Type | Online, apps and weekly newspaper |
---|---|
Format | Web, media company, tablet |
Owner(s) | The Stage Media Company Limited |
Founder(s) | Charles Lionel Carson |
Publisher | The Stage Media Company Limited |
Editor | Alistair Smith |
Founded | 1 February 1880 (as The Stage Directory – a London and Provincial Theatrical Advertiser) |
Language | English |
Headquarters | Stage House, 47 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3XT |
Circulation | 400,000 per month (online); 30,000 per week (print readership) |
ISSN | 0038-9099 |
Website | thestage |
The Stage [1] is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. Founded in 1880, The Stage contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those who work in theatre and the performing arts.
The first edition of The Stage was published (under the title The Stage Directory – a London and Provincial Theatrical Advertiser) on 1 February 1880 at a cost of three old pence for twelve pages. Publication was monthly until 25 March 1881, when the first weekly edition was produced. At the same time, the name was shortened to The Stage and the publication numbering restarted at number 1.
The publication was a joint venture between founding editor Charles Lionel Carson and business manager Maurice Comerford.[ citation needed ] It operated from offices opposite the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Carson, whose real name was Lionel Courtier-Dutton, was cited as the founder. His wife Emily Courtier Dutton later founded several theatrical charities. [2]
The Stage entered a crowded market, with many other theatre titles (including The Era ) in circulation. Undercutting their rivals, Carson and Comerford dropped the price of the paper to one penny; soon it became the only remaining title in the field.
The newspaper has remained in family ownership. Upon the death in 1937 of Charles Carson's son Lionel, who had assumed the joint role of managing director and editor, control passed to the Comerford family.
In 1959, the newspaper was renamed The Stage and Television Today, incorporating the Television Today pull-out supplement dedicated to broadcasting news and features. Derek Hoddinott, who was the existing TV editor of The Stage, was retitled as editor of the Television Today supplement. The overall name and pull-out supplement remained until 1995, when broadcasting coverage was re-incorporated into the main paper. The name on the masthead reverted to The Stage, but in 2006, the paper introduced a blog concentrating on television, named TV Today.
From 1995, the newspaper has awarded The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
In 2004, 96-year-old contributor Simon Blumenfeld was recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest weekly newspaper columnist. [3] The column continued until shortly before his death in 2005. [4]
The Stage Awards were launched in 2010. They are given annually and recognise outstanding organisations working in theatre and beyond in the following categories: London theatre, regional theatre, producer, school, fringe theatre, theatre building, unsung hero and international.
In August 2013, The Stage launched The Stage Castings, [5] an online casting service with a video audition function.
In May 2019, The Stage partnered with the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation and UK Theatre to launch Get Into Theatre, [6] a website dedicated to theatre careers.
In 1956, writer John Osborne submitted his script for Look Back in Anger in response to an advertisement by the soon-to-be-relaunched Royal Court Theatre. [7]
Dusty Springfield responded to an advertisement for female singers in 1958. [7]
Idris Elba got his first acting role in a play after applying to a job ad in the paper.[ citation needed ]
Harold Pinter gained his first job after responding to an advert [8] and Kenneth Branagh landed the lead in The Billy Trilogy, in the BBC Play for Today series, after it was advertised in the paper.
The creation of Internationalist Theatre was first announced in the Stage editorial in April 1981. [9]
Ricky Tomlinson responded to an ad for United Kingdom, another Play for Today, in 1981 [7] and Sandi Toksvig landed her first television job playing the part of Ethel in No. 73 after answering an ad in The Stage.
Television presenter Maggie Philbin won her first major role, as a co-presenter of Multi-Coloured Swap Shop , after answering an advertisement in The Stage. [10]
A number of pop groups have recruited all or some of their members through advertisements placed in the newspaper, most notably the Spice Girls in 1994, [11] Scooch in 1998 and 5ive in 1997. Lee Mead (the actor who won BBC One talent show Any Dream Will Do to gain the lead role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat ) got his first professional job, working on a cruise ship, through a recruitment ad in the paper. [12]
Television presenter Ben Shephard auditioned for GMTV children's show Diggit following an advert in The Stage. While he did not get the part, he met Andi Peters, who subsequently hired him for the Channel 4 youth strand T4. [13]
Charles Dance landed his first role in a Welsh theatre [14] and Alexandra Burke stated in an interview "My mum used to buy The Stage all the time for auditions for me. That's how I got to go on [BBC TV talent show] Star for a Night with Jane McDonald." [15]
Olivier Award-winning actor Sharon D. Clarke found her first role at Battersea Arts Centre through an audition advert in the paper. [16]
Lisa Scott-Lee revealed that pop band Steps were formed through an advert in The Stage. [17]
Sir Michael Caine stated in an interview with Steve Wright on BBC Radio 2 that at the beginning of his career he applied for acting roles he found in The Stage. [18]
The paper's full content from 1880–2007 is available digitally via subscription. [1]
Marti Webb is an English actress and singer. She appeared on stage in Evita before starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's one-woman show Tell Me on a Sunday in 1980. This included her biggest hit single, "Take That Look Off Your Face", a UK top three hit, with the parent album also reaching the top three.
In the performing arts industry such as theatre, film, or television, casting, or a casting call, is a pre-production process for selecting a certain type of actor, dancer, singer, or extra to land the role of a character in a script, screenplay, or teleplay. This process may be used for a motion picture, television program, documentary film, music video, play, or advertisement, intended for an audience.
William James Nesbitt is an actor from Northern Ireland. From 1987, Nesbitt spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical Up on the Roof to the political drama Paddywack (1994). He made his feature film debut playing talent agent Fintan O'Donnell in Hear My Song (1991). He got his breakthrough television role playing Adam Williams in the romantic comedy-drama series Cold Feet, which won him a British Comedy Award, a Television and Radio Industries Club Award, and a National Television Award.
Emma Gwynedd Mary Chambers was an English actress. She played Alice Tinker in the BBC comedy The Vicar of Dibley and Honey Thacker in the film Notting Hill (1999).
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera, or ballet production who appears in a nonspeaking or nonsinging (silent) capacity, usually in the background. War films and epic films often employ background actors in large numbers: some films have featured hundreds or even thousands of paid background actors as cast members. Likewise, grand opera can involve many background actors appearing in spectacular productions.
Janine Duvitski is a British actress, known for her roles in the BBC television sitcom series Waiting for God, One Foot in the Grave and Benidorm. Duvitski first came to national attention in the play Abigail's Party, written and directed in 1977 by Mike Leigh.
Robert Guy Bathurst is a British actor. Bathurst was born in The Gold Coast in 1957, where his father was working as a management consultant. In 1959, his family moved to Ballybrack, Dublin, Ireland, and Bathurst attended school in Killiney and later was enrolled at Headfort, an Irish boarding school. In 1966, the family moved back to England and Bathurst transferred to Worth School in Sussex, where he took up amateur dramatics. At the age of 18, he read law at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and joined the Footlights group.
Colin Jack Bennett was an English actor. His television roles have included "Mr Bennett", the accident prone caretaker for Tony Hart in the BBC children's programmes Take Hart (1977–1983) and Hartbeat (1984–1989). He also portrayed the father in the 1985 Yellow Pages/Hornby advert Signal Box - although only in a later edit in which he thanked the son for his present.
Lorna Katie Fitzgerald is a British actress from Northampton. Her most notable role to date is that of Abi Branning in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders. Since leaving EastEnders in January 2018, Fitzgerald has developed her acting career on the stage and in movies.
Backstage, also previously written as Back Stage, is an American entertainment industry trade publication. Founded by Allen Zwerdling and Ira Eaker in 1960, it covers the film and performing arts industry from the perspective of performers, unions, and casting, with an emphasis on topics such as job opportunities and career advice. The brand encompasses the main Backstage magazine, and related publications such as its website, Call Sheet —a bi-monthly directory of talent agents, casting directors, and casting calls, and other casting resources.
The Count of Luxembourg is an operetta in two acts with English lyrics and libretto by Basil Hood and Adrian Ross, music by Franz Lehár, based on Lehár's three-act German operetta Der Graf von Luxemburg which had premiered in Vienna in 1909. Lehár made amendments to his Viennese score to accommodate the two-act adaptation. He also interpolated into the score three new pieces: a waltz that he had written for a commemorative performance of Der Graf in Vienna; a song from his first operetta, Wiener Frauen; and a Russian dance from the opera Tatjana.
Tom Burke is an English actor. He played Athos in the 2014–2016 BBC TV series The Musketeers, Dolokhov in the 2016 BBC literary-adaptation miniseries War & Peace, the eponymous character Cormoran Strike in the BBC series Strike, Orson Welles in the 2020 film Mank, and Praetorian Jack in the 2024 film Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
Sara Crowe is a Scottish film and stage actress who mainly plays comedy roles.
Nicholas Shaw is an English actor. He attended McAuley Catholic High School in Doncaster. He then attended the Drama Centre London and graduated in 2004.
An audition is a sample performance by an actor, singer, musician, dancer or other performer. It typically involves the performer displaying their talent through a previously memorized and rehearsed solo piece or by performing a work or piece given to the performer at the audition or shortly before. In some cases, such as with a model or acrobat, the individual may be asked to demonstrate a range of professional skills. Actors may be asked to present a monologue. Singers will perform a song in a popular music context or an aria in a Classical context. A dancer will present a routine in a specific style, such as ballet, tap dance or hip-hop, or show his or her ability to quickly learn a choreographed dance piece.
Renu Setna is a British actor. His roles on television include the shopkeeper Mr. Kittel in In Sickness and in Health. and Mr. Ram in the Only Fools and Horses episode Cash and Curry.
The filmography of English actor Robert Bathurst comprises both film and television roles spanning almost 30 years. Bathurst made his acting debut for television in 1982 in the never-broadcast pilot episode for the BBC sitcom Blackadder, though his character Prince Henry was recast when the Black Adder series was commissioned. Throughout the rest of the 1980s, Bathurst appeared in episodes of The Lenny Henry Show, Who Dares Wins, The District Nurse, Red Dwarf, and Chelmsford 123, before starring alongside his Cambridge Footlights colleague Stephen Fry in the short-run series Anything More Would Be Greedy. He also appeared in the films Whoops Apocalypse (1986) and Just Ask for Diamond (1988).
Vivian Nneka O. Oparah is a British actress and musician. For her performance in the film Rye Lane (2023), she won a British Independent Film Award and received a British Academy Film Award nomination. On television, she is known for her roles in the BBC Three Doctor Who spin-off Class (2016) and the Amazon Prime series Dead Hot (2024).
Joseph Anthony Kloska is an English actor. He began his career in radio, moving on to work in television, theatre, and film.
Emily Courtier-Dutton became Mrs Charles L. Carson and appeared as Kittie Claremont was a British actor and theatrical philanthropist.
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