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Frank Finlay
Francis Finlay, (6 August 1926 – 30 January 2016) was an English stage, film and television actor, Oscar-nominated for a supporting role as Iago in Laurence Olivier's 1965 film adaptation of ''Othello''. In 1983, Finlay was directed by Italian filmmaker Tinto Brass in the erotic classic '' The Key'', with Stefania Sandrelli. His first leading television role came in 1971 in ''Casanova''. This led to appearances on '' The Morecambe and Wise Show''. He also appeared in the drama '' Bouquet of Barbed Wire''. Early life Finlay was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of Josiah Finlay, and Margaret Finlay. He was educated at St Gregory the Great School, but left at 14 to train as a butcher at Toppings, gaining a City and Guilds Diploma in the trade. Stage career Finlay made his first stage appearances at the local Farnworth Little Theatre, in plays that included Peter Blackmore's ''Miranda'' in 1951. The current Little Theatre president, also in the cast of that ''Miranda'' pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farnworth
Farnworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southeast of Bolton, 4.3 miles south-west of Bury (7 km), and northwest of Manchester. Historically in Lancashire, Farnworth lies on the River Irwell and River Croal. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 26,939. History Toponymy Farnworth derives from the Old English ''fearn'', fern and ''worth'' an enclosure. Farnworth was recorded as Farneworth and Farnewrth in 1278 and 1279 and Ffornword in a land survey of 1282. Middle Ages Farnworth was originally a hamlet in Barton. In the 13th century it was held by the Lords of Barton and Manchester. By 1320 Adam Lever, Richard Hulton and Richard Redford held the manor as tenants. Later the manor was acquired by the Hultons of Over Hulton. In 1666 there were 91 hearths in Farnworth liable to pay tax. The commons were enclosed in 1798. There was a watermill on the River Croal. Industrial Revolution The town expanded rapidly in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. In 1956 it was acquired by and remains the home of the English Stage Company, which is known for its contributions to contemporary theatre and won the Europe Prize Theatrical Realities in 1999. History The first theatre The first theatre on Lower George Street, off Sloane Square, was the converted Nonconformist Ranelagh Chapel, opened as a theatre in 1870 under the name The New Chelsea Theatre. Marie Litton became its manager in 1871, hiring Walter Emden to remodel the interior, and it was renamed the Court Theatre. Several of W. S. Gilbert's early plays were staged here, including ''Randall's Thumb'', ''Creatures of Impulse'' (with music by Alberto Randegger), ''Great Expectations'' (adapted from the Dickens novel), and ''On G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hobson's Choice (play)
''Hobson's Choice'' is a play by Harold Brighouse, the title taken from the popular expression, Hobson's choice—meaning no choice at all (from Thomas Hobson 1545–1631 who ran a thriving livery stable in Cambridge). The first production was at the Princess Theatre in New York on November 2, 1915. It then transferred to London on 24 June 1916 at the Apollo Theatre, before moving to the Prince of Wales Theatre on 20 November 1916 (starring Norman McKinnel, as Henry Hobson, Edyth Goodall as Maggie Hobson and Joe Nightingale as Willie Mossop). It was performed by the National Theatre at the Old Vic, London in 1964 (starring Michael Redgrave, Joan Plowright and Frank Finlay.) The play was adapted for film several times and as a Broadway musical. The Crucible Theatre Sheffield staged a revival in June 2011 directed by Christopher Luscombe and starring Barrie Rutter, Zoe Waites and Philip McGinley. The story is set in Salford in 1880. It bears many resemblances to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint Joan (play)
''Saint Joan'' is a play by George Bernard Shaw about 15th-century French military figure Joan of Arc. Premiering in 1923, three years after her canonization by the Roman Catholic Church, the play reflects Shaw's belief that the people involved in Joan's trial acted according to what they thought was right. He wrote in his preface to the play: There are no villains in the piece. Crime, like disease, is not interesting: it is something to be done away with by general consent, and that is all here isabout it. It is what men do at their best, with good intentions, and what normal men and women find that they must and will do in spite of their intentions, that really concern us. Michael Holroyd has characterised the play as "a tragedy without villains" and also as Shaw's "only tragedy". John Fielden has discussed further the appropriateness of characterising ''Saint Joan'' as a tragedy. The text of the published play includes a long Preface by Shaw. Characters * Robert de Bau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weapons Of Happiness
''Weapons of Happiness'' is a 1976 political play by Howard Brenton, about a strike in a London crisp factory. The play makes use of a dramatic conceit whereby the Czech communist cabinet minister Josef Frank is imagined alive in the 1970s (in real life he was hanged in 1952), and his hallucinations of life in Stalinist Czechoslovakia interweave with the main plot. In an introduction to the play, Brenton wrote that he was "trying to write a kind of Jacobean play for our time, a 'British epic theatre'. Making only limited use of naturalism, the play features several long speeches; in the same introduction Brenton quotes Julie Covington, who appeared in the original production, as describing acting in it as being "like opening a furnace door - your time comes, you open the door and blaze, then shut it".''Brenton: Plays One'', Methuen 1986 Stage history The play was commissioned by the National Theatre as part of a policy of staging new plays by leading authors in the company ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Josef Frank (politician)
Josef Frank (25 February 1909, Prostějov - 3 December 1952, Prague) was a Czechoslovakian Communist politician. Between 1939 and 1945 he was imprisoned in Buchenwald concentration camp. In 1952 he was expelled from the party. He was subsequently arrested and sentenced to death by hanging in the Slánský trial, a show trial orchestrated from Moscow. In 1968 he was made a Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in memoriam. Frank is the central character of Howard Brenton's 1976 play '' Weapons of Happiness'', in which he is imagined not dead, but rather living in exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf .... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother. ''Hamlet'' is considered among the "most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language", with a story capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others". There are many works that have been pointed to as possible sources for Shakespeare's play—from ancient Greek tragedies to Elizabethan plays. The editors of the Arden Shakespeare question the idea of "source hunting", pointing out that it presupposes that authors always require ideas from other works for their own, and suggests that no author can have an original idea or be an originator. When S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre is a theatre and Grade II* listed building situated in Oaklands Park in the city of Chichester, West Sussex, England. Designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, it was opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. The smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989. The inaugural Artistic Director was Sir Laurence Olivier, and it was at Chichester that the first National Theatre company was formed. Chichester's productions would transfer to the NT's base at the Old Vic in London. The opening productions in 1962 were: ''The Chances'' by John Fletcher (first production 1638) which opened on 3 July; ''The Broken Heart'' (1633), by John Ford, opened 9 July; ''Uncle Vanya'' (1896), by Anton Chekov, opened 16 July. Among the actors in the opening season were: Lewis Casson, Fay Compton, Joan Greenwood, Rosemary Harris, Kathleen Harrison, Keith Michell, André Morell, John Neville, Laurence Olivier, Joan Plowright, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Simon (critic)
John Ivan Simon (né Simmon; May 12, 1925 − November 24, 2019) was an American author and literary, theater, and film critic. After spending his early years in Belgrade, he moved to the United States, serving in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II and studying at Harvard University. Beginning in the 1950s, he wrote arts criticism for a variety of publications, including a 36-year tenure as theatre critic for ''New York'' magazine, and latterly as a blogger. His reviews were known for their sardonic comments and negative disposition; his obituary in ''The New York Times'' called him a "caustic" critic who "saw little that he liked", and ''The Washington Post'' reported that a published collection of 245 film reviews he wrote contained only 15 positive ones. His controversial writing style, which could include harsh remarks about the physical appearances of performers, at times led to accusations of bigotry, public rebukes from fellow critics, and confrontation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment industry worldwide. Given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the awards are an international recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements, as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette as a trophy, officially called the "Academy Award of Merit", although more commonly referred to by its nickname, the "Oscar". The statuette, depicting a knight rendered in the Art Deco style, was originally sculpted by Los Angeles artist George Stanley from a design sketch by art director Cedric Gibbons. The 1st Academy Awards were held in 1929 at a private dinner hosted by Douglas Fairbanks in The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The Academy Awards ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Othello
''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cyprus, a possession of the Venetian Republic since 1489. The port city of Famagusta finally fell to the Ottomans in 1571 after a protracted siege. The story revolves around two characters, Othello and Iago. Othello is a Moorish military commander who was serving as a general of the Venetian army in defence of Cyprus against invasion by Ottoman Turks. He has recently married Desdemona, a beautiful and wealthy Venetian lady much younger than himself, against the wishes of her father. Iago is Othello's malevolent ensign, who maliciously stokes his master's jealousy until the usually stoic Moor kills his beloved wife in a fit of blind rage. Due to its enduring themes of passion, jealousy, and race, ''Othello'' is still topical and popular a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Dexter
John Dexter (2 August 1925 – 23 March 1990) was an English theatre, opera and film director. Theatre Born in Derby, Derbyshire, England, Dexter left school at the age of fourteen to serve in the British Army during the Second World War. Following the war, he began working as a stage actor before turning to producing and directing shows for repertory companies. In 1957, he was appointed Associate Director of the English Stage Company based at the Royal Court. Dexter's first great success was his production of ''Roots'', in 1959, which brought Joan Plowright to prominence. He went on to direct '' Toys in the Attic'' (with Wendy Hiller, 1960) and '' Saint Joan'' (1963). In 1964, he was named Associate Director of the National Theatre of Great Britain, and he produced '' The Royal Hunt of the Sun'' (1964). That year, he also directed ''Othello'', with Sir Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith and Frank Finlay. It was considered a tremendous success. RCA recorded an audio version, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
