points in Buckinghamshire are Haddington Hill in Wendover Woods at 267 metres above sea level, quarrying has taken place for chalk, clay for brickmaking and gravel and sand in the river valleys. Flint, also extracted from quarries, was used to build older local buildings
8.
Magdalene College, Cambridge
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Magdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in coming to be known as Buckingham College. Magdalene College has some of the grandest benefactors including Britains premier noble the Duke of Norfolk, however the refoundation was largely the work of Thomas Audley, Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII. Audley also gave the college its motto—garde ta foy, audleys successors in the Mastership and as benefactors of the College were, however, prone to dire ends, several benefactors were arraigned at various stages on charges of high treason and executed. The colleges most famous alumnus is Samuel Pepys, whose papers and books were donated to the college upon his death, the college boasts a portrait of the famous diarist by Peter Lely, which hangs in the Hall. Magdalene is noted for its style, it boasts a well-regarded candlelit formal hall and was the last all-male college in Oxford or Cambridge to admit women in 1988. This change resulted in protests by some undergraduates, including the wearing of black armbands. Magdalenes old buildings are representative of the colleges ramshackle growth from a monks foundation into a centre of education and it is also distinctive in that most of the old buildings are in brick rather than stone. Magdalene Street divides the most ancient courts from more recent developments, one of the accommodation blocks in the newer part of the college was built by Edwin Lutyens in the early 1930s. Opened in 2005, Cripps Court, on Chesterton Road, features new undergraduate rooms, Magdalene remains, despite this 20th-century expansion, one of the smaller colleges within the University, numbering some 300 undergraduates and an expanding postgraduate community. Magdalene College was first founded in 1428 as Monks Hostel, which hosted Benedictine student monks, the secluded location of the hostel was chosen because it was separated from the town centre by the River Cam and protected by the Cambridge Castle. The main buildings of the college were first constructed in the 1470s under the leadership of John de Wisbech, under the patronage of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, the institution was renamed Buckingham College. In the 16th century, the Church of England broke away from the Papacy, with the subsequent Dissolution of the Monasteries, the parent abbey of Buckingham College, Crowland Abbey, was dissolved. However, the college remained in operation, walden Abbey, one of the Benedictine abbeys associated with Buckingham College, came into the possession of Thomas Audley after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. In 1542, Audley refounded Buckingham College as the College of Saint Mary Magdalene, derived from Audley were the arms of Magdalene, including the motto Garde Ta Foy, and the wyvern as the crest. Thomas Audley died in 1544 aged 56, only two years after he re-founded the college and he donated to the college seven acres of property at Aldgate in London, which was his reward from Henry VIII for disposing of Anne Boleyn. This property would have brought enormous income had it been retained by the college, however, under the conspiracy of the Elizabethan banker Benedict Spinola, the property was permanently alienated to the Crown in 1574. The transaction involved Spinola luring the master and fellows of the time to accept an increase in the rental from £9 to £15 a year in exchange for the property
9.
Rachel Kempson
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Rachel, Lady Redgrave, known primarily by her birth name Rachel Kempson, was an English actress. She married Sir Michael Redgrave, and was the matriarch of the famous acting dynasty, Kempson trained at RADA before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company. She married Michael Redgrave in 1935 and the couple appeared together many times on stage and she made three films with her daughter Lynn, and two films with her other daughter Vanessa. Her 1986 autobiography, Life Among the Redgraves was published by Dutton, Kempson was born in Dartmouth, Devon, the daughter of Beatrice Hamilton and Eric William Edward Kempson, a headmaster. Kempson married fellow actor Michael Redgrave in 1935, and became the daughter-in-law of Roy Redgrave, Clark, Kelly B. Clark and Annabel Lucy Clark. In 1959 her husband was knighted, and she became, formally and she never used this title professionally. In 2003, four days before what would have been her 93rd birthday, she died of a stroke at the home of her granddaughter, Natasha Richardson, in Millbrook, Richardson died on 18 March 2009 in a skiing accident and was buried near Kempson. Kempsons youngest daughter, Lynn Redgrave was also buried in the cemetery on 8 May 2010. When Rachel died she was survived by 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren
10.
Vanessa Redgrave
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Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist. She is a 2003 American Theatre Hall of Fame inductee, and she also received Tony nominations for The Year of Magical Thinking and Driving Miss Daisy. On screen, she has starred in scores of films and is a six-time Oscar nominee and her other nominations were for Morgan, A Suitable Case for Treatment, Isadora, Mary, Queen of Scots, The Bostonians and Howards End. Among her other films are A Man for All Seasons, Blowup, Camelot, The Devils, Murder on the Orient Express, Prick Up Your Ears, Mission, Impossible, Atonement, Coriolanus and The Butler. Redgrave was born in Greenwich, London, the daughter of actors Sir Michael Redgrave, laurence Olivier announced her birth to the audience at a performance of Hamlet at the Old Vic, when he said that Laertes had a daughter. She was educated at the Alice Ottley School, Worcester, and Queens Gate School, London and her siblings, Lynn Redgrave and Corin Redgrave, were also acclaimed actors. Vanessa Redgrave entered the Central School of Speech and Drama in 1954 and she first appeared in the West End, playing opposite her brother, in 1958. In 1960, Redgrave had her first starring role in Robert Bolts The Tiger, in 1961, she played Rosalind in As You Like It for the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1962, she played Imogen in William Gaskills production of Cymbeline for the RSC. In 1966, Redgrave created the role of Jean Brodie in the Donald Albery production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and she won four Evening Standard Awards for Best Actress in four decades. In 2003 she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in the Broadway revival of Eugene ONeills Long Days Journey Into Night. In January 2006, Redgrave was presented the Ibsen Centennial Award for her work in interpreting many of Henrik Ibsens works over the last decades. Previous recipients of the award include Liv Ullmann, Glenda Jackson, for this, she won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play. She reprised the role at the Lyttelton Theatre at the Royal National Theatre in London to mixed reviews and she also spent a week performing the work at the Theatre Royal in Bath in September 2008. She once again performed the role of Joan Didion for a benefit at New Yorks Cathedral of Saint John the Divine on 26 October 2009. The performance was originally slated to debut on 27 April, but was pushed due to the death of Redgraves daughter Natasha, the proceeds for the benefit were donated to the United Nations Childrens Fund and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Both charities work to help for the children of Gaza. In October 2010, she starred in the Broadway premiere of Driving Miss Daisy starring in the role opposite James Earl Jones
11.
Corin Redgrave
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Corin William Redgrave was an English actor and far-left political activist. Redgrave was born on 16 July 1939 in Marylebone, London and he was educated at Westminster School and Kings College, Cambridge. Redgrave played a range of character roles on film, television. On stage, he was noted for performances by Shakespeare and Noël Coward, two years later he starred in the original London production of The General from America as Benedict Arnold. When the play transferred to Broadway the following season Redgrave switched roles, in 2005, Redgrave had just finished an engagement playing the lead in King Lear with the Royal Shakespeare Company in London when he suffered a severe heart attack. In 2008, he returned to the stage in a highly praised portrayal of Oscar Wilde in the one-man-play De Profundis, in 2009, he starred in Trumbo, which opened only hours after the death of his niece, Natasha Richardson. He took the part of Sir George Grey in the New Zealand TV miniseries The Governor. He wrote a play called Blunt Speaking, in which he performed at the Minerva Theatre between 23 July -10 August 2002, Redgrave was a lifelong activist in far-left politics. With his elder sister Vanessa, he was a prominent member of the Workers Revolutionary Party, later, after the collapse of the WRP, he was involved with the Marxist Party, which the two siblings founded. Both Redgrave and his wife, Kika Markham, expressed support for activist group Viva Palestina, led by British MP George Galloway. He was also a defender of the interests of the Romani people, Corin Redgrave was part of the third generation of a theatrical dynasty spanning four generations. His parents were Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, Vanessa and his first marriage was to Deirdre Deline Hamilton-Hill. They had a daughter, actress Jemma Redgrave, and a son, Luke, Redgrave and Hamilton-Hill divorced in 1975. Redgrave and Kika Markham married in 1985 in Wandsworth, London, the couple had two sons, Harvey and Arden. He wrote a memoir about his relationship with his father entitled Michael Redgrave - My Father. It also revealed his fathers bisexuality, Redgrave was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2000, which continued to affect him until he died in 2010. In June 2005, he was described by his family as being in a critical but stable condition in hospital following a heart attack at a public meeting in Basildon. In March 2009, Redgrave returned to the London stage playing the role in Trumbo
12.
Lynn Redgrave
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Lynn Redgrave, OBE was an English actress. A member of the Redgrave family, Lynn trained in London before making her debut in 1962. By the mid-1960s, she had appeared in films, including Tom Jones and Georgy Girl which won her a New York Film Critics Award and nominations for an Academy Award. In 1967, she made her Broadway debut and performed in stage productions in New York while making frequent returns to Londons West End. She performed with her sister Vanessa in Three Sisters in London and she made a return to films in the late 1990s in films such as Shine and Gods and Monsters for which she received another Academy Award nomination. Redgrave is the person to have been nominated for all of the Big Four American entertainment awards without winning any of them. Redgrave was born in Marylebone, London, to actors Sir Michael Redgrave and her sister is actress Vanessa Redgrave, her brother was actor and political activist Corin Redgrave. Her grandfather was silent screen leading man Roy Redgrave, after training in Londons Central School of Speech and Drama, Redgrave made her professional debut in a 1962 production of A Midsummer Nights Dream at the Royal Court Theatre. Following a tour of Billy Liar and repertory work in Dundee, she made her West End debut at the Haymarket, hunters The Tulip Tree with Celia Johnson and John Clements. During that time, she appeared in such as Tom Jones, Girl with Green Eyes, The Deadly Affair. For the last of these roles, she gained the New York Film Critics Award, the Golden Globe, in 1967, she made her Broadway debut in Black Comedy with Michael Crawford and Geraldine Page. London appearances included Michael Frayns The Two of Us with Richard Briers at the Garrick, David Hares Slag at the Royal Court, in 1974, she returned to Broadway in My Fat Friend. There soon followed Knock Knock with Charles Durning, Mrs. Warrens Profession with Ruth Gordon, and Saint Joan. In the 1985-86 season, she appeared with Rex Harrison, Claudette Colbert, in 1983, she played Cleopatra in an American television version of Antony and Cleopatra opposite Timothy Dalton. In 1988, she narrated a television documentary, Silent Mouse. In the early winter of 1991, she starred with Stewart Granger, highlights of her early film career also include The National Health, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex*, The Happy Hooker, and Getting It Right. In the United States, she was seen on television series as Teachers Only, House Calls, Centennial. She also starred in BBC productions such as The Faint-Hearted Feminist, A Woman Alone, Death of a Son, Calling the Shots, and Fighting Back
13.
Roy Redgrave
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George Ellsworthy Roy Redgrave was an English stage and silent film actor. Redgrave is considered to be the first member of the Redgrave acting dynasty, by 1897, he was professionally known as Roy Redgrave apparently in the belief that he was descended from Rob Roy. The Redgrave family originated in the Northamptonshire village of Crick, Redgrave also assumed the middle name Elsworthy from his mother, and his sister took the stage name Dolly Elsworthy. Redgrave was the eldest of five including, Zoe Adelina Dolly Elsworthy, Cornelius, Christopher. His first wife was actress Ellen Maud Pratt, the daughter of prosperous Devon farmer and her stage name was Judith Kyrle. They were married in Littleham-cum-Exmouth, Devon on 1 September 1894 and their careers reached a high point at their joint debut at the Britannia Theatre, Hoxton in April 1900 with Roy billed as The Dramatic Cock o the North. They had three children, John Kyrle born in 1895, Robin Roy born in 1897 and Nellie Maud born in 1898, about this time Redgrave fell in love with a young actress named Esther Mary Cooke, daughter of Victor Cooke, huntsman and riding master. Ellen discovered the affair and Ettie fled Britain for South Africa, Redgrave followed her to South Africa. Ettie married Clayton Parrett by special licence between 28 October and 10 November 1903, on a Sunday at St. Georges Cathedral in Cape Town, Redgrave arrived two days later on the Tuesday. Ettie then left Clayton Parrett and went with Redgrave to Australia where she bore him a son, Victor Redgrave Parrett. At some point after initial Australian theatre work, Redgrave left for England alone, Roy toured with her on the J. C. Williamson circuit. According to Corin Redgrave, Ellen pursued Roy to Australia, arriving in time to pay his hotel bills. Ellen remarried Frederick John Nettlefold, a landed gentleman, in Brighton. However Redgrave did return to Britain, appearing in repertory at the Grand Theatre, Brighton and she eventually adopted the stage name Margaret Scudamore. Six months after Michaels birth, Redgrave left Daisy and returned to Australia again, william Anderson, a Melbourne producer, had just built the Kings Theatre, and needed actors. His name appears in June 1909, when he performed in the play The Bank of England, the following year, Anderson, known for his fondness of the lurid and sensational, had Roy collaborate with him on a play about the just ended Dr. Crippen case. Crippen was hanged in November 1910, the play was called By Wireless Telegraphy, which was staged by Anderson at the Kings Theatre, Melbourne, from 22 October 1910. Although he claimed he did not like motion picture acting he appeared in silent films
14.
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
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There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. Recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire were at first made on the nomination of the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions of the Empire, nominations continue today from Commonwealth countries that participate in recommending British honours. Most members are citizens of the United Kingdom or the Commonwealth realms that use the Imperial system of honours and awards. Honorary knighthoods are appointed to citizens of nations where the Queen is not head of state, occasionally, honorary appointees are, incorrectly, referred to as Sir or Dame – Bill Gates or Bob Geldof, for example. In particular, King George V wished to create an Order to honour many thousands of those who had served in a variety of non-combatant roles during the First World War, when first established, the Order had only one division. However, in 1918, soon after its foundation, it was divided into Military. The Orders motto is For God and the Empire, at the foundation of the Order, the Medal of the Order of the British Empire was instituted, to serve as a lower award granting recipients affiliation but not membership. In 1922, this was renamed the British Empire Medal, in addition, the BEM is awarded by the Cook Islands and by some other Commonwealth nations. The British monarch is Sovereign of the Order, and appoints all members of the Order. The next most senior member is the Grand Master, of whom there have been three, Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales, Queen Mary, and the current Grand Master, the Duke of Edinburgh. The Order is limited to 300 Knights and Dames Grand Cross,845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8,960 Commanders. There are no limits applied to the number of members of the fourth and fifth classes. Foreign recipients, as members, do not contribute to the numbers restricted to the Order as full members do. Though men can be knighted separately from an order of chivalry, women cannot, and so the rank of Knight/Dame Commander of the Order is the lowest rank of damehood, and second-lowest of knighthood. Because of this, Dame Commander is awarded in circumstances in which a man would be created a Knight Bachelor, for example, by convention, female judges of the High Court of Justice are created Dames Commander after appointment, while male judges become Knights Bachelor. The Order has six officials, the Prelate, the Dean, the Secretary, the Registrar, the King of Arms, the Bishop of London, a senior bishop in the Church of England, serves as the Orders Prelate. The Dean of St Pauls is ex officio the Dean of the Order, the Orders King of Arms is not a member of the College of Arms, as are many other heraldic officers. From time to time, individuals are appointed to a higher grade within the Order, thereby ceasing usage of the junior post-nominal letters
15.
Silent film
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A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. The silent film era lasted from 1895 to 1936, in silent films for entertainment, the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, mime and title cards which contain a written indication of the plot or key dialogue. During silent films, a pianist, theatre organist, or, in large cities, pianists and organists would either play from sheet music or improvise, an orchestra would play from sheet music. The term silent film is therefore a retronym—that is, a term created to distinguish something retroactively, the early films with sound, starting with The Jazz Singer in 1927, were referred to as talkies, sound films, or talking pictures. A September 2013 report by the United States Library of Congress announced that a total of 70% of American silent feature films are believed to be completely lost, the earliest precursors of film began with image projection through the use of a device known as the magic lantern. This utilized a glass lens, a shutter and a persistent light source, such as a powerful lantern and these slides were originally hand-painted, but still photographs were used later on after the technological advent of photography in the nineteenth century. The invention of a practical photography apparatus preceded cinema by only fifty years, the next significant step towards film creation was the development of an understanding of image movement. Simulations of movement date as far back as to 1828 and only four years after Paul Roget discovered the phenomenon he called Persistence of Vision. This experience was further demonstrated through Rogets introduction of the thaumatrope, the first projected primary proto-movie was made by Eadweard Muybridge between 1877 and 1880. Muybridge set up a row of cameras along a racetrack and timed image exposures to capture the many stages of a horses gallop, the oldest surviving film was created by Louis Le Prince in 1888. It was a film of people walking in Oakwood streets garden. Edison also made a business of selling Kinetograph and Kinetoscope equipment, due to Edisons lack of securing an international patent on his film inventions, similar devices were invented around the world. The Lumière brothers, for example, created the Cinématographe in France, the Cinématographe proved to be a more portable and practical device than both of Edisons as it combined a camera, film processor and projector in one unit. In contrast to Edisons peepshow-style kinetoscope, which one person could watch through a viewer. Their first film, Sortie de lusine Lumière de Lyon, shot in 1894, is considered the first true motion picture, the invention of celluloid film, which was strong and flexible, greatly facilitated the making of motion pictures. This film was 35 mm wide and pulled using four sprocket holes and this doomed the cinematograph, which could only use film with just one sprocket hole. From the very beginnings of film production, the art of motion pictures grew into maturity in the silent era. Silent filmmakers pioneered the art form to the extent that virtually every style, the silent era was also pioneering era from a technical point of view
16.
Clifton College
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Clifton College is a co-educational independent school in the suburb of Clifton in the port city of Bristol in South West England, founded in 1862. Having linked its General Studies classes with Badminton School since 1738, the dedicated Jewish boarding house closed in 1738 It was at Clifton that the second-highest cricket score ever recorded was made by 13 year-old A. E. J. Collins in June 1899. Collinss 628 not out stood as the record score till January 2016 when Pranav Dhanawade,15 years old, of Mumbai, India, Collins was killed in World War I. The school was also the headquarters of the US army in Britain for part of the Second World War, Clifton is one of the original 26 English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Yearbook of 1889. The school takes boys and girls aged between 13 and 18, to distinguish it from the junior schools, Clifton College proper is referred to as the Upper School. There are around 720 children in the Upper School of whom about a third are girls, at the start of the 2004 -2005 school year, a new boarding/day house for girls was opened. During World War II the heavy bombing of Bristol caused the students to be evacuated to Bude, in February 1941 the buildings were used by the Royal Army Service Corps as an Officer Cadet Training Unit. In 1942 they were replaced by the United States Army who established it as the headquarters of V Corps, staff were involved in preparations for the Normandy landings under General Omar Bradley. After D-Day the college was taken over as headquarters of the Ninth Army under General William Hood Simpson, to enable rapid travel and communications between the headquarters and dispersed units extensive use was made of light aircraft for travel. Before 1987, Clifton was a school with seven boarding houses. In each of the current seven boarding Houses live the Housemaster or Housemistress and family, an Assistant, in addition, each House has up to four non-residential Tutors. There are also houses in Clifton College Preparatory School that are not listed below, several other houses have existed during the schools history. In WW2, while the school was evacuated to Bude, United House was created from pupils of houses placed in temporary abeyance, dakyns House and Browns House were closed in 1993, and Polacks House, which took Jewish boys only, was closed in 2005. List of Victoria Crosses by School Clifton College Register 1862 -1962 - Published by the Old Cliftonian Society Clifton College website
17.
University of Cambridge
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The University of Cambridge is a collegiate public research university in Cambridge, England, often regarded as one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Founded in 1209 and given royal status by King Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. The university grew out of an association of scholars who left the University of Oxford after a dispute with the townspeople, the two ancient universities share many common features and are often referred to jointly as Oxbridge. Cambridge is formed from a variety of institutions which include 31 constituent colleges, Cambridge University Press, a department of the university, is the worlds oldest publishing house and the second-largest university press in the world. The university also operates eight cultural and scientific museums, including the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridges libraries hold a total of around 15 million books, eight million of which are in Cambridge University Library, a legal deposit library. In the year ended 31 July 2015, the university had an income of £1.64 billion. The central university and colleges have an endowment of around £5.89 billion. The university is linked with the development of the high-tech business cluster known as Silicon Fen. It is a member of associations and forms part of the golden triangle of leading English universities and Cambridge University Health Partners. As of 2017, Cambridge is ranked the fourth best university by three ranking tables and no other institution in the world ranks in the top 10 for as many subjects. Cambridge is consistently ranked as the top university in the United Kingdom, the university has educated many notable alumni, including eminent mathematicians, scientists, politicians, lawyers, philosophers, writers, actors, and foreign Heads of State. Ninety-five Nobel laureates, fifteen British prime ministers and ten Fields medalists have been affiliated with Cambridge as students, faculty, by the late 12th century, the Cambridge region already had a scholarly and ecclesiastical reputation, due to monks from the nearby bishopric church of Ely. The University of Oxford went into suspension in protest, and most scholars moved to such as Paris, Reading. After the University of Oxford reformed several years later, enough remained in Cambridge to form the nucleus of the new university. A bull in 1233 from Pope Gregory IX gave graduates from Cambridge the right to teach everywhere in Christendom, the colleges at the University of Cambridge were originally an incidental feature of the system. No college is as old as the university itself, the colleges were endowed fellowships of scholars. There were also institutions without endowments, called hostels, the hostels were gradually absorbed by the colleges over the centuries, but they have left some indicators of their time, such as the name of Garret Hostel Lane. Hugh Balsham, Bishop of Ely, founded Peterhouse, Cambridges first college, the most recently established college is Robinson, built in the late 1970s
18.
Cranleigh School
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Cranleigh School is an independent English boarding school in the village of Cranleigh, Surrey. The Good Schools Guide described the school as a Hugely popular school with loads on offer, improving academia, ideal for the sporty, energetic, sociable, independent and lovely child. It grew rapidly and by the 1880s had more than 300 pupils although, as many similar schools, it declined over the next 30 years. Two powerful headmasters - Herbert Rhodes and David Loveday restored Cranleighs fortunes, Cranleigh started to admit girls in the early 1970s and became fully co-educational in 1999. The current headmaster is Martin Reader with former East Housemaster, Simon Bird, the schools Trevor Abbott Sports Centre was opened by Sir Richard Branson and the West House was opened by Baroness Greenfield. New building projects include the completed extension onto Cubitt House as well as an environmentally friendly Woodland Workshop]. Named after David Emms, this was opened by Lord Patten of Barnes in 2009, the building includes new facilities for Science and Modern Languages as well as a lecture theatre. A £2 million renovation of the chapel in 2009 included the installation of a £500,000 Mander organ, about 6,500 past pupils are currently members. The Old Cranleighan Sports Club in Thames Ditton in Surrey is owned by the Society, the thirty seventh steam locomotive in the Southern Railways Class V, built in 1934 was named Cranleigh after the school
19.
Hamlet
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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare at an uncertain date between 1599 and 1602. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatises the revenge Prince Hamlet is called to wreak upon his uncle, Claudius, by the ghost of Hamlets father, Claudius had murdered his own brother and seized the throne, also marrying his deceased brothers widow. It has inspired many other writers—from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Charles Dickens to James Joyce and he almost certainly wrote his version of the title role for his fellow actor, Richard Burbage, the leading tragedian of Shakespeares time. In the 400 years since its inception, the role has been performed by highly acclaimed actors in each successive century. Three different early versions of the play are extant, the First Quarto, the Second Quarto, each version includes lines and entire scenes missing from the others. The plays structure and depth of characterisation have inspired much critical scrutiny, the protagonist of Hamlet is Prince Hamlet of Denmark, son of the recently deceased King Hamlet, and nephew of King Claudius, his fathers brother and successor. Claudius hastily married King Hamlets widow, Gertrude, Hamlets mother, Denmark has a long-standing feud with neighboring Norway, which culminated when King Hamlet slew King Fortinbras of Norway in a battle years ago. Although Denmark defeated Norway, and the Norwegian throne fell to King Fortinbrass infirm brother, Denmark fears that an invasion led by the dead Norwegian kings son, Prince Fortinbras, is imminent. On a cold night on the ramparts of Elsinore, the Danish royal castle and they vow to tell Prince Hamlet what they have witnessed. As the court gathers the next day, while King Claudius and Queen Gertrude discuss affairs of state with their elderly adviser Polonius, after the court exits, Hamlet despairs of his fathers death and his mothers hasty remarriage. Learning of the ghost from Horatio, Hamlet resolves to see it himself, as Poloniuss son Laertes prepares to depart for a visit to France, Polonius gives him contradictory advice that culminates in the ironic maxim to thine own self be true. Poloniuss daughter, Ophelia, admits her interest in Hamlet, and that night on the rampart, the ghost appears to Hamlet, telling the prince that he was murdered by Claudius and demanding that Hamlet avenge him. Hamlet agrees and the ghost vanishes, the prince confides to Horatio and the sentries that from now on he plans to put an antic disposition on and forces them to swear to keep his plans for revenge secret. Privately, however, he remains uncertain of the ghosts reliability, soon thereafter, Ophelia rushes to her father, telling him that Hamlet arrived at her door the prior night half-undressed and behaving crazily. Polonius blames love for Hamlets madness and resolves to inform Claudius, as he enters to do so, the king and queen finish welcoming Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two student acquaintances of Hamlet, to Elsinore. The royal couple has requested that the students investigate the cause of Hamlets mood, additional news requires that Polonius wait to be heard, messengers from Norway inform Claudius that the King of Norway has rebuked Prince Fortinbras for attempting to re-fight his fathers battles. The forces that Fortinbras conscripted to march against Denmark will instead be sent against Poland, Polonius tells Claudius and Gertrude his theory regarding Hamlets behavior, and speaks to Hamlet in a hall of the castle to try to uncover more information. Hamlet feigns madness but subtly insults Polonius all the while, when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive, Hamlet greets his friends warmly, but quickly discerns that they are spies
20.
King Lear
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King Lear is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. The Tragedy of King Lear, a more theatrical revision, was included in the 1623 First Folio, Modern editors usually conflate the two, though some insist that each version has its own individual integrity that should be preserved. The tragedy is particularly noted for its probing observations on the nature of human suffering, george Bernard Shaw wrote, No man will ever write a better tragedy than Lear. The eldest, Goneril, speaks first, declaring her love for her father in fulsome terms, moved by her flattery Lear proceeds to grant to Goneril her share as soon as she has finished her declaration, before Regan and Cordelia have a chance to speak. He then awards to Regan her share as soon as she has spoken, in his anger he disinherits Cordelia and divides her share between Regan and Goneril. Kent objects to Lears unfair treatment of Cordelia, enraged by Kents protests, Lear then summons the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France, who have both proposed marriage to Cordelia. Learning that Cordelia has been disinherited, the Duke of Burgundy withdraws his suit, the King of France is shocked by Lears decision because up until this time Lear has only praised and favored Cordelia. Meanwhile, Gloucester has introduced his illegitimate son Edmund to Kent, Lear announces he will live alternately with Goneril and Regan, and their husbands. He reserves to himself a retinue of one hundred knights, to be supported by his daughters, Goneril and Regan speak privately, revealing that their declarations of love were fake, and that they view Lear as a foolish old man. Edmund resents his illegitimate status, and plots to dispose of his older brother Edgar. He tricks their father Gloucester with a letter, making him think Edgar plans to usurp the estate. Kent returns from exile in disguise under the name of Caius, Lear and Caius quarrel with Oswald, Gonerils steward. Lear discovers that now that Goneril has power, she no longer respects him and she orders him to behave better and reduces his retinue. Enraged, Lear departs for Regans home, Edmund learns from Curan, a courtier, that there is likely to be war between Albany and Cornwall, and that Regan and Cornwall are to arrive at Gloucesters house that evening. Taking advantage of the arrival of the duke and Regan, Edmund fakes an attack by Edgar and he disinherits Edgar and proclaims him an outlaw. Bearing Lears message to Regan, Caius meets Oswald again at Gloucesters home, quarrels with him again, when Lear arrives, he objects to the mistreatment of his messenger, but Regan is as dismissive of her father as Goneril was. Goneril arrives and supports Regans argument against him, Lear yields completely to his rage. He rushes out into a storm to rant against his ungrateful daughters, Kent later follows to protect him
21.
The Tempest
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The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on an island, where the sorcerer Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place using illusion. He conjures up a storm, the eponymous tempest, to lure his usurping brother Antonio, there, his machinations bring about the revelation of Antonios lowly nature, the redemption of the King, and the marriage of Miranda to Alonsos son, Ferdinand. In addition, one of Gonzalos speeches is derived from Montaignes essay Of the Canibales, the masque in Act 4 may have been a later addition, possibly in honour of the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V in 1613. The play was first published in the First Folio of 1623, the story draws heavily on the tradition of the romance, and it was influenced by tragicomedy, the courtly masque and perhaps the commedia dellarte. It differs from Shakespeares other plays in its observation of a stricter, H. Gonzalo, Alonsos counselor, had secretly supplied their boat with some food, fresh water, rich garments, linens, stuffs and necessaries, and volumes that Prospero prizes. Prospero maintains Ariels loyalty by promising to release the airy spirit from servitude. Sycorax had been exiled from Algiers to the island for wreaking havoc with her magic, Sycorax son, Caliban, a deformed monster and the only non-spiritual inhabitant before the arrival of Prospero, was initially adopted and raised by him. He taught Prospero how to survive on the island, while Prospero and Miranda taught Caliban religion, in slavery, Caliban has come to view Prospero as a usurper and has grown to resent him and his daughter. Prospero and Miranda in turn view Caliban with disappointment, contempt, Prospero only performs one act of magic himself directly on stage, he disarms Ferdinand, causing his nerves to become in their infancy again. The rest of his magic is through controlling spirits, which is how magicians of the time were believed to operate, Prospero, having divined that his brother Antonio is on a nearby ship, has raised a tempest that causes the passengers to believe they are shipwrecked and marooned. Also on the ship are Antonios friend and fellow conspirator, King Alonso of Naples, Alonsos brother and son and Alonsos trusted counselor, all these passengers are returning from the wedding of Alonsos daughter Claribel and the King of Tunis. Prospero contrives to separate the shipwreck survivors into several groups by his spells, three plots then alternate through the play. In one, Caliban falls in with Stephano and Trinculo, two drunkards, believing Stephano to be a god who bears celestial liquor. They attempt to raise a coup against Prospero, which ultimately fails, in the third subplot, Antonio and Sebastian conspire to kill Alonso and Gonzalo so that Sebastian can become King. Ariel thwarts them, at Prosperos command, Ariel appears to the three men of sin as a harpy, reprimanding them for their betrayal of Prospero. Prospero, who has witnessed this, leaves to visit Ferdinand, the three guilty nobles run off, distracted and in a frenzy, and Gonzalo and the attendant lords chase after to prevent them from doing what this ecstasy may now provoke them to. Prospero then explains that he tested Ferdinand, and betroths a willing Miranda to him and he then asks Ariel to bring some other spirits and create a masque to entertain the young couple
22.
Guildford School of Acting
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Guildford School of Acting is a drama school in Guildford, Surrey, England. It is a school in the University of Surrey with accreditation from Drama UK for its professional training degrees. As of 2014, it is the top scoring Drama UK accredited school for student satisfaction, Guildford School of Acting, originally known as the Grant-Bellairs School of Dance and Drama, was founded in London in 1935 by Pauline Grant and Bice Bellairs. The school moved to Guildford in 1945 as a result of World War II, in 1964, the school became a charitable organisation and was renamed Guildford School of Acting & Dance. In the early 1990s the & Dance was dropped, today the school is part of the University of Surreys Stag Hill Campus, Guildford, Surrey. The school offers training and academic degrees in theatre, dance, acting, musical theatre and production skills such as stage management, lighting. Following a re-structure in 2016, GSA now includes the academic programmes in Theatre & Performance and Dance which had previously been part of the universitys School of Arts. Surrey has an association with dance having been the first university in the UK to validate a single honours dance degree. The university also hosts the National Resource Centre for Dance established in 1982, all full-time courses lead towards further and higher education qualifications validated by either the University of Surrey or Trinity College London. A leading performing arts school, GSA is recognised as a centre of excellence for Musical Theatre training alongside research specialisms in performance philosophy and contemporary theatre practice. The Centre for Performance Philosophy, led by Dr. Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca, was founded in 2016 as part of the schools Institute of Performance. As part of its merger with the University of Surrey, the school has moved to a new building which houses all faculties of the school on one site on the university campus. Peter Barlow, GSA Director, was handed the keys by project manager David Austin on 13 November 2009, marking a new era for GSA, the relocation was completed in late 2011 with the opening of the Ivy Performing Arts Centre. The school stages regular private and public performances at both The Ivy Arts Centre and other venues in Guildford and in the UK, in 2015 the school added a course in Actor-Musicianship which will produce its first graduates in 2018. Current management staff, Sean McNamara, Dr. Patrick Duggan, Anna McNamara, Dr. Jaq Bessell, Dr. Trevor Rawlins, Phyllida Crowley-Smith, Joanne Franklin, and Julian Woolford. Industry experts include, Steven Luke Walker, Chris Palmer, Andy Sullivan, Samantha Lloyd and the longest serving acting coach at a UK drama school Ian Ricketts. Andy Lavender, Dr. Adam Alston, Dr. Stuart Andrews, Dr. Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca, Dr. Shantel Ehrenberg, Dr. Rachel Hann, Dr. Sabine Sorgel, and Dr. Matthew Wagner. The school runs regular summer schools and Easter schools and has two foundation courses one in Acting and the other in Musical Theatre
23.
Liverpool Playhouse
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The Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It originated in 1866 as a hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the careers of many actors and actresses. Architectural changes have made to the building over the years. In 1999 a trust was formed, joining the management of the Playhouse with that of the Everyman Theatre, the present theatre on the site was designed by Edward Davies, and opened in 1866. It replaced a theatre called the Star Concert Hall. The present theatre was named the Star Music Hall. In 1895 its name was changed to the Star Theatre of Varieties, the theatre was improved in 1898 by Harry Percival with a new auditorium and foyer, and electricity was installed. In 1911 the Liverpool Repertory Theatre Limited was established, with Basil Dean as its controller and producer, the company could not afford to build a new theatre, and bought the Star Theatre for £28,000 equivalent to £2,570,000 in 2015). This made it the first repertory in Britain to own the freehold of a theatre, the company spent a further £4,000 on redesigning and modernising the theatre. The auditorium and the basement foyer were redesigned by Stanley Adshead, the theatre was for many years managed by Maud Carpenter. The theatre was renamed the Liverpool Repertory Theatre, and in 1916 renamed again, minor structural alterations were made to the theatre in 1961 and in 1966. In 1968 a modern-style extension was added to the north of the theatre to accommodate new foyers, bars, dressing rooms, in the 1990s the theatre company went into liquidation. In 1999 the Liverpool and Merseyside Theatres Trust Limited was established as a charity, and it is managed jointly with the Everyman Theatre by Liverpool City Council. As a repertory company, the theatre has been involved in the careers of actors, noël Coward and Gertrude Lawrence worked with the company as child actors. Other artistes who gained experience at the theatre include Robert Donat, Lilian Braithwaite, Cecil Parker, John Gregson, Clive Brook, aubrey Smith, Richard Burton, Michael Redgrave, Diana Wynyard, Rex Harrison, Patricia Routledge, Anthony Hopkins, and Richard Briers. The exterior of the part of the theatre is stuccoed. Its entrance front faces Williamson Square and it has seven bays and is in three storeys
24.
Liverpool
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Liverpool is a major city and metropolitan borough in North West England.24 million people in 2011. Liverpool historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the south west of the county of Lancashire and it became a borough from 1207 and a city from 1880. In 1889 it became a county borough independent of Lancashire, Liverpool sits on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary and its growth as a major port is paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with general cargo, freight, raw materials such as coal and cotton, the city was also directly involved in the Atlantic slave trade. Liverpool was home to both the Cunard and White Star Line, and was the port of registry of the ocean liner RMS Titanic and others such as the RMS Lusitania, Queen Mary, and Olympic. The city celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2007, and it held the European Capital of Culture title together with Stavanger, Norway, several areas of Liverpool city centre were granted World Heritage Site status by UNESCO in 2004. The Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City includes the Pier Head, Albert Dock, tourism forms a significant part of the citys economy. Liverpool is also the home of two Premier League football clubs, Liverpool and Everton, matches between the two being known as the Merseyside derby, the world-famous Grand National horse race takes place annually at Aintree Racecourse on the outskirts of the city. The city is home to the oldest Black African community in the country. Natives of Liverpool are referred to as Liverpudlians and colloquially as Scousers, a reference to scouse, the word Scouse has also become synonymous with the Liverpool accent and dialect. Pool is a place name element in England from the Brythonic word for a pond, inlet, or pit, cognate with the modern Welsh. The derivation of the first element remains uncertain, with the Welsh word Llif as the most plausible relative and this etymology is supported by its similarity to that of the archaic Welsh name for Liverpool Llynlleifiad. Other origins of the name have suggested, including elverpool. The name appeared in 1190 as Liuerpul, and it may be that the place appearing as Leyrpole, in a record of 1418. King Johns letters patent of 1207 announced the foundation of the borough of Liverpool, the original street plan of Liverpool is said to have been designed by King John near the same time it was granted a royal charter, making it a borough. The original seven streets were laid out in an H shape, Bank Street, Castle Street, Chapel Street, Dale Street, Juggler Street, Moor Street, in the 17th century there was slow progress in trade and population growth. Battles for the town were waged during the English Civil War, in 1699 Liverpool was made a parish by Act of Parliament, that same year its first slave ship, Liverpool Merchant, set sail for Africa. Since Roman times, the city of Chester on the River Dee had been the regions principal port on the Irish Sea
25.
Elmer Rice
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Elmer Rice was an American playwright. He is best known for his plays The Adding Machine and his Pulitzer Prize-winning drama of New York tenement life, Rice was born Elmer Leopold Reizenstein at 127 East 90th Street in New York City, New York. His grandfather was a political activist in the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, after the failure of that political upheaval, he emigrated to the United States where he became a businessman. A staunch atheist, his grandfather may also have influenced Elmer in his feelings about religion as he refused to attend Hebrew school or to have a bar mitzvah, in contrast, Rices relationship with father was very distant. As he wrote in his autobiography, his grandfather and his Uncle Will, both of whom boarded with the family, made up for the affection and attention his father withheld. A child of the tenements, Rice spent much of his reading, to his familys consternation. Though he disliked legal studies and spent a deal of class time reading plays in class, Rice graduated from New York Law School in 1912. Courtroom dramas became a Rice specialty, needing to make a living, he decided to try writing full-time. His first play, On Trial, a murder mystery, was a great success. George M. Cohan offered to buy the rights for $30,000, co-authored with a friend, Frank Harris, the play was purportedly the first American drama to employ the technique of reverse-chronology, telling the story from its conclusion to its starting-point. The author ultimately earned $100,000 from his first work for the stage, none of his later plays earned him as much as On Trial. The play was adapted for the three times, in 1917,1928, and 1939. Political and social issues occupied Rices attention in this period as well, world War I and Woodrow Wilsons conservatism confirmed him in his criticism of the status quo. A satire about the growing regimentation of life in the machine age, when Mr. Zero, a mere cog in the corporate machine, discovers that he is to be replaced at work by an adding machine, he snaps and murders his boss. After his trial and execution, he enters the next life only to confront some of the issues and. Theatre critic Brooks Atkinson called it the most original and brilliant play any American had written up to that time. the harshest and most illuminating play about modern society, Dorothy Parker and Alexander Woollcott were enthusiastic. Other reviewers spoke of him, hyperbolically, as a writer who might become Americas Ibsen, ironically, it made its author no money at all. When Dorothy Parker was at work on her own play the year and needed a co-author, she approached Elmer Rice
26.
Tyrone Guthrie
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Guthrie was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, the son of Dr Thomas Guthrie and Norah Power. His great-grandfather was the Irish actor Tyrone Power and he was also a second cousin of the Hollywood actor Tyrone Power. His sister, Susan Margaret, married his university friend. He received a degree in history at Oxford University, where he was active in student theatre, in 1924 Guthrie joined the BBC as a broadcaster and began to produce plays for radio. This led to a year directing for the stage with the Scottish National Players, during the period from 1929 to 1933 he directed at various theatres, including a production of Pirandellos Six Characters in Search of an Author in 1932. During 1933–1934, and 1936–1945 he was director of the Shakespeare Repertory Company, while in Montreal, Guthrie produced the Romance of Canada series of radio plays for recalling epic moments in Canadian history. The series was broadcast on the Canadian National Railway radio network, Butler translated the text for Guthries 1934 production of Anton Chekhovs Cherry Orchard, for perhaps its first English-language production. In the 1940s Guthrie began to direct operas, to acclaim, including a realistic Carmen at Sadlers Wells. Staged in the citys General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland on the Mound, specially adapted for the occasion, in 1953, he was invited to help launch the Stratford Festival of Canada. All performances in the first seasons took place in a tent on the banks of the Avon River. He remained as Artistic Director for three seasons, and his work at Stratford had an influence in the development of Canadian theatre. Guthrie produced Gilbert and Sullivans H. M. S, pinafore in 1960 and The Pirates of Penzance in 1961, which were televised in Canada and also brought to the Phoenix Theatre in New York and on tour in the US. In 1962, as soon as the Gilbert and Sullivan copyrights expired, he brought these productions to Britain and they were among the first Savoy opera productions in Britain not authorized by the DOyly Carte Opera Company. In 1963, he founded the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, peter Hall wrote, Among the great originators in British Theatre. Guthrie was a towering figure in every sense. He blazed a trail for the theatre of the sixties. He showed how to run a company and administer a theatre, and he was a brilliant and at times great director. Guthrie wrote two books about the creation of effective drama, Theatre Prospect and A Life in the Theatre. He was Chancellor of Queens University Belfast, on 15 September 2010 a blue plaque in his memory was unveiled at the BBC in Belfast by the Ulster History Circle
27.
Old Vic
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The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. 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, 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. It was also the name of a company that was based at the theatre and formed the core of the National Theatre of Great Britain on its formation in 1963. The National Theatre remained at the Old Vic until new premises were constructed on the South Bank, the Old Vic then became the home of Prospect Theatre Company, at that time a highly successful touring company which staged such acclaimed productions as Derek Jacobis Hamlet. However, with the withdrawal of funding for the company by the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1980 for breaching its touring obligations, the theatre underwent complete refurbishment in 1985. In 2003, Kevin Spacey was appointed as new director of the Old Vic Theatre Company which received considerable media attention. In 2015, Matthew Warchus succeeded Spacey as artistic director, the theatre was a minor theatre and was thus technically forbidden to show serious drama. Nevertheless, when the theatre passed to George Bolwell Davidge in 1824 he succeeded in bringing legendary actor Edmund Kean south of the river to play six Shakespeare plays in six nights. More popular staples in the repertoire were sensational and violent melodramas demonstrating the evils of drink, churned out by the house dramatist, confirmed teetotaller Douglas Jerrold. On 1 July 1833, the theatre was renamed the Royal Victoria Theatre, under the protection and patronage of Victoria, Duchess of Kent, mother to Princess Victoria, the 14-year-old heir presumptive. The duchess and the princess visited only once, on 28 November of that year, the single visit scarcely justified the Old Vic its later billing as Queen Victorias Own Theayter. By 1835, the theatre was advertising itself simply as the Victoria Theatre, in 1841, David Osbaldiston took over as lessee, succeeded on his death in 1850 by his lover and the theatres leading lady, Eliza Vincent, until her death in 1856. Under their management, the theatre remained devoted to melodrama, in 1867, Joseph Arnold Cave took over as lessee. In 1871 he transferred the lease to Romaine Delatorre, who raised funds for the theatre to be rebuilt in the style of the Alhambra Music Hall, jethro Thomas Robinson was engaged as the architect. In September 1871 the old theatre closed, and the new building opened as the Royal Victoria Palace in December of the same year, by 1873, however, Cave had left and Delatorres venture failed. The penny lectures given in the led to the foundation of Morley College, an adult education college
28.
Love's Labours Lost
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Loves Labours Lost is one of William Shakespeares early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s for a performance at the Inns of Court before Queen Elizabeth I. In an untraditional ending for a comedy, the closes with the death of the Princesss father. The play draws on themes of love and desire, reckoning and rationalization. Though first published in quarto in 1598, the title page suggests a revision of an earlier version of the play. While there are no sources for the plays plot, the four main characters are loosely based on historical figures. The use of apostrophes in the title varies in early editions. The historical personages portrayed and the situation in Europe relating to the setting. Scholars suggest that the play lost popularity as these historical and political portrayals of Navarres court became dated, the plays sophisticated wordplay, pedantic humour and dated literary allusions may also be reasons for its relative obscurity, as compared with Shakespeares more popular works. It has also adapted as a musical, an opera, for radio and television. Loves Labours Lost features the longest scene, the longest single word honorificabilitudinitatibus, Ferdinand, King of Navarre, and his three noble companions, the Lords Berowne, Dumaine, and Longaville, take an oath not to give in to the company of women. They devote themselves to three years of study and fasting, Berowne agrees somewhat more hesitantly than the others, the King declares that no woman should come within a mile of the court. Don Adriano de Armado, a Spaniard visiting the court, comes to tell the King of a tryst between Costard and Jaquenetta, after the King sentences Costard, Don Armado confesses his own love for Jaquenetta to his page, Moth. Don Armado writes Jaquenetta a letter and asks Costard to deliver it, the Princess of France and her ladies arrive, wishing to speak to the King regarding the cession of Aquitaine, but must ultimately make their camp outside the court due to the decree. In visiting the Princess and her ladies at their camp, the King falls in love with the Princess, Berowne gives Costard a letter to deliver to the lady Rosaline, which Costard switches with Don Armados letter that was meant for Jaquenetta. Jaquenetta consults two scholars, Holofernes and Sir Nathaniel, who conclude that the letter is written by Berowne, the King and his lords lie in hiding and watch one another as each subsequently reveals their feelings of love. The King ultimately chastises the lords for breaking the oath, Jaquenetta and Costard enter with Berownes letter and accuse him of treason. Berowne confesses to breaking the oath, explaining that the only worthy of mankind is that of love, and he. Arranging for Holofernes to entertain the ladies later, the men dress as Muscovites
29.
The Country Wife
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The Country Wife is a Restoration comedy written in 1675 by William Wycherley. A product of the tolerant early Restoration period, the play reflects an aristocratic and anti-Puritan ideology, the title itself contains a lewd pun. The scandalous trick and the language have for much of the plays history kept it off the stage. The original play is again a stage favourite today, and is acclaimed by academic critics, who praise its linguistic energy, sharp social satire. After the 18-year Puritan stage ban was lifted at the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, in 1675, at age 35, he created a sensation with The Country Wife, greeted as the bawdiest and wittiest play yet seen on the English stage. A Restoration novelty of which Wycherley took advantage was the readiness of public opinion to accept women on stage, the Country Wife is more neatly constructed than most Restoration comedies, but is typical of its time and place in having three sources and three plots. The separate plots are interlinked but distinct, each projecting a different mood. They may be schematised as Horners impotence trick, the life of Pinchwife and Margery. Horners impotence trick provides the organising principle and the turning-points of the action. The trick, to pretend impotence to be allowed where no man may go, is based on the classic Roman comedy Eunuchus by Terence. He spreads a rumour of his own impotence, to convince married men that he can safely be allowed to socialise with their wives. This diagnostic trick, which invariably works perfectly, is one of The Country Wifes many running jokes at the expense of hypocritical upper-class women who are rakes at heart. The play is structured as a farce, driven by Horners secret and by a succession of near-discoveries of the truth, from which he extricates himself by aplomb and good luck. A final hair-raising threat of exposure comes in the last scene, Horner never becomes a reformed character but is assumed to go on reaping the fruits of his planted misinformation, past the last act and beyond. The married life of Pinchwife and Margery is based on Molières School For Husbands, Pinchwife is a middle-aged man who has married a naive country girl in the hope that she will not know to cuckold him. However, Horner teaches her, and Margery cuts a swath through the complexities of London upper-class marriage, Restoration comedies often contrast town and country for humorous effect, and this is one example of it. A running joke is the way Pinchwifes pathological jealousy always leads him into supplying Margery with the type of information he wishes her not to have. The courtship of Harcourt and Alithea is a love story without any direct source
30.
As You Like It
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As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio,1623. The plays first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility. As You Like It follows its heroine Rosalind as she flees persecution in her uncles court, accompanied by her cousin Celia to find safety and, eventually, love, in the Forest of Arden. In the forest, they encounter a variety of memorable characters, Jaques provides a sharp contrast to the other characters in the play, always observing and disputing the hardships of life in the country. Historically, critical response has varied, with critics finding the work of lesser quality than other Shakespearean works. The play remains a favourite among audiences and has adapted for radio, film. The play is set in a duchy in France, but most of the takes place in a location called the Forest of Arden. Frederick has usurped the Duchy and exiled his brother, Duke Senior. Duke Seniors daughter, Rosalind, has permitted to remain at court because she is the closest friend and cousin of Fredericks only child. Orlando, a gentleman of the kingdom who at first sight has fallen in love with Rosalind, is forced to flee his home after being persecuted by his older brother, Oliver. Frederick becomes angry and banishes Rosalind from court, Celia and Rosalind decide to flee together accompanied by the court fool, Touchstone, with Rosalind disguised as a young man and Celia disguised as a poor lady. Ganymede and Aliena do not immediately encounter the Duke and his companions, instead, they meet Corin, an impoverished tenant, and offer to buy his masters crude cottage. Orlando and his servant Adam, meanwhile, find the Duke and his men and are living with them. Rosalind, also in love with Orlando, meets him as Ganymede, Ganymede says that he will take Rosalinds place and that he and Orlando can act out their relationship. The shepherdess, Phoebe, with whom Silvius is in love, has fallen in love with Ganymede, Touchstone, meanwhile, has fallen in love with the dull-witted shepherdess, Audrey, and tries to woo her, but eventually is forced to be married first. William, another shepherd, attempts to marry Audrey as well, but is stopped by Touchstone, finally, Silvius, Phoebe, Ganymede, and Orlando are brought together in an argument with each other over who will get whom. Ganymede says he will solve the problem, having Orlando promise to marry Rosalind, Orlando sees Oliver in the forest and rescues him from a lioness, causing Oliver to repent for mistreating Orlando. Oliver meets Aliena and falls in love with her, and they agree to marry, Jaques, ever melancholic, declines their invitation to return to the court preferring to stay in the forest and to adopt a religious life as well
31.
The Witch of Edmonton
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The Witch of Edmonton is an English Jacobean play, written by William Rowley, Thomas Dekker and John Ford in 1621. The play depicts Elizabeth Sawyer, an old woman shunned by her neighbours, who gets revenge by selling her soul to the Devil, in addition, there are two subplots. One depicts a bigamist who murders his wife at the devils prompting. Written and first acted in 1621, the play was not published until 1658 and it was entered into the Stationers Register on 21 May that year, the edition that followed was issued by the bookseller Edward Blackmore. The title page of the first edition attributes the play to divers well-esteemed Poets, William Rowley, Thomas Dekker, John Ford, while Goodcoles witch is simply a bad woman, the Sawyer of the play is treated more sympathetically. The play was first acted by Prince Charless Men at the Cockpit Theatre in 1621, a wealthy knight and the employer of Frank Thorney and Winifred. He has an affair with Winifred, and when she gets pregnant. He is a gentleman who has mortgaged all of his lands and he pushes his son to marry Susan Carter in order to escape his financial difficulties. The father of Susan Carter and Katherine Carter and he is a wealthy farmer who uses his daughters’ marriages as means to improve his social status. He beats Mother Sawyer at the beginning of the play for gathering sticks on his land and he becomes bitter when Susan chooses Frank Thorney over him. He makes friends with the Devil-Dog, but due to his innocence and ignorance, the husband of Anne Ratcliffe, a woman who is driven insane by the Devil-Dog at Mother Sawyer’s behest. The local Justice of the Peace and he passes judgment on Frank Thorney and Mother Sawyer at the end of the play. A devil or spirit who has assumed the form of a black dog and he performs mischievous acts for Mother Sawyer after she promises her soul to him. He can only be seen by Mother Sawyer and Cuddy Banks, at Mother Sawyer’s bequest, the Devil-Dog drives her insane and causes her to beat her own brains out. She chooses to marry Frank Thorney rather than Warbeck, Frank murders her when she tries to follow him as he escapes with the dowry money. She is wooed by and agrees to marry Somerton, while nursing Frank back to health, she finds the bloody knife he used to murder her sister Susan, thereby revealing Frank’s guilt. Sir Arthur Clarington’s maid and Frank Thorney’s first wife, sir Arthur gets her pregnant and offers Frank money to marry her. When Frank flees after his marriage, she travels with him disguised as his boy-servant
32.
Laurence Olivier
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Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM, was an English actor who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles, late in his career, he had considerable success in television roles. His family had no connections, but Oliviers father, a clergyman. After attending a school in London, Olivier learned his craft in a succession of acting jobs during the late 1920s. In 1930 he had his first important West End success in Noël Cowards Private Lives, in 1935 he played in a celebrated production of Romeo and Juliet alongside Gielgud and Peggy Ashcroft, and by the end of the decade he was an established star. In the 1940s, together with Richardson and John Burrell, Olivier was the co-director of the Old Vic, there his most celebrated roles included Shakespeares Richard III and Sophocless Oedipus. From 1963 to 1973 he was the director of Britains National Theatre. His own parts there included the role in Othello and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Among Oliviers films are Wuthering Heights, Rebecca, and a trilogy of Shakespeare films as actor-director, Henry V, Hamlet and his later films included Sleuth, Marathon Man, and The Boys from Brazil. His television appearances included an adaptation of The Moon and Sixpence, Long Days Journey into Night, Love Among the Ruins, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Brideshead Revisited, Oliviers honours included a knighthood, a life peerage and the Order of Merit. For his on-screen work he received four Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, five Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. The National Theatres largest auditorium is named in his honour, and he is commemorated in the Laurence Olivier Awards, given annually by the Society of London Theatre. He was married three times, to the actresses Jill Esmond from 1930 to 1940, Vivien Leigh from 1940 to 1960, Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, the youngest of the three children of the Revd Gerard Kerr Olivier and his wife Agnes Louise, née Crookenden. Their elder children were Sybille and Gerard Dacres Dickie and his great-great-grandfather was of French Huguenot descent, and Olivier came from a long line of Protestant clergymen. Gerard Olivier had begun a career as a schoolmaster, but in his thirties he discovered a strong religious vocation and was ordained as a priest of the Church of England and he practised extremely high church, ritualist Anglicanism and liked to be addressed as Father Olivier. This made him unacceptable to most Anglican congregations, and the church posts he was offered were temporary. This meant a nomadic existence, and for Laurences first few years, in 1912, when Olivier was five, his father secured a permanent appointment as assistant priest at St Saviours, Pimlico. He held the post for six years, and a family life was at last possible
33.
Edith Evans
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Dame Edith Mary Evans, DBE was an English actress. She was best known for her work on the stage, but also appeared in films at the beginning, between 1964 and 1968, she was nominated for three Academy Awards. She created roles in two of Shaws plays, Orinthia in The Apple Cart, and Epifania in The Millionairess and was in the British premières of two others, Heartbreak House and Back to Methuselah. Evans was born in Pimlico, London, the daughter of Edward Evans, a civil servant in the General Post Office. She had one sibling, a brother who died at the age of four and she was educated at St Michaels Church of England School, Pimlico, before being apprenticed at the age of 15 in 1903 as a milliner. She commented in later years that she loved the rich and beautiful materials of the craft, poel then cast her as Cressida in Troilus and Cressida in London and subsequently at Stratford-upon-Avon. The critic of The Manchester Guardian found her diction inadequate, but otherwise approved, Miss Edith Evans, Evanss West End debut was in George Moores Elizabeth Cooper in 1913. The play received poor notices, but Evans was praised, In the very part of a maid Miss Edith Evans made the success of the afternoon. She put more into her few minutes than most of our approved stars can suggest in leading parts, in January 1914 she made her professional Shakespearian debut as Gertrude in Hamlet. In 1914, at Moores instigation, Evans was given a contract by the Royalty Theatre in Soho. She played character roles in comedies, as a member of casts that included Gladys Cooper. Over the next ten years she polished her craft in a range of parts. She played in a silent film called A Welsh Singer, directed by, for the same director she acted in East is East in 1917, but thereafter made no more films for over thirty years. In 1922 she made what J T Grein in The Illustrated London News called a triumph in Alfred Sutros comedy The Laughing Lady. Nigel Playfair cast her as the strong-willed and witty heroine in his revival of Congreves Restoration comedy at the Lyric Hammersmith, the critics resorted to superlatives, he main pleasure of the evening is due to Miss Edith Evanss Millamant, a part in which she definitely arrives. This actress imposes herself upon the audience first of all by her Rubens-like vitality and we have always known that she can fill the stage. It was delicious to hear her demand to be sole empress of her tea-table, James Agate wrote, Let me not mince matters. Miss Edith Evans is the most accomplished of living and practising English actresses, arnold Bennett noted in his journals that this Millamant was the finest comedy performance he had ever seen
34.
Embassy Theatre (London)
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The Embassy Theatre is a theatre at 64, Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London. The Embassy Theatre was opened as a company in September 1928 on the initiative of Sybil Arundale. When the premises of Hampstead Conservatoire of Music were adapted by architect Andrew Mather, the following were some of its productions, The Yellow Streak, September 1928. This was the production, featuring Jeanne de Casalis, Martita Hunt. The play was praised by the writer Dorothy Richardson, the Seventh Guest, October 1928, a mystery melodrama with Cecil Parker and Margaret Rawlings From September 1930 to March 1932 the theatre was directed by Alec L. Rea and A. R. Whatmore. Productions included, Black Coffee, by Agatha Christie, December 1930, produced by André van Gyseghem, with Francis L. Sullivan as Poirot, carpet Slippers, December 1930, with Griffith Jones and Sebastian Shaw Mary Broome, by Allan Monkhouse, December 1931. With Robert Donat and Herbert Lomas, during that time he made over 150 new productions and revivals, of which over thirty were then transferred to various theatres in the West End. The Embassy school of acting was opened in the theatre in 1932, some of the more notable productions at the theatre were, Miracle at Verdun by Hans Chlumberg, September 1932, produced by André van Gyseghem, with Derrick de Marney, George Howe, Alan Wheatley. The production was transferred to the Comedy. Ten Minute Alibi, by Anthony Armstrong, January 1933, with Robert Douglas, the production then transferred to the Haymarket. The Glass Wall, by E. M. Delafield, February 1933, produced by André van Gyseghem, all Gods Chillun Got Wings, March 1933, produced by André van Gyseghem, with Paul Robeson and Flora Robson. The Dominant Sex, by Michael Egan, December 1934, with Diana Churchill, Richard Bird, the production then transferred to the Shaftesbury. Stevedore, by Paul Peters and George Sklar, May 1935, produced by André van Gyseghem, with Paul Robeson, Robert Adams and this Desirable Residence, by A. R. Rawlinson, May 1935, with Coral Browne. Close Quarters, by W. O. Somin and Gilbert Lennox, June 1935, with Oskar Homolka, the production then transferred to the Haymarket. Professor Bernhardi, June 1936, with Abraham Sofaer in the title role, and Max Adrian, Noel Howlett The production then transferred to the Phoenix. Judgment Day, by Elmer Rice, May 1937, with Glynis Johns, Catherine Lacey, after war damage, the building was reopened in 1945, with a capacity of 678. It was then run until 1954 by Anthony Hawtrey, the Gambler, adapted by Norman Ginsbury from Dostoevsky, November 1945, directed by Sebastian Shaw, with Hugh Burden, Ferdy Mayne, Gwendoline Watford. Red Roses for Me, by Seán OCasey, February 1946, with Kieron OHanrahan, mrs Danes Defence,1946, with Mary Ellis
35.
Marius Goring
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Marius Goring, CBE was an English stage and film actor. He is most often remembered for the four films he made with Powell & Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in A Matter of Life and Death and he regularly performed French and German roles. Goring was born in Newport, Isle of Wight, England and he first performed professionally in 1927. His early stage career included appearances at the Old Vic, Sadlers Wells, Stratford and several European tours, he was fluent in French and he first worked in the West End in a 1934 revival of Granville-Barkers The Voysey Inheritance at the Shaftesbury Theatre. During the 1930s, he played a variety of Shakespearean roles, including Feste in Twelfth Night, Macbeth and Romeo, in addition to Trip in Sheridans The School for Scandal. In 1929, he became a member of British Equity, the actors union, and became its president from 1963 to 1965. Gorings relationship with his union was fraught with conflict, he took it to litigation on three occasions, in 1992 he unsuccessfully sought to end the block on the sale of radio and television programmes to apartheid South Africa. In 1941, he married his wife, the actress Lucie Mannheim. She died in 1976, and the next year Goring married television producer Prudence Fitzgerald, simpson, and The Old Men at the Zoo. Gorings voice provides the narration of the sound and light show performed regularly in the evening at the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1979 and appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1991. He died from cancer in 1998 aged 86, * Powell and Pressburger productions The British Film Institute profile Marius Goring at the Internet Movie Database
36.
Henry V (play)
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Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1599. It tells the story of King Henry V of England, focusing on events immediately before, in the First Quarto text, it was entitled The Cronicle History of Henry the fift, which became The Life of Henry the Fifth in the First Folio text. The play is the part of a tetralogy, preceded by Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1. In Henry V, the prince has become a mature man. Elizabethan stages did not use scenery, acknowledging the difficulty of conveying great battles and shifts of location on a bare stage, the Chorus calls for a Muse of fire so that the actor playing King Henry can ssume the port of Mars. He asks, Can this cockpit hold / The vasty fields of France, and encourages the audience to use their imaginary forces to overcome the stages limitations, Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts. The early scenes deal with the embarkation of Henrys fleet for France, when the Chorus reappears, he describes the countrys dedication to the war effort – They sell the pasture now to buy the horse. The chorus tells the audience, Well not offend one stomach with our play, at the siege of Harfleur, Henry utters one of Shakespeares best-known speeches, beginning Once more unto the breach, dear friends. He agonizes about the burden of being king, noting that a king is only a man. Before the battle, Henry rallies his troops with the famous St Crispins Day Speech, referring to we few, we happy few, following the victory at Agincourt, Henry attempts to woo the French princess, Catherine of Valois. This is difficult because neither speaks the language well. As with all of Shakespeares serious plays, also a number of comic characters appear whose activities contrast with. In this case, they are mostly common soldiers in Henrys army, and they include Pistol, Nym, and Bardolph from the Henry IV plays. The army also includes a Scot, an Irishman, and an Englishman, and Fluellen, the play also deals briefly with the death of Falstaff, Henrys estranged friend from the Henry IV plays, whom Henry had rejected at the end of Henry IV, Part 2. An earlier play, the Famous Victories of Henry V is also believed to have been a model for the work. On the basis of an apparent allusion to Essexs mission to quell Tyrones Rebellion, Q1 of Henry V is a bad quarto, a shortened version of the play that might be an infringing copy or reported text. A second quarto, a reprint of Q1, was published in 1602 by Pavier, another reprint was issued as Q3 in 1619, the superior text first was printed in the First Folio in 1623. Readers and audiences have interpreted the play’s attitude to warfare in several different ways, on the one hand, it seems to celebrate Henrys invasion of France and valorises military might
37.
St Martin's Theatre
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St Martins Theatre is a West End theatre which has staged the production of The Mousetrap since March 1974, making it the longest continuous run of any show in the world. The theatre is located in West Street, near Shaftesbury Avenue and it was designed by W. G. R. Sprague as one of a pair of theatres, along with the Ambassadors Theatre, also in West Street. Richard Verney, 19th Baron Willoughby de Broke, together with B. A. Meyer, although the Ambassadors opened in 1913, construction of the St Martins was delayed by the outbreak of the First World War. The theatre is still part-owned by the present Lord Willoughby de Broke, the first production at the St Martins was the spectacular Edwardian musical comedy Houp La. starring Gertie Millar, which opened on 23 November 1916. The producer was the impresario Charles B, Cochran, who took a 21-year lease on the new theatre. Many famous British actors passed through the St Martins, in April 1923 Basil Rathbone played Harry Domain in R. U. R. and in June 1927 Henry Daniell appeared there as Gregory Brown in Meet the Wife. Successes at the theatre included Hugh Williamss play The Grass is Greener, John Mortimers The Wrong Side of the Park, after Cochran, Bertie Meyer ran the theatre intermittently until 1967, when his son R. A. Meyer became administrator for the next two decades. The St Martins was Grade II listed by English Heritage in March 1973 and it has exceeded 25,000 performances at the St Martins. Theatre description at The Mousetrap website Theatre History
38.
John Gielgud
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Sir Arthur John Gielgud OM CH was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trio of actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. A member of the Terry family theatrical dynasty, he gained his first paid acting work as a member of his cousin Phyllis Neilson-Terrys company in 1922. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art he worked in repertory theatre, during the 1930s Gielgud was a stage star in the West End and on Broadway, appearing in new works and classics. He began a career as a director, and set up his own company at the Queens Theatre. He was regarded by many as the finest Hamlet of his era, in the 1950s Gielgud feared that his career was threatened when he was convicted and fined for a homosexual offence, but his colleagues and the public supported him loyally. From the late 1960s he found new plays that suited him, by authors including Alan Bennett, David Storey, during the first half of his career, Gielgud did not take the cinema seriously. Though he made his first film in 1924, and had successes with The Good Companions and Julius Caesar, Gielgud appeared in more than sixty films between Becket, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination, and Elizabeth. As the acid-tongued Hobson in Arthur he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and his film work further earned him a Golden Globe Award and two BAFTAs. Although largely indifferent to awards, Gielgud had the distinction of winning an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy. He was famous from the start of his career for his voice and he broadcast more than a hundred radio and television dramas, between 1929 and 1994, and made commercial recordings of many plays, including ten of Shakespeares. Among his honours, he was knighted in 1953 and the Gielgud Theatre was named after him, from 1977 to 1989, he was president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Gielgud was born in South Kensington, London, the third of the four children and youngest of three sons of Frank Henry Gielgud and his second wife, Kate Terry-Gielgud, née Terry-Lewis. The two elder boys were Lewis, who became an official of the Red Cross and UNESCO. On his fathers side, Gielgud was of Lithuanian and Polish descent, the surname derives from Gelgaudiškis, a village in Lithuania. The Counts Gielgud had owned the Gielgudziszki Castle on the River Niemen, jan Gielgud took refuge in England with his family, one of his grandchildren was Frank Gielgud, whose maternal grandmother was a famous Polish actress, Aniela Aszpergerowa. Frank married into a family with wide theatrical connections, Frank had no theatrical ambitions and worked all his life as a stockbroker in the City of London. In 1912, aged eight, Gielgud went to Hillside preparatory school in Surrey as his brothers had done
39.
Queen's Theatre
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The Queens Theatre is a West End theatre located in Shaftesbury Avenue on the corner of Wardour Street in the City of Westminster. It opened on 8 October 1907 as a twin to the neighbouring Hicks Theatre which opened ten months earlier, both theatres were designed by W. G. R. Sprague. Original plans were to name the venue Central Theatre, however after lengthy debate, it was named The Queens Theatre, the first production at the Queens Theatre was a comedy by Madeline Lucette Ryley called The Sugar Bowl. It was poorly received and ran for only 36 performances, however the theatre received glowing reviews, the Stage on 10 October 1907 described the theatre as A two-tier house, the Queens holds about 1200 persons, representing some £300 in money. The colour scheme of the walls and roof is white and gold, while green is the hue of the carpets, hangings and upholstery, and of the very charming velvet tableau curtain. On the second tier of the Queens, which is in the Old Italian Renaissance style and in the building of which the principle has been adopted, are the upper circle. Recent notable shows at the Queens include the Tony Award winning musical Contact, Cyberjam, in September 1940, a German bomb landed directly on the theatre, destroying the facade and lobby areas. The production at the time was Daphne du Mauriers Rebecca starring Celia Johnson, Owen Nares, the theatre remained closed until a ₤250,000 restoration was completed by Westwood Sons & Partners almost 20 years later. The auditorium retained its Edwardian decor while the lobbies and exterior were rebuilt in a modern style, the reconstructed theatre opened 8 July 1959 with John Gielguds solo performance in Shakespeare speeches and sonnets, Ages of Man. Since April 2004, the theatre has played host to Cameron Mackintoshs production of Les Misérables which transferred after 18 years at the nearby Palace Theatre. The musical celebrated its 20th anniversary at the venue on 8 October 2005, the theatre was Grade II listed by English Heritage in June 1972. An extensive refurbishment was undertaken in the half of 2009 which improved public areas and increased capacity with new seating. The Hobbit by Glyn Robbins from J. R. R. 133–4 ISBN 0-7136-5688-3 Whos Who in the Theatre, edited by John Parker, tenth edition, revised, London,1947, pps, Queens Theatre London official website Theatre History
40.
Richard II (play)
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King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in approximately 1595. Although the First Folio edition of Shakespeares works lists the play as a history play, the play spans only the last two years of Richards life, from 1398 to 1400. Bolingbrokes father, John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, meanwhile, the tournament scene is very formal with a long, ceremonial introduction, but as the combatants are about to fight, Richard interrupts and sentences both to banishment from England. Bolingbroke is originally sentenced to ten years banishment, but Richard changes this to six years, Mowbray predicts that the king will sooner or later fall at the hands of Bolingbroke. John of Gaunt dies and Richard II seizes all of his land and they then help Bolingbroke to return secretly to England, with a plan to overthrow Richard II. There remain, however, subjects who continue faithful to the King, among them Bushy, Bagot, Green, when King Richard leaves England to attend to the war in Ireland, Bolingbroke seizes the opportunity to assemble an army and invades the north coast of England. Executing both Bushy and Green, he wins over the Duke of York, whom Richard has left in charge of his government in his absence, upon Richards return, Bolingbroke not only reclaims his lands but lays claim to the very throne. Crowning himself King Henry IV, he has Richard taken prisoner to the castle of Pomfret, after interpreting King Henrys living fear as a reference to the still-living Richard, an ambitious nobleman goes to the prison and murders him. King Henry repudiates the murderer and vows to journey to Jerusalem to cleanse himself of his part in Richards death, a somewhat more complicated case is presented by the anonymous play sometimes known as The First Part of Richard II. This play, which exists in one manuscript copy is subtitled Thomas of Woodstock. This play treats the leading up to the start of Shakespeares play. The play was entered into the Register of the Stationers Company on 29 August 1597 by the bookseller Andrew Wise, the second and third quartos followed in 1598 – the only time a Shakespearean play was printed in three editions in two years. Q4 followed in 1608, and Q5 in 1615, the play was next published in the First Folio in 1623. Richard II exists in a number of variations, the quartos vary to some degree from one another, and the folio presents further differences. The first three quartos lack the deposition scene, the fourth quarto, published in 1608, includes a version of the deposition scene shorter than the one later printed, presumably from a prompt-book, in the 1623 First Folio. The scant evidence makes explaining these differences largely conjectural, there is no external evidence for this hypothesis, however, and the title page of the 1608 quarto refers to a lately acted deposition scene. The play is divided into five acts and its structure is as formal as its language and it has a double complementary plot describing the fall of Richard II and the rise of Bolingbroke, later known as Henry IV. Critic John R. Elliott Jr. notes that this particular play can be distinguished from the other history plays because it contains an ulterior political purpose
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The School for Scandal
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The School for Scandal is a play written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on 8 May 1777, scene I, Lady Sneerwell, a wealthy young widow, and her hireling Snake discuss her various scandal-spreading plots. Lady Sneerwell confides that Joseph wants Maria, who is an heiress, thus she and Joseph are plotting to alienate Maria from Charles by putting out rumors of an affair between Charles and Sir Peters new young wife, Lady Teazle. Joseph arrives to confer with Lady Sneerwell, Maria herself then enters, fleeing the attentions of Sir Benjamin Backbite and his uncle Crabtree. Mrs. Candour enters and ironically talks about how tale-bearers are as bad as the tale-makers, soon after that, Sir Benjamin and Crabtree also enter, bringing a good deal of gossip with them. One item is the imminent return of the Surface brothers rich uncle Sir Oliver from the East Indies, scene II, Sir Peter complains of Lady Teazles spendthrift ways. Rowley, the steward of the Surfaces late father, arrives. He also complains that Maria has refused Joseph, whom he calls a model for the men of the age, and seems attached to Charles. Rowley defends Charles, and then announces that Sir Oliver has just arrived from the East Indies, scene I, Sir Peter argues with his wife, Lady Teazle, refusing to be ruined by extravagance. He reminds her of her recent and far humbler country origins, Lady Teazle excuses herself by appealing to the fashion, and departs to visit Lady Sneerwell. Despite their quarrel, Sir Peter still finds himself charmed by his wife even when she is arguing with him, scene II, At Lady Sneerwells, the scandal-mongers have great fun at the expense of friends not present. Lady Teazle and Maria arrive, Lady Teazle joins in, so is Sir Peter, when he arrives, and rather breaks up the party with his comments. He departs, the others retire to the room, and Joseph seizes the opportunity to court Maria. Lady Teazle returns and dismisses Maria, and it is revealed that she is flirting with Joseph – who doesnt want her. Scene III, Sir Oliver calls on his old friend Sir Peter and he is amused by Sir Peters marriage to a young wife. Their talk turns to the Surface brothers, Sir Peter praises Josephs high morals but Sir Oliver suspects that he might be a hypocrite. Scene I, Sir Oliver describes his plan to each of the brothers incognito to test their characters. He will disguise himself as their needy relative Mr. Stanley, Rowley also brings in the friendly Jew Moses, a moneylender who has tried to help Charles, to explain Charles position
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Three Sisters (play)
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Three Sisters is a play by the Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov. It was written in 1900 and first performed in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre, the play is sometimes included on the short list of Chekhovs outstanding plays, along with The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull and Uncle Vanya. Olga Sergeyevna Prozorova – The eldest of the three sisters, she is the figure of the Prozorov family though at the beginning of the play she is only 28 years old. Olga is a teacher at the school, where she frequently fills in for the headmistress whenever the latter is absent. Olga is a spinster and at one point tells Irina that she would have married any man, Olga is very motherly even to the elderly servants, keeping on the elderly nurse/retainer Anfisa, long after she has ceased to be useful. When Olga reluctantly takes the role of headmistress permanently, she takes Anfisa with her to escape the clutches of the heartless Natasha, Maria Sergeyevna Kulygina – The middle sister, she is 23 at the beginning of the play. She married her husband, Kulygin, when she was 18, when the play opens she has been disappointed in the marriage and falls completely in love with the idealistic Lieutenant-Colonel Vershinin. When he is transferred away, she is crushed, but returns to life with her husband and she has a short temper, which is seen frequently throughout the play, and is the sister who disapproves the most of Natasha. Onstage, her directness often serves as a tonic to the melodrama and her vitality provides most of the plays surprisingly plentiful humour. She was trained as a concert pianist, Irina Sergeyevna Prozorova – The youngest sister, she is 20 at the beginning of the play. It is her day at the beginning of the play. Her only desire is to go back to Moscow, which they left eleven years before the play begins. She believes she will find her love in Moscow, but when it becomes clear that they are not going to Moscow, she agrees to marry the Baron Tuzenbach. She gets her degree and plans to leave with the Baron. She decides to leave anyway and dedicate her life to work, Andrei Sergeyevich Prozorov – The brother of the three sisters. In Act I, he is a man on the fast track to being a Professor in Moscow. In Act III, his debts have grown to 35,000 rubles and he is forced to mortgage the house, Act IV finds Andrei a pathetic shell of his former self, now the father of two. He acknowledges he is a failure and laughed at in town for being a member of the council whose president
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Mikhail Bulgakov
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Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov was a Russian writer, physician and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, published posthumously, Mikhail Bulgakov was born on 15 May 1891 in Kiev, Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire. His mother was Varvara Mikhailovna Bulgakova, a former teacher, both of his grandfathers were clergymen in the Russian Orthodox Church. Afanasiy Bulgakov was born in Bryansk Oblast, Russia, where his father was a priest, Varvara Bulgakova was born in Karachev, Russia. From childhood Bulgakov was drawn to theater, at home, he wrote comedies, which his brothers and sisters acted out. In 1901 Bulgakov joined the First Kiev Gymnasium, where he developed an interest in Russian and European literature, theatre, the teachers of the Gymnasium exerted a great influence on the formation of his literary taste. After the death of his father in 1907, Mikhails mother, after graduation from the Gymnasium in 1909, Bulgakov entered the Medical Faculty of Kiev University, which he finished with special commendation. He then took a position as a physician at the Kiev Military Hospital, in 1913, Bulgakov married Tatiana Lappa. At the outbreak of the First World War, he volunteered with the Red Cross as a doctor and was sent directly to the front. Bulgakovs suffering from these wounds had deleterious long-term effects, to suppress chronic pain, especially in the abdomen, he injected himself with morphine. Over the next year his addiction grew stronger, in 1918, he abandoned morphine and never used it again. Morphine, a released in 1926, is his account of that trying period. In 1916, Bulgakov graduated from the Medical Department of Kiev University and his life in those days is reflected in his A Country Doctors Notebook. In September 1917 Bulgakov was moved to the hospital in Vyazma, in February 1918, he returned to Kiev, Ukraine, where he opened a private practice at his home at Andreyevsky Descent,13. Here he lived through the Russian Civil War and witnessed ten coups, successive governments drafted the young doctor into their service while two of his brothers were serving in the White Army against the Bolsheviks. In February 1919 he was mobilised as a physician by the Ukrainian Peoples Army. There, he became ill with typhus and barely survived. That was when he last saw his family, after the Civil War, after illness Bulgakov abandoned his career as a doctor for that of a writer
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Phoenix Theatre (London)
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The Phoenix Theatre is a West End theatre in the London Borough of Camden, located on Charing Cross Road. The entrances are in Phoenix Street and Charing Cross Road, Phoenix Theatre was built on the place where was a factory and then Music hall Alcazar before. The theatre was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Bertie Crewe and it has a restrained neoclassical exterior, but an interior designed in an Italianate style by director and designer Theodore Komisarjevsky. Vladimir Polunin copied works by Tintoretto, Titian, Pinturicchio and Giorgione, and also safety curtain that holds Jacopo del Sellaios The Triumph of Love. There are golden engravings in the auditorium, red seats, carpets and this look is based on traditional Italian theatres. There are decorated ceilings and sculpted wooden doors throughout the building and it opened on 24 September 1930 with the première of Private Lives by Noël Coward, who also appeared in the play, with Adrienne Allen, Gertrude Lawrence and Laurence Olivier. Coward returned to the theatre with Tonight at 8,30 in 1936, on 16 December 1969, the long association with Coward was celebrated with a midnight matinee in honour of his 70th birthday, and the foyer bar was renamed the Noel Coward Bar. The Phoenix has had a number of plays including John Gielguds Love for Love during the Second World War. Harlequinade and The Browning Version, two plays by Terence Rattigan, opened on 8 September 1948 at the theatre, in the mid-1950s, Paul Scofield and Peter Brook appeared at the theatre. In 1968, a version of Chaucers The Canterbury Tales opened. Night and Day, a 1978 play by Tom Stoppard, ran for two years, there were also a number of plays by William Shakespeare. Its first pantomime was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs starring Dana in 1983, following limited engagements of Goodnight Mr Tom and Midnight Tango. The theatre then played host to the original West End production of Broadway musical Once, bend it Like Beckham, The Musical, Guys and Dolls and The Last Tango played in 2016, with Dirty Dancing and Peppa Pigs Surprise comprising the 2016 Christmas season. The Girls, a new musical by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth based on The Calendar Girls film, is the current show playing at the Phoenix Theatre, the theatre is owned by the Ambassador Theatre Group. Since 1973 it has been a Grade II Listed Building, Phoenix Garden Guide to British Theatres 1750–1950, John Earl and Michael Sell pp.131 ISBN 0-7136-5688-3
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Twelfth Night
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Twelfth Night, or What You Will is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–02 as a Twelfth Nights entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck, Viola falls in love with Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love with the Countess Olivia. Upon meeting Viola, Countess Olivia falls in love with her thinking she is a man, the first recorded performance was on 2 February 1602, at Candlemas, the formal end of Christmastide in the years calendar. The play was not published until its inclusion in the 1623 First Folio, Illyria, the setting of Twelfth Night, is important to the plays romantic atmosphere. Illyria was an ancient region of the Western Balkans whose coast covered the coasts of modern-day Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and it included the city state of the Republic of Ragusa which has been proposed as the setting. Illyria may have suggested by the Roman comedy Menaechmi, the plot of which also involves twins who are mistaken for each other. Illyria is also referred to as a site of pirates in Shakespeares earlier play, Henry VI, the names of most of the characters are Italian but some of the comic characters have English names. Oddly, the Illyrian lady Olivia has an English uncle, Sir Toby Belch and it has been noted that the plays setting also has other English allusions such as Violas use of Westward ho. Viola is shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria and she comes ashore with the help of a captain and she loses contact with her twin brother, Sebastian, whom she believes to be drowned. Disguising herself as a man under the name Cesario, she enters the service of Duke Orsino through the help of the sea captain who rescues her. Duke Orsino then uses Cesario as an intermediary to profess his love before Olivia. Olivia, however, forgetting about the seven years in his case, falls in love with Cesario, in the comic subplot, several characters conspire to make Olivias pompous steward, Malvolio, believe that Olivia has fallen for him. This involves Olivias uncle, Sir Toby Belch, another suitor, a silly squire named Sir Andrew Aguecheek, her servants Maria and Fabian. Sir Toby and Sir Andrew engage themselves in drinking and revelry, thus disturbing the peace of Olivias house until late into the night, Sir Toby famously retorts, Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale. Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Maria are urged to plan revenge on Malvolio and they convince Malvolio that Olivia is secretly in love with him by planting a love letter, written by Maria in Olivias handwriting. It asks Malvolio to wear yellow stockings cross-gartered, to be rude to the rest of the servants, Malvolio finds the letter and reacts in surprised delight. He starts acting out the contents of the letter to show Olivia his positive response, Olivia is shocked by the changes in Malvolio and leaves him to the contrivances of his tormentors. Pretending that Malvolio is insane, they lock him up in a dark chamber, Feste visits him to mock his insanity, both disguised as a priest and as himself
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The Family Reunion
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The Family Reunion is a play by T. S. Eliot. Written mostly in verse, it incorporates elements from Greek drama. The play was unsuccessful when first presented in 1939, and was regarded as unsatisfactory by its author. Some critics have thought aspects of the tormented hero reflect Eliots own difficulties with his estrangement from his first wife. The play was first performed on 21 March 1939 at the Westminster Theatre, London, with Michael Redgrave as Harry, Helen Haye as Lady Monchensey and it ran until 22 April 1939. The play is in two acts, set in Wishwood, a home in the north of England. At the beginning, the family of Amy, Dowager Lady Monchensey are assembling for her birthday party. She is, as her doctor later explains, clinging on to life by sheer willpower. I keep Wishwood alive To keep the family alive, to them together, To keep me alive. Lady Monchenseys two brothers-in-law and three sisters are present, and a relation, Mary, but none of Lady Monchenseys three sons. Among other things they discuss the sudden, and not to them wholly unwelcome, death at sea of the wife of the eldest son Harry, the present Lord Monchensey. Neither of the younger sons ever appears, both being injured in motoring accidents, but Harry soon arrives, his first appearance at Wishwood for eight years. He is haunted by the belief that he pushed his wife off the ship, in fact Harry has an alibi for the time, but whether he killed her or not he wished her dead and his feelings of guilt are the driving force in the rest of the play. Lady Monchensey decides that Harrys state warrants the discreet observation of the family doctor, far from being grateful, Amy resented and still resents Agathas depriving her of her husband. Harry, with Agathas encouragement, announces his intention to go away from Wishwood, Amy, despairing at Harrys renunciation of Wishwood, dies, An old woman alone in a damned house, and Harry and his faithful servant, Downing, leave. The play is partly in verse and partly in prose. Eliot had already experimented with verse drama in Murder in the Cathedral, critical reception after the première was cautious. The Manchester Guardian opened its review, The heart, even of the swarm of intelligence that gathered tonight at the Westminster to see Mr. T. S. The review added that apart from the chorus of baffled uncles and aunts, one looks elsewhere in vain for any articulate philosophy
