James Saunders (8 January 1925 – 29 January 2004) was a prolific
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
born in
Islington
Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. His early plays led to him being considered one of the leading British exponents of the
Theatre of the Absurd
The Theatre of the Absurd (french: théâtre de l'absurde ) is a post– World War II designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s. It is also a term for the style o ...
Martin Esslin
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Budapest, Austria-Hungary
, death_date =
, death_place = London, England, UK
, education = University of Vienna Reinhardt Seminar
, ...
,
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Alperton Community School and
Southampton University
, mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour
, type = Public research university
, established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...
Criterion Theatre
The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre at Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has a seating capacity of 588.
Building the theatre
In 1870, the caterers Spiers and Pond began develop ...
in 1963. It gained him the 1963 ''
Evening Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after be ...
'' award (with Charles Wood) for "Most Promising Playwright". The play was also produced in New York the same year.
In 1975 he completed John Vanbrugh's four-act fragment, ''A Journey to London'', a play that had been sentimentalised by Colley Cibber in 1728 as ''
The Provoked Husband
''The Provoked Husband'' is a 1728 comedy play by the British writer and actor Colley Cibber, based on a fragment of play written by John Vanbrugh. It is also known by the longer title ''The Provok'd Husband: or, a Journey to London''.
Vanbrugh ...
''. Saunders' version was first staged in Greenwich and successfully revived at the
Orange Tree Theatre
The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style.
Th ...
in 1986.
''Bodies'', commissioned and first staged by Sam Walters at the Orange Tree in 1977, was revived by
Robin Lefévre
Robin may refer to:
Animals
* Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae
* Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including:
**European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'')
** Bush-robin
**Forest r ...
Angela Down
Angela Down (born 15 June 1946) is an English actress. She is known for her role in the BBC drama programme '' Take Three Girls'' portraying cockney art student Avril for the first series before being replaced in the second.
Career
Down play ...
.
Television
Saunders' television work included ''Watch Me I'm a Bird'' (1964), and the BBC sitcom '' Bloomers'' (1979), starring Richard Beckinsale (in the year that he died) playing an unsuccessful actor working in a flower shop. Beckinsale's co-star was
Anna Calder-Marshall
Anna Calder-Marshall (born 11 January 1947) is an English stage, film and television actress.
Personal life
Calder-Marshall was born in Kensington, London, and is the daughter of the novelist and essayist Arthur Calder-Marshall and documentary ...
.
Works
Stage plays include:
*''Moonshine'' (1955)
*''The Ark'' (1959)
*''A Slight Accident'' (one-act 1961)
*''Double Double'' (1962)
*''Next Time I'll Sing To You'' (1962)
*''Who was Hilary Maconochie?'' (one-act 1963)
*''A Scent of Flowers'' (1966)
*''The Travails of Sancho Panza'' (1969)
*''Games'' (one-act 1970)
*''After Liverpool'' (one-act 1970)
*''Hans Kolhaus'' (1972)
*''A Journey to London'' (co-author, 1975)
*''The Island'' (1976)
*''
Bodies
Bodies may refer to:
* The plural of body
* ''Bodies'' (2004 TV series), BBC television programme
* Bodies (upcoming TV series), an upcoming British crime thriller limited series
* "Bodies" (''Law & Order''), 2003 episode of ''Law & Order''
* B ...
'' (1977)
*''Over the Wall'' (one-act 1977)
*''Random Moments in a May Garden'' (1980)
*''Retreat'' (1995)
Sources
*''Who's Who in the Theatre'' 14th Jubilee Edition, ed Freda Gaye, Pitman (1967)
*''Who's Who in the Theatre'' 17th edition, ed
Ian Herbert
Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name ( Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in ...