Directing the Decades is an examination of the development of theatre in the UK since the revolution of the 1950s until the present day, viewed through the individual progress of a female director from a working-class background. In this book, theatre history and lessons on directing are interwoven: the history is presented decade by decade, examining particular productions. Each historical theatre chapter is followed by a method chapter examining directorial influences and techniques predominant in each decade, as well as examining the working experience of the author in that decade. The book also includes practical advice on the directing process, including exercises, plans for rehearsals, and camera plans. Sue Dunderdale offers a unique perspective on the evolution of theatre directing in the UK, and her work, which served as the foundation of the creation of the Theatre Lab and Directing program at RADA, continues to influence working directors today. Directing the Decades will be of interest to students and practitioners of theatre directing, acting, and theatre history, and to theatregoers with a consciousness of class and how it impacts on our lives. The book also offers access to online transcripts of interviews with 16 practitioners, including Rufus Norris, Michelle Terry, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Indhu Rubasingham, Nadia Latif, and Nadia Fall.
This biography of Joseph Severn (1793-1879), the best known but most controversial of Keats's friends, is based on a mass of newly discovered information, much of it still in private hands. Severn accompanied the dying Keats to Italy, nursed him in Rome and reported on his last weeks there in a famous series of moving letters. After Keats's death in relative obscurity, Severn pressed hard for an early biography and a more fitting memorial in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome. In the nineteenth century Severn's friendship with Keats was seen as a model of devoted masculine companionship and he was reburied by popular acclaim next to Keats in 1882. In the twentieth century, by contrast, he was denigrated as an unreliable, self-promoting witness. Sue Brown's book fills a major gap in studies of Keats and his circle. It reassesses Severn's character, friendship with Keats, and influence on the posthumous development of the poet's fame and provides new information on Keats's death. The significance of Severn's artistic career has previously been downplayed. This book offers the first full assessment of his work and of his turbulent spell as British Consul in Rome from 1860 to 1871. Keats was not Severn's only famous friend. For most of his adult life Severn was at the heart of the large, lively British community in Rome welcoming amongst others Gladstone, who became his most important patron, Ruskin, Walter Scott, Wordsworth, Turner, Samuel Palmer, David Wilkie, and many more. He maintained long friendships with Leigh Hunt, Mary Shelley, Charles Eastlake, Richard Monckton Milnes, amongst others, and enjoyed a rich family life.
Jane Austen's career as a novelist began in 1811 with the publication of Sense and Sensibility. Her work was finally adapted for the big screen with the 1940 filming of Pride and Prejudice (very successful at the box office). No other film adaptation of an Austen novel was made for theatrical release until 1995. Amazingly, during 1995 and 1996, six film and television adaptations appeared, first Clueless, then Persuasion, followed by Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, the Miramax Emma, and the Meridian/A&E Emma. This book traces the history of film and television adaptations (nearly 30 to date) of Jane Austen manuscripts, compares the adaptations to the manuscripts, compares the way different adaptations treat the novels, and analyzes the adaptations as examples of cinematic art. The first of seven chapters explains why the novels of Jane Austen have become a popular source of film and television adaptations. The following six chapters each cover one of Austen's novels: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Mansfield Park, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey. Each chapter begins with a summary of the main events of the novel. Then a history of the adaptations is presented followed by an analysis of the unique qualities of each adaptation, a comparison of these adaptations to each other and to the novels on which they are based, and a reflection of relevant film and literary criticism as it applies to the adaptations.
This is the first-ever critical work on Jack Rosenthal, the award-winning British television dramatist. His career began with Coronation Street in the 1960s and he became famous for his popular sitcoms, including The Lovers and The Dustbinmen. During what is often known as the golden age of British television drama, Rosenthal wrote such plays as The Knowledge, The Chain, Spend, Spend, Spend and Ptang, Yang, Kipperbang, as well as the pilot for the series London's Burning. This study offers a close analysis of all Rosenthal's best-known works, drawing on archival material as well as interviews with his collaborators and cast members. It traces the events that informed his writing, ranging from his comic take on the permissive society; of the 1960s, through to recession in the 1970s and Thatcherism in the 1980s. Rosenthal's distinctive brand of humour and its everyday surrealism is contrasted throughout with the work of his contemporaries, including Dennis Potter, Alan Bleasdale and Johnny Speight, and his influence on contemporary television and film is analysed. Rosenthal is not usually placed in the canon of Anglo-Jewish writing but the book argues this case by focusing on his prize-winning Plays for Today The Evacuees and Bar Mitzvah Boy. This book will appeal to students and researchers in Television, Film and Cultural Studies, as well as those interested in contemporary drama and Jewish Studies.
With its mix of family drama, sex and violence, Britain's Tudor dynasty (1485-1603) has long excited the interest of filmmakers and moviegoers. Since the birth of movie-making technology, the lives and times of kings Henry VII, Henry VIII, and Edward VI and queens Mary I, Jane Grey and Elizabeth I have remained popular cinematic themes. From 1895's The Execution of Mary Stuart to 2011's Anonymous, this comprehensive filmography chronicles every known movie about the Tudor era, including feature films; made-for-television films, mini-series, and series; documentaries; animated films; and shorts. From royal biographies to period pieces to modern movies with flashbacks or time travel, this work reveals how these films both convey the attitudes of Tudor times and reflect the era in which they were made.
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