Jonathan Kent (Director)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jonathan Kent (* 1949 in Great Britain) is a British theater and opera director.

Life

Jonathan Kent was born in England. His parents moved to South Africa shortly after he was born, where he grew up. He attended Diocesan College in Cape Town . In the 1970s he returned to London where he trained as an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama . He then played under Giles Havergal and Phillip Prowse at the Glasgow Citizens Theater. There he met the Scottish actor Ian McDiarmid . In 1982 he played the role of Tom Ripley on an episode of The South Bank Show entitled "Patricia Highsmith: A Gift for Murder" in scenes from the novel Ripley Under Ground . In 1990 they both took over the management of the Almeida Theater in London , which was then in a desolate state. Neither of them had any experience directing the theater, and Kent had never directed a play for a theater stage. Within a short time, however, the Almeida rose to become one of the most innovative and most renowned stages in London, where the stars of English theater and film performed and the theater gained an international reputation. 14 of his new productions were played on Broadway . In 1992 he directed the Medea by Euripides with Diana Rigg in the title role, which was then played on Broadway. In 1996 Kent directed Anton Chekhov's Ivanov in an adaptation by David Hare with Ralph Fiennes in the title role and Harriet Walter as Anna, which was shown the following year at the Maly Theater in Moscow. In 1997 Juliette Binoche made her theatrical debut here on an English stage in the role of Ersilia Drei in Kent's production of Pirandello's play Naked (Vestire i ignudi).

In 2000, the Almeida was closed for renovation and moved to a makeshift facility in Kings Cross . The season at Kings Cross opened with his production of Frank Wedekind's Lulu , which was subsequently shown at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. In Kings Cross, Kent a. a. David Hare's recast of Chekhov's Platonov , Faith Healer of Brian Friel and King Lear . During his time at the Almeida, Kent also took on directing duties for other houses. In 1994 he staged Corneilles Le Cid in the new translation by Ranjit Boldt for the Cottesloe Theater of the RNT , in 1995 David Hare's adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's mother Courage and her children with Diana Rigg in the leading role for the Royal National Theater and Martin Crimp's version of Marivaux ' Comedy La Fausse Suivante , also for the RNT (Dorfman Theater). The Kent / McDiarmid era ended with the reopening of the Almeida in 2002. Michael Attenborough became the new artistic director .

Kent now worked in Japan and on Broadway in addition to British theaters. In 2002 he directed the musical Man of La Mancha on Broadway. In 2003 he staged Hamlet in Japan in Japanese with the Kyōgens player Mansai Nomura in the title role. Hekuba von Euripides followed at Donmar Warehouse in 2004, Edward Bonds Lear at the Royal National Theater in 2005 and Hugh Whitemore's adaptation of Pirandellos As You Desire Me (Come tu mi vuoi) in the West End (2005/6) and Brian Friel's Faith Healer on Broadway in 2006 . Kent staged an opera for the first time in 2003, Katja Kabanowa at the Santa Fe Opera House , a house for which he brought out further new productions in the following years.

Opera productions (selection)

Prizes and awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alfred Hickling: Profile Jonathan Kent. The Guardian , February 1, 2008, accessed August 15, 2016.
  2. ^ "The South Bank Show" Patricia Highsmith: A Gift for Murder (1982) - The Internet Movie Database , accessed August 15, 2016.
  3. ↑ Juliette Binoche / Naked , accessed on August 16, 2016.
  4. ↑ in.com Jonathan Kent (director) , accessed August 13, 2016.
  5. ^ The Guardian, September 1, 2003 , accessed August 14, 2016.
  6. ↑ Olivier Awards 2016, full list of winners
personal data
SURNAME Kent, Jonathan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British theater and opera director
DATE OF BIRTH 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Great Britain