Putting it on
Subtitle: the West End theatre of Michael Codron
By: Michael Codron and Alan Strachan
Contributors: Strachan, Alan
Publisher: Duckworth Overlook
Published: 2010
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 402
ISBN-13: 9780715639443; 9781590204832
Subjects: Theatrical producers and directors; Biography; Gay theatrical producers and directors; Theater; Production and direction; History; Theaterproduktion
Other titles: West End theatre of Michael Codron
Description: "Michael Codron is undoubtedly the leading producer of postwar British theatre. Still active after an astonishing half-century in the industry - he is 80 this year - every major British dramatist of the period has had a production under the Codron banner: Alan Ayckbourn, Alan Bennett, Michael Frayn, Simon Gray, David Hare, Joe Orton, John Mortimer, Harold Pinter and Patrick Marber, to name just a few. Describing himself as 'A man of vulgar taste with an impeccable streak', he has had many hits with lighter entertainment as well as serious plays. Aware of his own homosexuality from an early age, Codron grew up in an era of prejudice and intolerance; his experiences parallel the enormous shifts in metropolitan gay life since the 1950's. In "Putting It On" he talks frankly of the most important relationships of his life, from early flings with older, sophisticated figures like David Hicks to David Sutton, the main love of his life and his business partner for over twenty-five years. Codron's CV reads like a concise history of the post-war stage, and the book examines the sea-changes in the commercial sector and the rise of the subsidised theatre, revealing, too, what it was like working with the greatest actors of our time, including Alec Guiness, John Gielgud, Michael Gambon, Tom Courtenay, Richard Briers, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Diana Rigg, Felicity Kendall, Penelope Keith, Julie Waters and Victoria Wood..."--Publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references, list of theatre productions, and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note:; title: 1.; title: First Entrances -- -- 2.; title: Et in Arcadia -- -- 3.; title: Apprenticeships -- -- 4.; title: First First Nights -- -- 5.; title: Revue Reviewed -- -- 6.; title: The Nearly Man -- -- 7.; title: Triumph and a Disaster -- -- 8.; title: Art for the Arts' Sake -- -- 9.; title: A Second Home -- -- 10.; title: Stars and Bars -- -- 11.; title: New Voices -- -- 12.; title: No Musicians, Acrobats or Performing Animals -- -- 13.; title: Shades of Gray -- -- 14.; title: The Lancing Boys -- -- 15.; title: Alan, Alec, Willy, Mike, etc. ... and Michael -- -- 16.; title: Philosophy and the Human Heart -- -- 17.; title: The Scarborough Connection -- -- 18.; title: Late Curtain.