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Otherwise Engaged
''Otherwise Engaged'' is a bleakly comic play by English playwright Simon Gray. The play previewed at the Oxford Playhouse and the Richmond Theatre, and then opened at the Queen's Theatre in London on 10 July 1975, with Alan Bates as the star and Harold Pinter as director, produced by Michael Codron. Ian Charleson co-starred as Dave, a Glasgow lout. Michael Gambon took over from Bates in 1976, "playing it for a year, eight times a week." The play also had a successful run on Broadway, opening in February 1977 with Tom Courtenay as Simon and Carolyn Lagerfelt as Beth. It won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. Plot The play revolves around a British publisher named Simon Hench. When we first see Hench, he has settled down in his lavish living room, and plans to spend a pleasant afternoon listening to Parsifal. However, Hench is repeatedly interrupted by his tenant, his friends, family and aspiring writers, all of whom want something from him. First, he is v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon Gray
Simon James Holliday Gray (21 October 1936 – 7 August 2008) was an English playwright and memoirist who also had a career as a university lecturer in English literature at Queen Mary, University of London, for 20 years. While teaching at Queen Mary, Gray began his writing career as a novelist in 1963 and, during the next 45 years, in addition to five published novels, wrote 40 original stage plays, screenplays, and screen adaptations of his own and others' works for stage, film, and television and became well known for the self-deprecating wit characteristic of several volumes of memoirs or diaries. (Gardner and other sources cite the date of Gray's death as 6 August 2008; some sources, including the obituary by Billington and the book review by Scurr, give the day of Gray's death as 7 August 2008.) Biography Simon James Holliday Gray was born on 21 October 1936 on Hayling Island, in Hampshire, England to James Gray and his wife Barbara (née Holliday). His father, who later ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julian Glover
Julian Wyatt Glover (born 27 March 1935) is an English classical actor with many stage, television, and film roles since commencing his career in the 1950s. He is a recipient of the Laurence Olivier Award and has performed many times for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Glover's well-known film roles have included General Maximilian Veers in '' The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), Aristotle Kristatos in '' For Your Eyes Only'' (1981), Brian Harcourt-Smith in ''The Fourth Protocol'' (1987) and Walter Donovan in ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' (1989). He also voiced the giant Acromantula spider Aragog in '' Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' (2002) and appeared as conductor Andris Davis in the psychological drama '' Tár'' (2022). Glover has also appeared frequently on television, especially in Britain, including guest appearances in cult series such as ''The Avengers'', '' The Saint'', ''Thriller'', ''Doctor Who'', '' Blake's 7'', '' Remington Steele'' and '' Insid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mel Gussow
Melvyn Hayes "Mel" Gussow (; December 19, 1933 – April 29, 2005) was an American theater critic, movie critic, and author who wrote for ''The New York Times'' for 35 years. Biography Gussow was born in New York City and grew up in Rockville Centre, Long Island. He attended South Side High School. and Middlebury College, where he served as editor of ''The Campus'', and graduated in 1955 with a BA in American literature. He earned an MA from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1956. Gussow was a writer for the Army newspaper in Heidelberg, Germany, where he was stationed for two years. He was hired by ''Newsweek'', where he became a movie and theater critic. His first Broadway play review was of '' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' in 1962. This review began a lifelong relationship with the play's author, Edward Albee, that included Gussow's 1999 biography of the playwright entitled ''Edward Albee: A Singular Journey''. Gussow joined the ''New York Tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeremy Meadow
Jeremy Meadow is a British theatrical producer and director, working mainly in theatre and comedy. He studied at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood then University of Exeter and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He worked for BBC radio as a producer on ''The Archers'' and at the Royal Opera House as a staff producer. His first theatre production in the West End was ''The Gin Game'' with Joss Ackland and Dorothy Tutin at the Savoy Theatre in 1999. Further West End productions and co-productions include ''A Servant to Two Masters'' at the Albery Theatre, ''Macbeth'' with Sean Bean directed by Edward Hall at the Albery Theatre, '' Three Sisters'' with Kristin Scott Thomas directed by Michael Blakemore at the Playhouse Theatre, ''Otherwise Engaged'' by Simon Gray with Richard E. Grant at the Criterion Theatre and ''Donkeys' Years'' by Michael Frayn at the Comedy Theatre. Notable touring productions include ''The Circle'' by W. Somerset Maugham with Wendy Craig, ''Our Song'' by Keith ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sonia Friedman
Sonia Anne Primrose Friedman (born Freedman; born April 1965) is a British West End and Broadway theatre producer. On 27 January 2017, Friedman was named Producer of the Year for the third year running at The Stage Awards, becoming the first person to win the award three times. In 2018, Friedman was featured in "TIME100", ''Time Magazine'' 's 100 Most Influential People of 2018 and was named Broadway Briefing's Show Person of the Year. In 2019, Sonia Friedman Productions was ranked ''The Stage'' 's most influential theatre producer in ''The Stage 100''. Early life Friedman is the youngest daughter of Clair Llewelyn (née Sims), a concert pianist, and violinist Leonard Freedman (who later changed his name to Friedman), who was leader of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham and co-founder of many national institutions including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Baroque Ensemble. Her father is from a Russian-Jewish immigrant family, whereas her m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon Curtis (filmmaker)
Simon Curtis (born 11 March 1960) is an English director and producer. He has directed theatre productions and the television dramas ''David Copperfield'' (1999) and '' Cranford'' (2007, 2009). His feature films include the biographical dramas ''My Week with Marilyn'' (2011), ''Woman in Gold'' (2015), and '' Downton Abbey: A New Era'' (2022). Career Curtis began his career working at the Royal Court Theatre. His first job was assistant director for Caryl Churchill's '' Top Girls''. He later became assistant director to both Danny Boyle and Max Stafford-Clark. Theatre productions Curtis has worked on include the world premiere of ''Road'', ''A Lie of the Mind'', '' Roots'', '' Dinner with Friends'' and '' The Rise and Fall of Little Voice''. In 2010, Curtis directed '' Serenading Louie'' at the Donmar Warehouse. In 1996, Curtis directed episodes of the television comedy series '' Tracey Takes On...'' for HBO. He also directed the three-part television drama ''Twenty Thousand St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Head
Anthony Stewart Head (born 20 February 1954) is an English actor and singer. Primarily a performer in musical theatre, he rose to fame in the UK in the 1980s following his role in the Gold Blend couple television advertisements for Nescafé, which led to major roles in several television series. He is best known for his roles as Rupert Giles in '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1997–2003), the Prime Minister in '' Little Britain'' (2003–2006), and Uther Pendragon in ''Merlin'' (2008–2012), as well as voicing Herc Shipwright in BBC Radio 4's '' Cabin Pressure''. Early life Head was born in Camden Town, London. His father was Seafield Laurence Stewart Murray Head (20 August 1919 – 22 March 2009), a documentary filmmaker and a founder of Verity Films, and his mother was actress Helen Shingler (29 August 1919 – 8 October 2019); they married in 1944 in Watford. His older brother is actor/singer Murray Head. Both brothers have played the part of Freddie Trumper in the mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard E
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong in rule'. Nicknames include " Richie", "Dick", " Dickon", " Dickie", "Rich", " Rick", " Rico", " Ricky", and more. Richard is a common English, German and French male name. It's also used in many more languages, particularly Germanic, such as Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Dutch, as well as other languages including Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Finnish. Richard is cognate with variants of the name in other European languages, such as the Swedish "Rickard", the Catalan "Ricard" and the Italian "Riccardo", among others (see comprehensive variant list below). People named Richard Multiple people with the same name * Richard Andersen (other) * Richard Anderson (other) * Richard Cartwright (disambiguati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Award For Best Actor In A Play
The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actors for quality leading roles in a Broadway play. The awards are named after Antoinette Perry, an American actress who died in 1946. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, to "honor the best performances and stage productions of the previous year." Despite the award first being presented in 1947, there were no nominees announced until 1956. Winners and nominees 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Multiple wins ; 2 Wins * Alan Bates * Bryan Cranston * Brian Dennehy * José Ferrer * Judd Hirsch * James Earl Jones * Frank Langella * Fredric March * Mark Rylance Multiple n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Butley (play)
''Butley'' is a play by Simon Gray set in the office of an English lecturer at a university in London, England.Gray, Simon. ''Simon Gray: Plays 1''. London: Faber and Faber, 2010. The title character, a T. S. Eliot scholar, is an alcoholic who loses his wife and his close friend and colleague – and possibly male lover – on the same day. The action of the dark comedy takes place over several hours on the same day during which he bullies students, friends and colleagues while falling apart at the seams. The play won the 1971 ''Evening Standard Award'' for Best Play. Characters *Ben Butley *Joseph Keyston *Miss Heasman *Edna Shaft *Anne Butley *Reg Nuttall *Mr Gardner Productions ''Butley'' was first performed at the Criterion Theatre in London on 14 July 1971, produced by Michael Codron and directed by Harold Pinter, with the following cast: *Ben Butley – Alan Bates *Joseph Keyston – Richard O'Callaghan *Miss Heasman – Brenda Cavendish *Edna Shaft – ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national "newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clive Barnes
Clive Alexander Barnes (13 May 1927 – 19 November 2008) was an English writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977, he was the dance and theater critic for ''The New York Times'', and, from 1978 until his death, '' The New York Post.'' Barnes had significant influence in reviewing new Broadway productions and evaluating the international dancers who often perform in New York City. Life and career Born in Lambeth, London, Barnes was educated at Emanuel School in Battersea and St Catherine's College, Oxford. He was the dance and drama critic at the ''New York Post'' from 1978 until 2008, and senior consulting editor at '' Dance Magazine'', where he wrote a monthly column called "Attitudes." He also contributed regularly to the British journal ''Dance Now;'' he edited and wrote for British newspapers such as ''The Times,'' '' The Daily Express'', and the weekly magazine '' Spectator''. Barnes authored and contributed to numerous books related to theater and the performing arts, partic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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