Voldemar Mettus
Voldemar Mettus (September 24, 1894 – July 16, 1975) was an Estonian theater figure, journalist, writer, and translator. Early life and education Voldemar Mettus was born in Kilingi-Nõmme, Estonia, the son of Friedrich Mettus (1858–1918) Anna Marie Penjam (1867–?). He graduated from Riga Classical High School in 1913, and he studied ancient languages at the Institute of History and Linguistics in Petrograd from 1916 to 1918. He returned to Estonia in 1918 and took part in the Estonian War of Independence. Career Mettus was a teacher at and the Drama Studio Theater School from 1920 to 1922, and he also worked as a theatre critic for the newspaper '' Päewaleht''. From 1922 to 1924, he was a dramaturge and director at the Estonian Drama Theatre, and from 1924 to 1925 he worked at the Endla Theater. From 1925 to 1931, he was a director at the Vanemuine Theater, and from 1931 to 1932 he was also a dramaturge; he staged many classics there, including plays by William Shakes ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kilingi-Nõmme
Kilingi-Nõmme is a town in Pärnu County, southwestern Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Saarde Parish. It is located on the intersection of Valga– Uulu (Valga–Pärnu, no. 6) and Tartu–Viljandi–Kilingi-Nõmme (no. 92) roads, about from the Estonian border with Latvia. History The settlement was first mentioned in 1560, when a manor named ''Ovelgunne'' (also ''Kurkund'') belonging to the Schilling family was established. In 1789 a tavern was opened in the nearby Nõmme farmstead. Hence in the name "Kilingi-Nõmme", ''Kilingi'' derived from the ''Schilling'' surname. In the 1870s when most of the manor's land was handed out to Orthodox believers, the settlement started to develop faster. Local congregation was established in 1845, and a parish school three years later. Kilingi-Nõmme was then the centre of the surrounding Saarde Parish. After the establishment of sawmill, flour mill and spinning factory, Kilingi-Nõmme gained the borough rights in 1919 and e ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Merchant Of Venice
''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan taken out on behalf of his dear friend, Bassanio, and provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock, with seemingly inevitable fatal consequences. Although classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and it is best known for the character Shylock and his famous demand for a " pound of flesh". The play contains two famous speeches, that of Shylock, " Hath not a Jew eyes?" on the subject of humanity, and that of Portia on " the quality of mercy". Debate exists on whether the play is anti-Semitic, with Shylock's insistence on his legal right to the pound of flesh being in opposition to his seemingly universal plea for the rights of all people suffering discrimination. Characters * ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gustaw Herling-Grudziński
Gustaw Herling-Grudziński (; May 20, 1919 − July 4, 2000) was a Polish writer, journalist, essayist, World War II underground fighter, and political dissident abroad during the period of Soviet and communist rule. He is best known for writing a personal account of life in the Soviet Gulag entitled ''A World Apart (book), A World Apart'', first published in 1951 in London. Biography Gustaw Herling-Grudziński was born in Kielce into a Jewish-Polish merchant family of Jakub (Josek) Herling-Grudziński and his wife Dorota (''née'' Bryczkowska).Zdzisław Kudelski''Gustaw Herling-Grudziński – wątek żydowski'' Rzeczpospolita, July 5, 2003. His mother died in 1932 of typhoid. His studies of Polish literature at the Warsaw University were interrupted by the invasion of Poland at the outbreak of World War II. In late 1939 under the brutal occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Herling-Grudziński co-founded one of the earliest Polish resistance movement in Wo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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A World Apart (book)
''A World Apart: The Journal of a Gulag Survivor'' () is a memoir written by Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, combining various literary genres: novel, essay, psychological portrait, as well as sociological and political dissertation. It was first published in 1951 in London in the English translation by Andrzej Ciołkosz.''A world apart'' at Open Library. Translated from the Polish by (19291952), the son of Adam Witold Ciołkosz (19011978) whos [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Konstantin Stanislavski
Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski ( rus, Константин Сергеевич Станиславский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ stənʲɪˈslafskʲɪj, links=yes; ; 7 August 1938) was a seminal Russian and Soviet theatre practitioner. He was widely recognized as an outstanding character actor, and the many productions that he directed garnered him a reputation as one of the leading theatre directors of his generation. His principal fame and influence, however, rests on his "system" of actor training, preparation, and rehearsal technique. Stanislavski (his stage name) performed and directed as an amateur until the age of 33, when he co-founded the world-famous Moscow Art Theatre (MAT) company with Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, following a legendary 18-hour discussion. Its influential tours of Europe (1906) and the US (1923–24), and its landmark productions of ''The Seagull'' (1898) and ''Hamlet'' (1911–12), established his reputation an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Géza Von Cziffra
Géza von Cziffra (; 19 December 1900 – 28 April 1989) was a Hungarian and Austrian film director and screenwriter. Life Cziffra was a Banat German in origin, born in 1900 in Arad, Romania, Arad in the Banat region, at that date in the Kingdom of Hungary, now in Romania. Cziffra made films from the 1930s onwards, at first in Hungary, and from 1936 in Germany as well, where he was initially more active as a screenwriter. In 1945, in Prague, then occupied by the Nazi Germany, Germans, he made the film ''Leuchtende Schatten'' ("Glowing Shadows"). As adviser for the criminal police, he was assigned SS-Sturmbannführer Eweler, a member of the Sicherheitsdienst, SD and brother of the actress Ruth Eweler. After some time, Cziffra banned Eweler from the studios for excessive and obstructive criticism. Shortly afterwards, he was arrested and taken to the Prague Gestapo Headquarters in the Pecec Palace, where he was accused of having eaten several times in the Czechoslovakia, Czech r ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eduard Vilde
Eduard Vilde ( – 26 December 1933) was an Estonian writer, a pioneer of critical realism in Estonian literature, and a diplomat. He was the author of classics such as ''The War in Mahtra'' and ''The Milkman from Mäeküla''. He was one of the most revered figures in Estonian literature and is generally credited as being the country's first professional writer. Life and career Vilde grew up on the farm where his father worked. In 1883, he began working as a journalist. He spent a great deal of his life traveling abroad and he lived for some time in Berlin in the 1890s, where he was influenced by materialism and socialism. His writings were also guided by the realism and naturalism of the French writer Émile Zola (1840–1902). In addition to being a prolific writer, he was also an outspoken critic of Tsarist rule and of the German landowners. With the founding of the first Estonian republic in 1919, he served as an ambassador in Berlin for several years, and spent the last ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kratt
Kratt (or kratid in plural; also ''pisuhänd'', ''puuk'', ''tulihänd'', ''vedaja''), is a magical creature in old Estonian mythology, a treasure-bearer. A kratt was a creature formed from hay or of old household implements by its master, who then had to give the Devil three drops of blood to bring life to the kratt. The kratt was notable for doing everything the master ordered it to and was mostly used for stealing and bringing various goods for the kratt's owner. It was said to be able to fly around. An interesting aspect of the kratt is that it was necessary for it to constantly keep working, otherwise it would turn dangerous to its owner. Once the kratt became unnecessary, the master of the kratt would ask the creature to do impossible things such as build a ladder from bread, as portrayed in Andrus Kivirähk's ''Rehepapp'' (''The Old Barny''). Impossible tasks took so long to complete that it caused the kratt, which was made of hay, to catch fire and burn to pieces, thus so ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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As You Like It
''As You Like It'' is a pastoral Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 (the house having been a focus for literary activity under Mary Sidney for much of the later 16th century) has been suggested as a possibility. ''As You Like It'' follows its heroine Rosalind (As You Like It), Rosalind as she flees persecution in her uncle's court, accompanied by her cousin Celia (As You Like It), Celia to find safety and, eventually, love, in the Forest of Arden. In the forest, they encounter a variety of memorable characters, notably the melancholy traveller Jaques (As You Like It), Jaques, who speaks one of Shakespeare's most famous speeches ("All the world's a stage") and provides a sharp contrast to the other characters in the play, always observing and disputing the hardships of life in the country. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Pretenders (play)
''The Pretenders'' (original Norwegian title: ''Kongs-Emnerne'') is a dramatic play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Play overview ''The Pretenders'' was written in bursts during 1863, but Ibsen claimed to have had sources and the idea in 1858. It is a five-act play in prose set in the thirteenth century. The play opened at the old Christiania Theatre on 19 January 1864. The plot revolves around the historical conflict between Norwegian King Håkon Håkonsson and his father-in-law, Earl Skule Bårdsson. It has been commonly ascribed to the rivalry between Ibsen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, who had succeeded Ibsen as director of the Norske Theater in 1857. List of characters * Håkon Håkonsson, King-elect of Norway * Inga of Varteig, Håkon's mother * Earl Skule Bårdsson, Norwegian nobleman and future father-in-law of Håkon * Lady Ragnhild, Skule's wife * Sigrid, Skule's sister * Margaret, Skule's daughter and Håkon's future wife * Guthorm Ingesson * Sigurd Ribbung ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg (; ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography, history, cultural analysis, and politics during his career, which spanned four decades. A bold experimenter and iconoclast throughout his life, he explored a wide range of dramatic methods and purposes, from naturalistic tragedy, monodrama, and historical plays to his anticipations of expressionist and surrealist dramatic techniques. From his earliest work, Strindberg developed innovative forms of dramatic action, language, and visual composition. He is considered the "father" of modern Swedish literature and his '' The Red Room'' (1879) has frequently been described as the first modern Swedish novel. In Sweden, Strindberg is known as an essayist, painter, poet, and especially noveli ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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A Dream Play
''A Dream Play'' (), sometimes staged in English as ''The Dream Play'', is a fantasy play in 14 scenes written in 1901 by the Swedish playwright August Strindberg. It was published in Swedish in 1902 and first performed in Stockholm on 17 April 1907. It remains one of Strindberg's most admired and influential dramas, seen as an important precursor to both dramatic Expressionism and Surrealism. Plot The primary character in the play is Agnes, a daughter of the Vedic god Indra. She descends to Earth to bear witness to problems of human beings. She meets about 40 characters, some of them having a clearly symbolical value (such as four deans representing theology, philosophy, medicine, and law) and is herself enmeshed in a wrenching marriage. After experiencing all sorts of human suffering (for example poverty, cruelty, and the routine of family life), the daughter of gods realizes that human beings are to be pitied. Only the Poet, who has created the dream, seems unaffected by hum ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |