Joan Littlewood

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Joan Littlewood (born October 6, 1914 in London , † September 20, 2002 in Paris ) was an influential British theater and film director of the 1950s and 1960s. It had a lasting impact on the expression of political theater in Great Britain.

Life

After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , Joan Maud Littlewood founded the Theater of Action in 1934 with her husband Jimmie Miller, better known by his later stage name Ewan McColl , a radical political theater company based in Manchester had. Littlewood did not think much of the “good”, socially adapted theater of its time and preferred a more experimental form, which dealt with contemporary, social and political conflicts (especially those of the working class). In 1936 she changed the group's name to “Theater Union” and adopted a very socialist line. She was particularly influenced by the Russian director Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874–1940), who was one of the great theater reformers of the 20th century. In 1945 the name was changed again, the group was now called "Theater Workshop" and toured the UK and Europe for eight years .

Joan Littlewood and the Theater Royal Stratford East

After separating from her husband in 1950, the Theater Workshop settled in 1953 at the Theater Royal Stratford East in London. Littlewood directed and also appeared as an actress in her plays. She and her partner Gerry Raffles performed some of the most influential and exciting pieces of their time, including Brendan Behan's The Quare Fellow (1957) and The Hostage (1958) and Shelagh Delaney's A Taste Of Honey (1958). During this time she also directed the British premiere of Bertolt Brecht's mother Courage and Her Children (1955). At the end of 1957 she staged the comedy Ölzweig by Ewan MacColl at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin .

With Oh! What a Lovely War , a parody of the First World War , it had its greatest success in 1963. It impressively represented her style, interspersed with songs, jokes and sketches , and became a classic of modern theater. The play was successfully filmed in 1968 by Richard Attenborough .

Trivia

Well-known actor Michael Caine was hit by Littlewood once during rehearsals: “Get off to Shaftesbury Avenue . You will only ever be a star. ”(“ Piss off to Shaftesbury Avenue [ located in the West End theater district ]. You will only ever be a star. ”), As Littlewood always had negative connotations for the word 'star' and good acting defined differently . Another word from her was: "The rehearsal is the work and the performance is the pleasure."

Web links

Commons : Joan Littlewood  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Enterprise Ölzweig in the Berliner Zeitung of December 31, 1957, p. 3
  2. ↑ Michael Caine: What's It All About ?, New York 1992, ISBN 9780345386809 in Google Book Search
personal data
SURNAME Littlewood, Joan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British theater and film director
DATE OF BIRTH October 6, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH September 20, 2002
Place of death Paris