The play is regarded as one of the greatest ever written, resonating with contemporary themes that feel relevant with each performance. Its powerful narrative and profound impact have left a lasting impression on audiences and the author alike, suggesting a timeless quality that continues to engage and provoke thought.
The book explores the significance of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, a landmark in absurdist theater, which has profoundly influenced modern drama. It highlights Sir Peter Hall's return to direct this iconic play, reflecting on its lasting impact and the themes of existentialism and the human condition. The narrative delves into the play's historical context and its evolution over the past fifty years, emphasizing its enduring relevance and the artistry involved in its direction.
This text gives an account of how tourism has ruined precious landscapes, polluted coast and countryside, and destroyed the distinctive cultures of many communities. But it also looks as a variety of pioneering inititives in which local people play a key role in tourism development.
The paperback edition of the acclaimed definitive life of John Gielgud, arguably the greatest classical actor of the twentieth century.
King Lear is arguably the most complex and demanding play in the whole of Shakespeare. Once thought impossible to stage, today it is performed with increasing frequency, both in Britain and America. It has been staged more often in the last fifty years than in the previous 350 years of its performance history, its bleak message clearly chiming in with the growing harshness, cruelty and violence of the modern world. Performing King Lear offers a very different and practical perspective from most studies of the play, being centred firmly on the reality of creation and performance. The book is based on Jonathan Croall's unique interviews with twenty of the most distinguished actors to have undertaken this daunting role during the last forty years, including Donald Sinden, Tim Pigott-Smith, Timothy West, Julian Glover, Oliver Ford Davies, Derek Jacobi, Christopher Plummer, Michael Pennington, Brian Cox and Simon Russell Beale. He has also talked to two dozen leading directors who have staged the play in London, Stratford and elsewhere. Among them are Nicholas Hytner, David Hare, Kenneth Branagh, Adrian Noble, Deborah Warner, Jonathan Miller and Dominic Dromgoole. Each reveals in precise and absorbing detail how they have dealt with the formidable challenge of interpreting and staging Shakespeare's great tragedy.
Stage history -- The fifties : Michael Redgrave, Alec Guinness, Richard Burton, Paul Scofield, Michael Redgrave -- The sixties : Jeremy Brett, Peter O'Toole, David Warner, Nicol Williamson -- The seventies : Alan Howard, Ian McKellen, Albert Finney, Ben Kingsley, Derek Jacobi, Frances de la Tour -- The eighties : Jonathan Pryce, Michael Pennington, Anton Lesser, Roger Rees, Kenneth Branagh, Mark Rylance, Daniel Day-Lewis -- The nineties : Kenneth Branagh, Alan Cumming, Stephen Dillane, Ralph Fiennes, Alex Jennings, Paul Rhys -- The noughties : Mark Rylance, Adrian Lester, Samuel West, Michael Maloney, Ben Whishaw, Jamie Ballard, David Tennant, Jude Law -- The teens : Rory Kinnear, Michael Sheen, Jonathan Slinger, Maxine Peake, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paapa Essiedu, Andrew Scott, Simon Russell Beale -- Hamlet observed : the National Theatre at work -- Hamlets at Elsinore.
Illustrations The Quest for Neill The Road to Summerhill Summerhill Acknowledgments Sources Bibliography & Further Reading Index
This authoritative biography of John Gielgud deals in fascinating detail with the life and work of the greatest classical actor of the twentieth century. Drawing on recollections of more than a hundred friends and colleagues, Jonathan Croall captures vividly Gielgud's early struggles as an actor, his trail-blazing achievements as a director, actor-manager and interpreter of Shakespeare, and his late flowering in the plays of Pinter, Albee, Storey, Bond and Bennett and as an Oscar-winning movie star. It also uncovers Gielgud's difficult relationship with Laurence Olivier and reveals his courage in the face of a humiliating scandal that threatened to wreck his career. An absorbing portrait of a remarkable actor.
The book offers a critical yet empathetic examination of A.S. Neill's unconventional philosophy on child freedom, based on interviews with two hundred former students, parents, and teachers from Summerhill. It delves into the challenges and realities of Neill's approach, showcasing his unwavering commitment to prioritizing children's needs over societal norms. This exploration creates a compelling portrait of a man who consistently opposed conventional adult perspectives in his quest to champion the rights and autonomy of children.