Stephen Brown (playwright)

Last updated

Stephen Brown is best known as a playwright, but has also been a publisher and writer.

Contents

Life and career

Brown was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, and the University of Sussex.

He was the publisher of Prospect magazine, and has reviewed theatre for Radio 4's Front Row , the Times Literary Supplement and others. [1]

In 2003, he wrote the script for Filter Theatre's Faster, based on the James Gleick book of the same name. After running at the Battersea Arts Centre and Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, this production toured nationally and internationally. [2] [3]

In 2007, his play Future Me, which dramatised the prison treatment of a successful lawyer convicted of sex offences, was produced at Theatre503 in Battersea. It was subsequently produced in Berkeley and New York, and toured England with Coronation Street's Rupert Hill. [4] [5] [6]

He was subsequently commissioned by the Royal National Theatre to write a play about René Descartes, and to adapt Occupational Hazards, Rory Stewart's memoir of his experiences as a senior coalition official in Iraq. [7] This latter work was produced at the Hampstead Theatre in May 2017. [8]

In summer 2020, the Bristol Old Vic was scheduled to premiere his new play, Dr Semmelweis, modelled on the Hungarian physician, written with and starring Mark Rylance. The premiere was postponed due to COVID-19. [9] It was eventually premiered in January 2022 and scheduled to run until February 5. After selling out and receiving positive reviews, its run was extended to 19 February. [10] A West End run of Dr Semmelweis opened at the Harold Pinter Theatre in June 2023, again to critical acclaim with Mark Rylance in the title role.

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ignaz Semmelweis</span> Early pioneer of antiseptic procedures

Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis was a Hungarian physician and scientist of German descent who was an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures and was described as the "saviour of mothers". Postpartum infection, also known as puerperal fever or childbed fever, consists of any bacterial infection of the reproductive tract following birth and in the 19th century was common and often fatal. Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of infection could be drastically reduced by requiring healthcare workers in obstetrical clinics to disinfect their hands. In 1847, he proposed hand washing with chlorinated lime solutions at Vienna General Hospital's First Obstetrical Clinic, where doctors' wards had three times the mortality of midwives' wards. The maternal mortality rate dropped from 18% to less than 2%, and he published a book of his findings, Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever, in 1861.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Old Vic</span> Theatre in Waterloo, London

The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, nonprofit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. It was established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal Victoria Palace. It was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 and formally named the Royal Victoria Hall, although by that time it was already known as the "Old Vic". In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian Baylis, assumed management and began a series of Shakespeare productions in 1914. The building was damaged in 1940 during air raids and it became a Grade II* listed building in 1951 after it reopened.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bristol Old Vic</span> Theatre in Bristol, England

Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a financially independent organisation in the 1990s. Bristol Old Vic runs a Young Company for those aged 7–25.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Rylance</span> British actor, playwright and theatre director (born 1960)

Sir David Mark Rylance Waters is an English actor, playwright and theatre director. He is known for his roles on stage and screen, having received numerous awards including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Olivier Awards and three Tony Awards. In 2016 he was included in the Time 100 list of the world's most influential people. In 2017 he was made a knight by Queen Elizabeth II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rory Stewart</span> British politician, academic and broadcaster (born 1973)

Roderick James Nugent Stewart is a British academic, broadcaster, writer, and former diplomat and politician. He has taught at Harvard University and at Yale University where he is the Brady-Johnson Professor of the Practice of Grand Strategy at Yale University's Jackson School of Global Affairs.

Jeffery Kissoon is an actor with credits in British theatre, television, film and radio. He has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company at venues such as the Royal National Theatre, under directors including Peter Brook, Peter Hall, Robert Lepage, Janet Suzman, Calixto Bieito and Nicholas Hytner. He has acted in genres from Shakespeare and modern theatre to television drama and science fiction, playing a range of both leading and supporting roles, from Mark Antony in Antony and Cleopatra and Prospero and Caliban in The Tempest, to Malcolm X in The Meeting and Mr Kennedy in the children's TV series Grange Hill.

<i>Occupational Hazards</i> Book by Rory Stewart

Occupational Hazards: My Time Governing in Iraq or The Prince of the Marshes: And other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq is a 2006 non-fiction book by the British writer and later Member of Parliament Rory Stewart.

David Greig is a Scottish playwright and theatre director. His work has been performed at many of the major theatres in Britain, including the Traverse Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Royal National Theatre, Royal Lyceum Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and been produced around the world.

Sam Crane is an English actor. He attended Oxford University and LAMDA, where he won the Nicholas Hytner Award. He played Farinelli in Claire van Kampen's Farinelli and the King opposite Mark Rylance at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and reprised his role when the production transferred first to the Duke of York's Theatre and then to the Belasco Theatre on Broadway. He is also known for playing Winston Smith in Headlong's production of 1984 in the West End, Fred Walters in the BBC's six-part drama series Desperate Romantics and Frederick Abberline in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Syndicate. In 2017 he played Patrick Plunket in an episode of the Netflix series The Crown. Since 13 October 2022 Sam has been playing the lead, Harry Potter, in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre, London.

Laura Wade is an English playwright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rufus Norris</span> British theatre and film director (born 1965)

Rufus Norris is a British theatre and film director, who is currently the artistic director and chief executive of the National Theatre.

John Retallack is a British playwright and director.

Joseph Hill-Gibbins is a British theatre and opera director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juliet Rylance</span> English actress and producer (born 1979)

Juliet van Kampen Rylance is an English actress and producer, known for her roles in The Knick, McMafia and Perry Mason.

David Farr is a British writer, theatrical director and Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Tom Morris OBE is an English theatre director, writer and producer. He was the Artistic Director at BAC from 1995 to 2004 and the Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic from 2009 to 2022. He has been Associate Director at the National Theatre since 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Pinter Theatre</span> West End theatre in London, England

The Harold Pinter Theatre, known as the Comedy Theatre until 2011, is a West End theatre, and opened on Panton Street in the City of Westminster, on 15 October 1881, as the Royal Comedy Theatre. It was designed by Thomas Verity and built in just six months in painted (stucco) stone and brick. By 1884 it was known as simply the Comedy Theatre. In the mid-1950s the theatre underwent major reconstruction and re-opened in December 1955; the auditorium remains essentially that of 1881, with three tiers of horseshoe-shaped balconies.

Maggie Lunn was an English casting director, for leading theatre companies and for notable productions on television and film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonia Franceschi</span> American dancer, actor, choreographer

Antonia Franceschi is an American dancer, choreographer and actor.

Enyi Okoronkwo is British stage and television actor.

References

  1. ↑ "Stephen Brown". United Agents. Retrieved 2012-06-17.
  2. ↑ "Home". Filter Theatre. Retrieved 2012-06-17.
  3. ↑ "A modern production – Theatre & Dance – Arts – Evening Standard". Thisislondon.co.uk. 2003-04-08. Archived from the original on 2013-05-05. Retrieved 2012-06-17.
  4. ↑ Alistair Smith (2007-06-27). "Reviews – Future Me". The Stage. Thestage.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-17.
  5. ↑ Sadie Gray Last updated at 7:53PM, June 16, 2012. "The Times". London: The Times. Archived from the original on June 16, 2011. Retrieved 2012-06-17.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ Lyn Gardner (2007-06-27). "Theatre review: Future Me / Theatre 503, London | Stage". The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-06-17.
  7. ↑ "Stephen Brown". United Agents. Retrieved 2012-06-17.
  8. ↑ Billington, Michael (9 May 2017). "Occupational Hazards review – headlong rush through Rory Stewart's Iraq memoir". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  9. ↑ Ltd, Supercool (2020-06-15). "Semmelweis". Bristol Old Vic. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  10. ↑ "Dr Semmelweis". 23 April 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.