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Stage Beauty
''Stage Beauty'' is a 2004 romantic period drama directed by Richard Eyre. The screenplay by Jeffrey Hatcher is based on his play ''Compleat Female Stage Beauty'', which was inspired by references to 17th-century actor Edward Kynaston made in the detailed private diary kept by Samuel Pepys. Plot Ned Kynaston is one of the leading actors of his day, particularly famous for his portrayal of female characters, predominantly Desdemona in ''Othello''. His dresser, Maria, aspires to perform in the legitimate theatre but is forbidden because of a law, at that time in effect, forbidding theatres to employ actresses. Instead, she appears in productions at a local tavern under the pseudonym Margaret Hughes. Her popularity is aided by the novelty of a woman acting in public, which attracts the attention of Sir Charles Sedley, who offers his patronage. Eventually, she is presented to Charles II. Nell Gwynn, an aspiring actress and Charles II's mistress, comes upon Kynaston ranting abo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Eyre
Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre (born 28 March 1943) is an English film, theatre, television and opera director. Eyre has received numerous accolades including three Laurence Olivier Awards as well as nominations for six BAFTA Awards and two Tony Awards. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1992 News Year Honours, and knighted in the 1997 New Year Honours. Eyre started his career as the associate director at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh from 1967 to 1972 before becoming the artistic director of the Royal National Theatre from 1987 to 1999. He has directed numerous West End productions earning three Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Director for ''Guys and Dolls'' (1982), ''King Lear'' (1998), and ''Hedda Gabler'' (2006). He was also Olivier-nominated for '' Racing Demon'' (1989), ''Skylight'' (1995), '' John Gabriel Borkman'' (1997), ''Vincent in Brixton'' (2003), ''Mary Poppins'' (2005), and ''Ghosts'' (2014). For his work o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Momentum Pictures
Momentum Pictures was a film distributor owned by Entertainment One, a subsidiary of Lionsgate Studios. Prior to 2013, it was a brand of Canadian distributor Alliance Films used for its releases in the United Kingdom, and was one of the leading independent distributors in the UK and Ireland. It was originally formed in 1997 after Alliance Communications had bought out distributor Electric Pictures. Two years later, its interest was sold off to German distributor Kinowelt, and took on the name Momentum Pictures in 2000. Following eOne's purchase of the company, Alliance and its divisions were folded under the eOne brand. The Momentum brand was revived in 2015 as part of a venture with Orion Pictures to jointly acquire films for distribution in North America and international markets. The studio has also released several family films, such as '' Hoodwinked!'', '' The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle'' (co-distributed with United International Pictures as part of a two-year agreem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nell Gwynn
Eleanor Gwyn (also spelled Gwynn, Gwynne; 2 February 1650 – 14 November 1687) was an English stage actress and celebrity figure of the Restoration period. Praised by Samuel Pepys for her comic performances as one of the first actresses on the English stage, she became best known for being a longtime mistress of King Charles II of England ( – 6 February 1685). Called "pretty, witty Nell" by Pepys, she has been regarded as a living embodiment of the spirit of Restoration England, and has come to be considered a folk heroine, with a story echoing the rags-to-royalty tale of Cinderella. Gwyn had two sons by King Charles: Charles Beauclerk (1670–1726) and James Beauclerk (1671–1680). Charles Beauclerk was created Earl of Burford and Duke of St Albans; Murray Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans is her descendant, and the current holder of the title. Early life The details of Gwyn's background are somewhat obscure. A horoscope in the Ashmolean manuscripts gives her date ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles II Of England
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest surviving child of Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and Henrietta Maria of France. After Charles I's execution at Palace of Whitehall, Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War, the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II king on 5 February 1649. However, England entered the period known as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth with a republican government eventually led by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, and Charles Escape of Charles II, fled to mainland Europe. Cromwell became Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Sedley
Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet (March 1639 – 20 August 1701), was an English noble, dramatist and politician. He was principally remembered for his wit and profligacy.. Life He was the son of Sir John Sedley, 2nd Baronet, of Aylesford in Kent, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Henry Savile. The Sedleys (also sometimes spelt Sidley) had been prominent in Kent since at least 1337. Sedley's grandfather, William Sedley, was knighted in 1605 and created a baronet in 1611. He was the founder of the Sidleian Lectures of Natural Philosophy at Oxford. Sedley was educated at Wadham College, Oxford, but left without taking a degree. There his tutor was the poet Walter Pope. The second surviving son of Sir John Sedley and Elizabeth, William, succeeded to the baronetcy in 1645. Charles Sedley inherited the title (5th baronet) in 1656 when his brother William died. By his first wife Lady Katherine Savage, daughter of John, 2nd Earl Rivers he had only one legitimate child, Cather ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Hughes
Margaret Hughes (29 May 1630 – 1 October 1719), also Peg Hughes or Margaret Hewes, was an English actress who is often credited as the first professional actress on the English stage, as a result of her appearance on 8 December 1660.The nationality specification is essential. The earliest kabuki performers in Japan in 1603 were women. An Italian actress was reported as early as 1565–66; see Rennert, ''Spanish Stage,'' p. 140. Thomas Coryate, in ''Coryate's Crudities,'' noted actresses in Venice in 1611; see Halliday, ''Shakespeare Companion,'' p. 22. For amateur precedents, see: '' Tempe Restored;'' '' The Shepherd's Paradise.'' Hughes was the mistress of the English Civil War general Prince Rupert of the Rhine. Women in Restoration drama Hughes became an actress during a period of great change in English drama which had suffered greatly during the English Civil War and the Interregnum, being banned by the Puritan Long Parliament in 1642.Spencer, p. 314. This ban was fin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dresser (theatre)
A dresser is a theatrical stagehand who is involved with maintaining costume quality at each performance, as well as facilitating quick changes. They are hired by either the director, producer, or wardrobe supervisor. They report directly to the wardrobe supervisor and are usually paid by the hour. Some dressers work closely with an actor over the course of multiple shows, which can lead to a close relationship between the two. Sutton Foster and Daniel Radcliffe acknowledged dressers who worked with them over the years in awards acceptance speeches. See also * List of theatre personnel * ''The Dresser'', a 1980 play about a dresser, afterwards adapted for the cinema (1983) and television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ... (2015) * '' Hamlet's Dresser'', a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Othello
''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulated by his ensign, Iago, into suspecting his wife Desdemona of infidelity. ''Othello'' is widely considered one of Shakespeare's greatest works and is usually classified among his major tragedies alongside ''Macbeth'', ''King Lear'', and ''Hamlet''. Unpublished in the author's life, the play survives in one quarto edition from 1622 and in the First Folio. ''Othello'' has been one of Shakespeare's most popular plays, both among playgoers and literary critics, since its first performance, spawning numerous stage, screen, and operatic adaptations. Among actors, the roles of Othello, Iago, Desdemona, and Emilia (Iago's wife) are regarded as highly demanding and desirable. Critical attention has focused on the nature of the play's tragedy, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desdemona
Desdemona () is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Shakespeare's Desdemona is a Venice, Italy, Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello (character), Othello, a Moors, Moorish Venetian military prodigy. When her husband is deployed to Cyprus in the service of the Republic of Venice, Desdemona accompanies him. There, her husband is manipulated by his Ensign (rank), ensign Iago into believing she is an adultery, adulteress, and, in the last act, she is murdered by her estranged spouse. Role in ''Othello'' In the play's first act, Desdemona has eloped with Othello, a Moor in the service of the Venetian Republic. Before the Duke of Venice, his councilmen, and her father, she proclaims her love for Othello and defends her choice. Her father reluctantly accepts the union but warns Othello that she will someday deceive him. When Othello is sent to Cyprus in the line of duty, Desde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys ( ; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English writer and Tories (British political party), Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament (England), Member of Parliament, but is most remembered today for the diary he kept for almost a decade. Though he had no Maritime pilot, maritime experience, Pepys rose to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both Charles II of England, Charles II and James II of England, James II through patronage, diligence, and his talent for administration. His influence and reforms at the Admiralty (United Kingdom), English Admiralty were important in the early professionalisation of the Royal Navy. The detailed private diary that Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 was first published in the 19th century and is one of the most important primary sources of the Stuart Restoration. It provides a combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of great events, such as the Grea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Kynaston (actor)
Edward Kynaston (c. 1640 – January 1706) was an English actor, one of the last Restoration "boy players", young male actors who played women's roles. Career Kynaston was good looking and made a convincing woman: Samuel Pepys called him "the loveliest lady that ever I saw in my life" after seeing him in a production of John Fletcher's '' The Loyal Subject'' at the Cockpit-in-Court, "only her voice snot very good". He also played the title role in Ben Jonson's '' Epicoene''. Pepys had dinner with Kynaston after this production on 18 August 1660. Simultaneously, Kynaston played male roles as well. He filled the role of Otto in '' Rollo Duke of Normandy'' on 6 December 1660, having played the female role of Arthiope in the same play in previous weeks. On 7 January 1661, Kynaston played three roles in a performance of Jonson's '' Epicoene'', one female and two male. Part of Kynaston's appeal may have been his ambiguous sexuality. The actor Colley Cibber recalled: "the Ladi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Costume Drama
Costume is the distinctive style of clothing, dress and/or cosmetics, makeup of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, occupation, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch—in short, culture. The term also was traditionally used to describe typical appropriate clothing for certain activities, such as Riding habit, riding costume, Swimsuit, swimming costume, dance costume, and evening gown, evening costume. Appropriate and acceptable costume is subject to changes in fashion and local cultural norms. This general usage has gradually been replaced by the terms "dress", "attire", "robes" or "wear" and usage of "costume" has become more limited to unusual or out-of-date clothing and to attire intended to evoke a change in identity, such as theatrical, Halloween, and mascot costumes. Before the advent of ready-to-wear apparel, clothing was made by hand. When made for commercial sale it was made, as late as the beginning of the 20th century, by "costumiers", often wom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
