Joan Littlewood Dreams And Realities

Author : Peter Rankin
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 480 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2014-10-30
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781783195831

Get Book

Joan Littlewood: Dreams and Realities by Peter Rankin Pdf

The Official Biography by Peter Rankin ‘My only gift is to grow a show,’ said Joan Littlewood, annoyed by what she had not achieved. Even so, her ability to do just that put her and her company, Theatre Workshop, head and shoulders above mid twentieth-century theatre. In the year when she would have been a hundred, which includes three revivals and a commemorative stamp, Peter Rankin, who worked with Joan for 38 years and in whose flat she died, takes the papers she left him and goes back to the beginning. As she told him: ‘You know me better than I know myself.’ Drawing on Littlewood's personal archive, Joan Littlewood: Dreams and Realities observes at close hand one of the most influential theatre makers of the twentieth century. 'the most galvanising director in mid-20th century Britain.’ Peter Brook 'one of two undoubted geniuses of the post-war British theatre, the other being Peter Brook.’ Sir Peter Hall 'Joan Littlewood brought theatre to the people of east London and revolutionised the international theatre landscape with her bold and powerful productions. She was an inspiration to many and it’s important that we recognise the significance of her work...’ Kerry Michael, Artistic Director, Theatre Royal Stratford East

Author : Peter Rankin
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2014
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1783190841

Get Book

Dreams and Realities by Peter Rankin Pdf

The official biography of one of the most influential theatre directors in the twentieth century.

Author : Sarah Sigal
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2017-09-16
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9781137331700

Get Book

Writing in Collaborative Theatre-Making by Sarah Sigal Pdf

This engaging text explores the role of the writer and the text in collaborative practice through the work of contemporary writers and companies working in Britain, offering students and aspiring writers and directors effective practical strategies for collaborative work.

Author : Joan Littlewood
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 600 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2016-07-28
Category : Drama
ISBN : 9781474233231

Get Book

Joan's Book by Joan Littlewood Pdf

'Once upon a time, the London theatre was a charming mirror held up to cosiness. Then came Joan Littlewood, smashing the glass, blasting the walls, letting the wind of life blow in a rough, but ready, world. Today, we remember this irresistible force with love and gratitude.' (Peter Brook) Along with Peter Brook, Joan Littlewood, affectionately termed 'The Mother of Modern Theatre', has come to be known as the most galvanising director of mid-twentieth-century Britain, as well as a founder of so many of the practices of contemporary theatre. The best-known work of Littlewood's company, Theatre Workshop, included the development and premieres of Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey, Brendan Behan's The Hostage and The Quare Fellow, and the seminal Oh What A Lovely War. This autobiography, originally published in 1994, offers an unparalleled first-hand account of Littlewood's extraordinary life and career, from illegitimate child in south-east London to one of the most influential directors and practitioners of our times. It is published along with an introduction by Philip Hedley CBE, previously Artistic Director of Theatre Royal Stratford East and Assistant Director to Joan Littlewood.

Author : Tom Cornford
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 311 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2020-12-30
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9781317288664

Get Book

Theatre Studios by Tom Cornford Pdf

Theatre Studios explores the history of the studio model in England, first established by Konstantin Stanislavsky, Jacques Copeau and others in the early twentieth century, and later developed in the UK primarily by Michel Saint-Denis, George Devine, Michael Chekhov and Joan Littlewood, whose studios are the focus of this study. Cornford offers in-depth accounts of the radical, collective work of these leading theatre companies of the mid-twentieth century, considering the models of ensemble theatre-making that they developed and their remnants in the newly publicly-funded UK theatre establishment of the 1960s. In the process, this book develops an approach to understanding the politics of artistic practices rooted in the work of John Dewey, Antonio Gramsci and the standpoint feminists. It concludes by considering the legacy of the studio movement for twenty-first-century theatre, partly by tracking its echoes in the work of Secret Theatre at the Lyric, Hammersmith (2013–2015). Students and makers of theatre alike will find in this book a provocative and illuminating analysis of the politics of performance-making and a history of the theatre as a site for developing counterhegemonic, radically democratic, anti-individualist forms of cultural production.

Author : Tim Crook
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 342 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2020-11-19
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9789811582417

Get Book

Audio Drama Modernism by Tim Crook Pdf

Audio Drama and Modernism traces the development of political and modernist sound drama during the first 40 years of the 20th Century. It demonstrates how pioneers in the phonograph age made significant, innovative contributions to sound fiction before, during, and after the Great War. In stunning detail, Tim Crook examines prominent British modernist radio writers and auteurs, revealing how they negotiated their agitational contemporaneity against the forces of Institutional containment and dramatic censorship. The book tells the story of key figures such as Russell Hunting, who after being jailed for making ‘sound pornography’ in the USA, travelled to Britain to pioneer sound comedy and montage in the pre-Radio age; Reginald Berkeley who wrote the first full-length anti-war play for the BBC in 1925; and D.G. Bridson, Olive Shapley and Joan Littlewood who all struggled to give a Marxist voice to the working classes on British radio.

Author : Michael Prior
Publisher : Lulu.com
Page : 350 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2007-03-01
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781847531896

Get Book

Dreams and Reality by Michael Prior Pdf

Author : Vanessa Morton
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 436 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2021-03-04
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781800245136

Get Book

The Performer's Tale by Vanessa Morton Pdf

A vivid and compelling biography of Patience Collier – an actress whose career spanned a golden age of performance from the 1930s to the 1980s – and an overview of theatre, film, TV and radio in Britain over half a century. Though Patience Collier's name has faded from public consciousness since her death in 1987, it still conjures cool memories of iconic television and film from the 1970s and 1980s – Sapphire and Steel, Who Pays the Ferryman, Fiddler on the Roof and The French Lieutenant's Woman. Fearsome, eccentric and unpredictable, Patience Collier was an actress whose perfectionism shone through in her every performance, and who worked alongside many of the most celebrated actors and directors of her time. Drawing on Collier's diaries, letters and photographs as well as interviews with those who worked with her, Vanessa Morton paints a portrait of a gifted and eccentric woman weaving her way through the twentieth century, and gives a panoramic overview of theatre, film, TV and radio in Britain over half a century. Part social history, part cultural history, The Performer's Tale is a richly entertaining account of an actor's life and times. 'I never met Patience Collier. Now, having read Vanessa Morton's richly entertaining book, I feel as if I did' Michael Billington, former theatre critic of the Guardian

Author : Celia Brayfield
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2021-07-22
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781448218202

Get Book

Rebel Writers: The Accidental Feminists by Celia Brayfield Pdf

'Make this your next inspirational read. Trust us, it's Oprah's Book Club worthy' Vice In London in 1958, a play by a 19-year-old redefined women's writing in Britain. It also began a movement that would change women's lives forever. The play was A Taste of Honey and the author, Shelagh Delaney, was the first in a succession of young women who wrote about their lives with an honesty that dazzled the world. They rebelled against sexism, inequality and prejudice and in doing so challenged the existing definitions of what writing and writers should be. Bypassing the London cultural elite, their work reached audiences of millions around the world, paved the way for profound social changes and laid the foundations of second-wave feminism. After Delaney came Edna O'Brien, Lynne Reid-Banks, Charlotte Bingham, Nell Dunn, Virginia Ironside and Margaret Forster; an extraordinarily disparate group who were united in their determination to shake the traditional concepts of womanhood in novels, films, television, essays and journalism. They were as angry as the Angry Young Men, but were also more constructive and proposed new ways to live and love in the future. They did not intend to become a literary movement but they did, inspiring other writers to follow. Not since the Brontës have a group of young women been so determined to tell the truth about what it is like to be a girl. In this biographical study, the acclaimed author, Celia Brayfield, tells their story for the first time.

Author : Joan Littlewood
Publisher : Bloomsbury Methuen Drama
Page : 860 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2003-01-30
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : UVA:X004808743

Get Book

Joan's Book by Joan Littlewood Pdf

The life story of the woman who singlehandedly reshaped the British theatre scene of the 50s and 60s. Kenneth Tynan once remarked on Joan Littlewood's great ability as a director to make ordinariness fascinating and to produce "biting popular drama that does not depend on hit songs, star names or spa sophistication". This same flair is evident in her picaresque narrative - in her descriptions of the characters in her early life: of encounters with irascible caretakers when trying to rig a one-night stand; and of stage-struck cops. Outspoken in her criticism of those who obstructed the company's work, generous in praising those who contributed ot it, Joan is always passionate in her conviction that a theatre should be concerne with much more than simply the putting on of plays. Joan's book is an enthralling life story in its own right. It is also the testament of one of the most influential theatre directors and teachers of the 20th century.

Author : Sue Dunderdale
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 316 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2021-09-15
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9781000430905

Get Book

Directing the Decades by Sue Dunderdale Pdf

Directing the Decades is an examination of the development of theatre in the UK since the revolution of the 1950s until the present day, viewed through the individual progress of a female director from a working-class background. In this book, theatre history and lessons on directing are interwoven: the history is presented decade by decade, examining particular productions. Each historical theatre chapter is followed by a method chapter examining directorial influences and techniques predominant in each decade, as well as examining the working experience of the author in that decade. The book also includes practical advice on the directing process, including exercises, plans for rehearsals, and camera plans. Sue Dunderdale offers a unique perspective on the evolution of theatre directing in the UK, and her work, which served as the foundation of the creation of the Theatre Lab and Directing program at RADA, continues to influence working directors today. Directing the Decades will be of interest to students and practitioners of theatre directing, acting, and theatre history, and to theatregoers with a consciousness of class and how it impacts on our lives. The book also offers access to online transcripts of interviews with 16 practitioners, including Rufus Norris, Michelle Terry, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Indhu Rubasingham, Nadia Latif, and Nadia Fall.

Author : Grace Barnes
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 273 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2022-07-14
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9781350243545

Get Book

National Identity and the British Musical by Grace Barnes Pdf

National Identity and the British Musical: From Blood Brothers to Cinderella examines the myths associated with national identity which are reproduced by the British musical and asks why the genre continues to uphold, instead of challenging, outdated ideals. All too often, UK musicals reinforce national identity clichés and caricatures, conflate 'England' with 'Britain' and depict a mono-cultural nation viewed through a nostalgic lens. Through case studies and analysis of British musicals such as Blood Brothers, Six, Half a Sixpence and Billy Elliot, this book examines the place of the British musical within a text-based theatrical heritage and asks what, or whose, Britain is being represented by home grown musicals. The sheer number of people engaging with shows bestows enormous power upon the genre and yet critics display a reluctance to analyse the cultural meanings produced by new work, or to hold work to account for production teams and narratives which continue to shun diversity and inclusive practices. The question this book poses is: what kind of industry do we want to see in Britain in the next ten years? And what kind of show do we want representing the nation in the future?

Author : Jonathan Pitches
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2021-10-07
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9781474259903

Get Book

The Great European Stage Directors Volume 3 by Jonathan Pitches Pdf

This volume examines the work of directors Jacques Copeau, Theodore Komisarjevsky and Tyrone Guthrie. It explores in detail many of the directors' key productions, including Copeau's staging of Molière's The Tricks of Scapin, Komisarjevsky's signature season of Chekhov plays at the Barnes Theatre and Guthrie's pioneering direction of Shakespeare's plays in North America. This study argues that their work exemplifies the complexity and novelty of the role of theatre directing in the first three-quarters of the 20th century, as Komisarjevsky was in the middle of the genesis of directing in Russia, Copeau launched his directorial career just as the role was gaining definition, and Guthrie was at the vanguard of directing in Britain, at last shaking off the traditions of the actor-manager to formulate the new role of artistic director.

Author : Adrian Wright
Publisher : Boydell & Brewer
Page : 385 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2023-03-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9781783277490

Get Book

Melody in the Dark by Adrian Wright Pdf

A comprehensive reassessment of British musical films 1946-1972 including King's Rhapsody, Beat Girl, The Tommy Steele Story, Rock You Sinners, The Golden Disc, and Oliver! Acting as a sequel to Adrian Wright's Cheer Up! British Musical Films, 1929-1945 (Boydell, 2020), Melody in the Dark offers the first major reassessment of the British musical film from the end of Second World War up to the beginning of the 1970s. In the immediate post-war world, British studios sought to reflect fast-changing social attitudes as they struggled to create inventive diversions in an effort to rival American competition. Hollywood stars Errol Flynn, Vera-Ellen, Jayne Mansfield and Judy Garland were among those brought in to provide Hollywood glamour. Embedded in the British consciousness, the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan were represented in three productions. Studios occasionally attempted adaptations of British stage musicals, among them King's Rhapsody and Expresso Bongo, and sexploitation movies turned musical via Secrets of a Windmill Girl and Beat Girl. It was left to minor studios to acknowledge the impact of rock'n'roll on social change in three early films, The Tommy Steele Story, Rock You Sinners and the iconic The Golden Disc. Through the sixties, British cinema seemed intent on flooding the market with entertainments promoting pop singers and rock groups such as Cliff Richard, Billy Fury and The Beatles. Towards the end of the period, it aspired to more grandiose projects such as Oliver! and Oh! What a Lovely War.

Author : Chris Johnston
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2017-10-19
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9781350014527

Get Book

Disobedient Theatre by Chris Johnston Pdf

Theatre is at its best when it is disobedient, when it argues back to society. But what enables it to achieve this impact? What makes it a force to be reckoned with? What are the principles and the tools of the trade that shape it to be effective, powerful and resonant? Drawing from both theory and practice, and informed by conversations with recognized practitioners from across the UK, this book provides answers and makes an impassioned call for artists to reimagine, question and disrupt. Divided into two parts, 'In the World' and 'In the Room', the book presents a rounded picture of the possibilities of a 'disobedient' culture and includes many games and exercises for creative practitioners. In Part One the author offers a lexicon defining the spirit and impulse which characterises disobedient theatre: he describes the principles, the strategies, and the voice of the artist, before suggesting ways to survive as a creative practitioner. Part Two illustrates how these principles may be worked out in practice when creating new work, with the hands-on approaches supplemented by games and exercises to assist in generating material. Disobedient Theatre is for all those who have an interest in what makes theatre powerful, disturbing or even life-changing. It is a book for artists, thinkers, activists and all who believe in the function of art to offer new possibilities and to change and inform the evolution of society.