Thursday, May 13, 2010

Pics from England 1979 - 1983

Hey guys!

Here is a link to one of my Google Docs folders.

In it you will find 4 pdfs filled with pictures of people in England from 1979-1983. I thought these would be helpful for designs and actors alike. :)

Let me know if you have problems opening anything!

Thanks!

-T

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Tom Stoppard

  • Born Tomas Straussler in Ziln, Czechoslovakia on 3 July, 1937
  • Family fled to Singapore and then India to avoid German, and then Japanese invasions during WWII
  • Father, Eugene, was killed in a Japanese prison camp (though some biographies say he was on a ship bombed by Japanese forces).
  • In 1946, his mother remarried, an Englishman named Kenneth Stoppard
  • Family then moved to England where Tom studied at boarding schools in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire
  • Left school at the age of 17 to pursue a career as a journalist
  • In 1960, at the age of 23, left full-time journalism to pursue a career as a playwright, though continued to do freelance journalism and theatre criticism under the name William Boot
  • Lists his first inspirations as Robert Bolt and Arthur Miller
  • First play, A Walk on the Water, was completed in 1965.  It was eventually produced as a play and shown on British Independent Television in 1968 as Enter a Free Man
  • Breakthrough came in 1966 with the production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, an existential play based loosely on characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet
  • Became the youngest playwright to have a play produced at the Old Vic in London in 1967 (R & G)
  • When asked what the play is about, he is reported to have replied "It's about to make me very rich"
  • Continued writing through the 70s, when his plays started to tackle subjects of political justice and oppression.  He was especially influenced by a trip with Amnesty International through his homeland of Czechoslovakia and Russia.
  • Married twice, and has two sons from each marriage
  • Has written over 30 plays, screenplays, and television shows.
  • Has won 5 Tonys, one Academy Award, and 5 Evening Standard Awards
Some well-known quotes:
  • I agree with everything you say, but I would attack to the death your right to say it.
  • I think age is a very high price to pay for maturity.
  • If an idea's worth having once, it's worth having twice.
  • The days of the digital watch are numbered.
  • The truth is always a compound of two half- truths, and you never reach it, because there is always something more to say.
Sources:
http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc46.html
http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Tom_Stoppard/
http://www.theatredatabase.com/20th_century/tom_stoppard_001.html
http://www.curtainup.com/stoppard.html
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth254#bibliography



Monday, May 3, 2010

The fun of having a living playwright.

Two interviews with Tom Stoppard about the art of playwriting:

Charlie Rose:


Theatre Talk:


PS: Welcome to the Blog.  Have fun, be polite, and let's investigate!
Sarah