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Aldwych Farces
The Aldwych farces were a series of twelve stage farces presented at the Aldwych Theatre, London, nearly continuously from 1923 to 1933. All but three of them were written by Ben Travers. They incorporate and develop British low comedy styles, combined with clever word-play. The plays were presented by the actor-manager Tom Walls and starred Walls and Ralph Lynn, supported by a regular company that included Robertson Hare, Mary Brough, Winifred Shotter, Ethel Coleridge, and Gordon James (actor), Gordon James. The farces were so popular that touring companies were sent to present them in the British provinces. Most of the Aldwych farces were adapted for film in the 1930s, starring the original stage casts as far as possible. The plays were later seen in television versions and some enjoyed revivals. History Leslie Henson and Tom Walls co-produced the farce ''Tons of Money (play), Tons of Money'' in 1922 at the Shaftesbury Theatre. This was a great popular success, running for n ...
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Royal National Theatre
The National Theatre (NT), officially the Royal National Theatre and sometimes referred to in international contexts as the National Theatre of Great Britain, is a performing arts venue and associated theatre company located in London, England, adjacent to (but not part of) the Southbank Centre. The theatre was founded by Laurence Olivier in 1963 and List of Royal National Theatre Company actors, many well-known actors have since performed with it. The company was based at The Old Vic theatre in Waterloo Road, London, Waterloo until 1976. The current building is located next to the Thames in the The South Bank, South Bank area of central London. In addition to performances at the National Theatre building, it tours productions at theatres across the United Kingdom. The theatre has transferred numerous productions to Broadway and toured some as far as China, Australia and New Zealand. However, touring productions to European cities were suspended in February 2021 over concerns ab ...
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Western Morning News
The ''Western Morning News'' is a daily regional newspaper founded in 1860, and covering the West Country including Devon, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and parts of Somerset and Dorset in the South West of England. Organisation The ''Western Morning News'' is published by Reach plc, Reach Plc. Its main office is based in Plymouth. Charlie Elder is Editor. History The ''Western Morning News'' was founded on 3 January 1860, by William Saunders (Liberal politician), William Saunders and Edward Spender, father of Sir Wilfrid Spender. It has been published continuously since the first edition, including throughout the 1926 United Kingdom general strike, 1926 General Strike and the Plymouth Blitz. By 1920, the Devon newspaper market was getting cramped, with all papers running into financial difficulties. In the same year, Sir Leicester Harmsworth acquired the ''Western Morning News''; from 1 February 1921, the ''Western Daily Mercury'' and ''The Herald (Plymouth), Western Evening H ...
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Western Gazette
The ''Western Gazette'' is a regional newspaper, published every Thursday in Yeovil, Somerset, England. The newspaper and digital operation is based at the Yeovil Innovation Centre. History The ''Western Gazette'' was founded in 1863 in Yeovil. The first issue was published on 21 February, with a price of one penny. In 1867, it merged with the '' Western Flying Post'', which had been founded in Yeovil in 1743; the ''Western Flying Post'' had merged in 1749 with the '' Sherborne Mercury'', which was first published in 1737. In 2012, Local World acquired owners Northcliffe Media from Daily Mail and General Trust. Trinity Mirror took control of Local World Local World Holdings Ltd. was a large regional newspaper publisher in the UK that published around 100 print titles and more than 70 websites. It was formed in 2012 by David Montgomery, a former chief executive of Reach plc, Trinity Mirror, to b ... in late 2015 as part of a £220m deal. In June 2016, the newspaper laun ...
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Yvonne Arnaud
Germaine Yvonne Arnaud (20 December 1890 – 20 September 1958) was a French-born pianist, singer and actress, who was well known for her career in Britain, as well as her native land. After beginning a career as a concert pianist as a child, Arnaud acted in musical comedies. She switched to non-musical comedy and drama around 1920 and was one of the players in the second of the Aldwych farces, '' A Cuckoo in the Nest'', a hit in 1925. She also had dramatic roles and made films in the 1930s and 1940s, and continued to act into the 1950s. She occasionally performed as a pianist later in her career. The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre was named in her memory in Guildford, Surrey. Life and career Arnaud was the daughter of Charles Leon Arnaud and his wife Antoinette (née Montegut). She was brought up in Paris and entered the Paris Conservatoire aged 9, studying piano under Alphonse Duvernoy and other teachers. In 1905, she won the conservatory's Premier Prix for piano. Beginning that ...
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Ad Libitum
In music and other performing arts, the phrase (; or 'as you desire'), often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun), refers to various forms of improvisation. The roughly synonymous phrase ('in accordance with ne'sgood pleasure') is less common but, in its Italian form , has entered the musical ''lingua franca'' (see below). The phrase "at liberty" is often associated mnemonically (because of the alliteration of the ''lib-'' syllable), although it is not the translation (there is no cognation between and ). Libido is the etymologically closer cognate known in English. In biology and nutrition, the phrase is used to describe feeding without restriction. Music As a direction in sheet music, indicates that the performer or conductor has one of a variety of types of discretion with respect to a given passage: *to play the passage in free time rather than in strict or " metronomic" tempo (a practice known as '' rubato'' when no ...
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Actor-manager
An actor-manager is a leading actor who sets up their own permanent theatrical company and manages the business, sometimes taking over a theatre to perform select plays in which they usually star. It is a method of theatrical production used consistently since the 16th century, particularly common in 19th-century Britain and the United States. History The first actor-managers, such as Robert Browne, appeared in the late 16th century, to be followed by another Robert Browne (no relation) and George Jolly in the 17th century. In the 18th century, actor-managers such as Colley Cibber and David Garrick gained prominence. The system of actor-management generally produced high standards of performance, as demonstrated by such 19th-century actors as William Macready, Charles Wyndham, Henry Irving, Frank Benson and Herbert Beerbohm Tree, by husband-wife teams such as Squire Bancroft and Effie Bancroft, Frank Wyatt and Violet Melnotte, William Hunter Kendal and Madge Robertson ...
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A Cuckoo In The Nest
''A Cuckoo in the Nest'' is a farce by the English playwright Ben Travers. It was first given at the Aldwych Theatre, London, the second in the series of twelve Aldwych farces presented by the actor-manager Tom Walls at the theatre between 1923 and 1933. Several of the cast formed the regular core cast for the later Aldwych farces. The plot concerns two friends, a man and a woman, who are each married to other people. While travelling together, they are obliged by circumstances to share a hotel bedroom. Everyone else assumes the worst, but the two travellers are able to prove their innocence. The piece opened on 22 July 1925 and ran for 376 performances. Travers made a film adaptation, which Walls directed in 1933, with most of the leading members of the stage cast reprising their roles. Background The actor-manager Tom Walls, initially together with Leslie Henson, produced the series of Aldwych farces, nearly all written by Ben Travers, starring Walls and his co-star Ralph ...
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Lawrence Grossmith
Lawrence Randall Grossmith (29 March 1877 – 21 February 1944 (aged 66)) was an English actor, the son of the Gilbert and Sullivan performer George Grossmith and the brother of the actor-manager George Grossmith Jr. After establishing his career in Edwardian musical comedy in London from the first years of the 20th century until the First World War (except for a brief period in the U.S.), Grossmith left England on an extensive tour of the U.S. and Australia, playing in both musicals and non-musical plays. He continued his stage career in England and America from 1924. From 1933 until his death in 1944, he acted in films as well as on stage. Life and career Grossmith was born in London on 29 March 1877. He was the son of the actor George Grossmith, famous for his roles in the Savoy Operas, and Emmeline Rosa Noyce (1849–1905). His uncle was the actor Weedon Grossmith. He was educated at St Paul's College, Stony Stratford, London University School and Shrewsbury School. ...
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The Herald (Glasgow)
''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in 1992. Following the closure of the '' Sunday Herald'', the ''Herald on Sunday'' was launched as a Sunday edition on 9 September 2018. History Founding The newspaper was founded by an Edinburgh-born printer called John Mennons in January 1783 as a weekly publication called the ''Glasgow Advertiser''. Mennons' first edition had a global scoop: news of the treaties of Versailles reached Mennons via the Lord Provost of Glasgow just as he was putting the paper together. War had ended with the American colonies, he revealed. ''The Herald'', therefore, is as old as the United States of America, give or take an hour or two. The story was, however, only carried on the back page. Mennons, using the larger of two fonts available to him, put it in t ...
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Western Daily Press
The ''Western Daily Press'' is a regional newspaper covering parts of South West England, mainly Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset as well as the metropolitan areas of Bath and North East Somerset and the Bristol area. It is published Monday to Saturday in Bristol, UK. The majority of its readers are in rural areas, small towns and villages throughout the region and the paper's coverage of rural, agricultural and countryside issues is particularly strong. It also has a good record in picking up quirky and bizarre stories which would otherwise not be publicized. Politically it tends to be conservative although its coverage of the UK ban on fox hunting was neutral, recognizing that even in rural areas people are very divided on the issue. Founding It was founded by Scottish businessman Peter Stewart Macliver and Newcastle journalist Walter Reid and first published on 1 June 1858. Macliver went on to found the '' Bristol Observer''. Reid took over the ''Western Daily Press ...
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Charles Hawtrey (19th Century Actor)
Sir Charles Henry Hawtrey (21 September 1858 – 30 July 1923) was an English actor, director, producer and manager. He pursued a successful career as an actor-manager, specialising in debonair, often disreputable, parts in popular comedies. He occasionally played in Sheridan and other classics, but was generally associated with new works by writers including Oscar Wilde and Somerset Maugham. Born to a long-established county family, Hawtrey was one of three of his parents' five sons to pursue a theatrical career. Before going on the stage he had considered joining the army, but failed to apply himself to the necessary studies to qualify for a commission. Once established as an actor he quickly took on the additional role of a manager, boosted by an early success with his own adaptation of a German farce presented in London as ''The Private Secretary'', which made his fortune. A lifelong gambler, both with theatrical productions and on horseracing, to which he was addicte ...
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