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Sherlock Holmes has been a beloved character from his first story, and his mystique endures to the modern age in print, on screen - but he has had a long life in the theatre as well. Where did it begin? What are the themes, stories, and characterizations that make his stage presence unique and just as enduring? Follow his trail on the stage as author Alexandra Kitty curates his fascinating theatrical world throughout the decades: from unlikely Off-Broadway musicals to lauded slapstick comedies, to more traditional and gripping portrayals of his iconic stories and new incarnations. How does the world's greatest detective fare in the theatre? The results are always shocking, but never disappointing.
Contemporary Farce on the Global Stage provides audiences and practitioners a detailed survey of how the genre of farce has evolved in the 21st century. Often dismissed as frivolous, farce speaks a universal language, with the power to incisively interrogate our world through laughter. Unlike farces of the past, where a successful resolution was a given and we could laugh uproariously at adulterous behaviour, farce no longer guarantees an audience a happy ending where everything works out. Contemporary farce is no longer ‘diverting us’ with laughter. It is reflecting the fractured world around us. With a foreword by award-winning playwright Ken Ludwig, the book introduces readers to the ...
Picking up the trail with the incredibly influential films of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, Volume II goes on to explore the antiheroic Sherlock Holmes films of the 1970s, and then the somewhat rocky journey of Holmes into the medium of television (actors Alan Wheatley, Douglas Wilmer, and Peter Cushing all declared their respective TV series as the worst experience of their professional careers). Television finally found its "definitive" Holmes in Jeremy Brett's portrayal for Granada Television, and then the BBC's "Sherlock" had flashed brilliantly across the cultural sky before crashing and burning in spectacular fashion. Still, despite its ignominious end, Benedict Cumberbatch's version...
This book investigates the development of Sherlock Holmes adaptations in British theatre since the turn of the millennium. Sherlock Holmes has become a cultural phenomenon all over again in the twenty-first century, as a result of the television series Sherlock and Elementary, and films like Mr Holmes and the Guy Ritchie franchise starring Robert Downey Jr. In the light of these new interpretations, British theatre has produced timely and topical responses to developments in the screen Sherlocks’ stories. Moreover, stage Sherlocks of the last three decades have often anticipated the knowing, metafictional tropes employed by screen adaptations. This study traces the recent history of Sherlock Holmes in the theatre, about which very little has been written for an academic readership. It argues that the world of Sherlock Holmes is conveyed in theatre by a variety of games that activate new modes of audience engagement.
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I will NOT be denied. I AM a volcano! And this is MY night. Britain in the 1970s: a time of strikes, blackouts and free love. But Philip's frustrated. While his wife Angela thinks he's past it, he wants to share a whole lotta love with Catherine from next door. When the naughty neighbours check in at the Paradise Hotel, it's a night to remember - for all the wrong reasons. The lights go out, the corridors see more action than the beds, and to cap it all, the place could be haunted . . . Throw in Fanny the French maid, Detective Inspector Connors of the Vice Squad, a snake called Cecil and Tom the mynah bird, and it all makes for a chaotic cocktail of confusion leaving the would-be lovebirds not even halfway to Paradise. A tale of midlife crises, mistaken identities and misfiring sexual shenanigans, this new farce is published to coincide with the world premiere at the Playhouse, Liverpool, in December 2014.
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"Oh, but he was a squeezing, wrenching, scraping, grasping kind of a Scrooge; a clutching, covetous old sinner..." Using only Charles Dickens' extraordinary words and a chameleon ensemble of eight actors, Neil Bartlett's 'A Christmas Carol' is a bold theatrical reimagining of a classic christmas story. This stage version was adapted for the festive season of 2002-3, and played to full houses and critical acclaim at both the Lyric Hammersmith, London, and the Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow.
Which star of The Crown is the great-granddaughter of a British prime minister? Which TV quiz show is based on the creator's experience of being interrogated as a prisoner of war? Which property on the Monopoly board does not exist in the real-life London? For lovers of the most obscure and unlikely facts - as well as the unsung quizzing geniuses out there (we all know a couple) - comes Pointless Facts for Curious Minds, the book where obvious answers mean nothing and obscurity reigns. A compendium of fascinating and arcane bits of knowledge, mixed amongst a healthy dose of Pointless quizzing, this is a book that takes a quiz as only the starting point of your intelligent adventures. Pointless Facts for Curious Minds gives you the chance to put your knowledge to the test and prove your Pointless credentials.