David Peacock (theatre administrator)

Last updated
David Peacock
Born14 April 1924
Died11 January 2000 (aged 75)
London, England
Education Douai School
Spouse
Georgia Thorndike
(m. 19541978)
Children7, including Lucy Peacock

David Peacock (14 April 1924 – 11 January 2000), was a British theatre administrator.

Contents

Early life

Peacock was born in England in 1924. He was the son of a civil servant father and a French mother. He was educated at the Douai School. [1]

Career

After serving in the British Armed Forces during World War II, he worked as the stage manager at the Royal Opera House. [1] In 1964, he emigrated to Canada and was succeeded by Stella Chitty as general stage manager. [1] [2]

Peacock was director of the production course at the National Theatre School of Canada, and in 1970 became the school's general director. [3] From 1972, he was in charge of the arts division of the Canada Council. [4]

Personal life

In 1951, Peacock married Georgia Thorndike, daughter of the actor and novelist Russell Thorndike and niece of the actress Sybil Thorndike, and they had seven children, including the actress Lucy Peacock. They divorced in 1978, he moved back to England, and remarried. [1]

He died in London in 2000, aged 75. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurence Olivier</span> English actor and director (1907–1989)

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. Late in his career he had considerable success in television roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stratford Festival</span> Theatre festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada

The Stratford Festival is a theatre festival which runs from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, the Shakespeare Festival and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. The festival was one of the first arts festivals in Canada and continues to be one of its most prominent. It is recognized worldwide for its productions of Shakespearean plays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tyrone Guthrie</span> English actor and director

Sir William Tyrone Guthrie was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at his family's ancestral home, Annaghmakerrig, near Newbliss in County Monaghan, Ireland. He is famous for his original approach to Shakespearean and modern drama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Broccoli</span> American film producer

Barbara Dana Broccoli is a British-American film and stage producer, best known internationally for her work on the James Bond film series. With her half-brother Michael G. Wilson, Broccoli controls the James Bond film franchise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sybil Thorndike</span> English actress (1882–1976)

Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson, was an English actress whose stage career lasted from 1904 to 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Henry</span> American-born Canadian actress (1938–2021)

Martha Kathleen Henry was an American-born Canadian stage, film, and television actress. She was noted for her work at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Theatre School of Canada</span>

The National Theatre School of Canada is a private institution of professional theatre studies in Montreal, Quebec. Established in 1960, the NTS receives its principal funding from grants awarded by the Government of Canada and from cultural ministries in each of the provinces, with added financial support from private and corporate donors.

David Mirvish, is a Canadian art collector, art dealer, theatre producer, real estate developer and son of the late Toronto discount department store owner "Honest" Ed Mirvish and artist Anne Lazar Macklin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russell Thorndike</span> British actor and novelist

Arthur Russell Thorndike was a British actor and novelist, best known for the Doctor Syn of Romney Marsh novels. Less well-known than his sister Sybil but equally versatile, Russell Thorndike's first love was writing and, after serving in World War I, he devoted himself to it.

Douglas Campbell, CM was a Canadian-based stage actor. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland.

Adrian Keith Noble is a theatre director, and was also the artistic director and chief executive of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1990 to 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gillian Lynne</span> English dancer, choreographer (1926–2018)

Dame Gillian Barbara Lynne was an English ballerina, dancer, choreographer, actress, and theatre-television director, noted for her theatre choreography associated with two of the longest-running shows in Broadway history, Cats and The Phantom of the Opera. At age 87, she was made a DBE in the 2014 New Year Honours List.

Maxwell Robert Guthrie Stewart "Max" Stafford-Clark is a British theatre director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Actor</span> Person who acts in a dramatic or comic production and works in film, television, theatre, or radio

An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is ὑποκριτής (hupokritḗs), literally "one who answers". The actor's interpretation of a role—the art of acting—pertains to the role played, whether based on a real person or fictional character. This can also be considered an "actor's role," which was called this due to scrolls being used in the theaters. Interpretation occurs even when the actor is "playing themselves", as in some forms of experimental performance art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basil Langton</span> English actor

Basil Calvert Langton was an English actor, director and photographer, who made a career on both sides of the Atlantic. He was an authority on the plays of George Bernard Shaw and compiled an archive of more than 400,000 words of interviews with people who had known and worked with Shaw. He was also a teacher, working at colleges in New York and California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birmingham Repertory Theatre</span> Theatre in Birmingham, England

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Barry Jackson, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre companies and one of its most consistently innovative.

Lucy Peacock is a Canadian actress best known for major stage roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada during the course of over 25 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Croall</span> British author and journalist

Jonathan Croall is a British author and journalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Actresses' Franchise League</span> Womens suffrage organisation

The Actresses' Franchise League was a women's suffrage organisation, mainly active in England.

Stella Chitty was a British stage manager. In her 47-year career with the Royal Opera House, she rose to become the general stage manager.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Peacock, David". Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  2. Isaacs, Jeremy (30 June 2005). "Obituary: Stella Chitty". the Guardian. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  3. Carson, Neil (1 January 1995). Harlequin in Hogtown: George Luscombe and Toronto Workshop Productions. University of Toronto Press. ISBN   978-1-4875-9646-0.
  4. Filewod, Alan (26 September 2011). Committing Theatre: Theatre Radicalism and Political Intervention in Canada. Between the Lines. ISBN   978-1-926662-80-0.