Kenneth Tynan

Kenneth Peacock Tynan (born April 2, 1927 in Birmingham , † July 26, 1980 in Santa Monica , California ) was an English theater critic and author.

Life

The gifted child (Kenneth Tynan kept a diary at the age of six) stood out for his brilliance as a pupil at the King Edward's School in Birmingham and attended Oxford University from 1945 , where he impressed with his eloquence, cleverness and extravagance and wrote plays for the theater stage occurred in it. As an academic teacher, CS Lewis made a big impression on him.

It was only when his father died in 1948 that he found out that he had led a double life as Peter Tynan and Sir Peter Peacock for twenty years . In 1951 he married Elaine Dundy (they divorced in 1964). In 1952 their daughter (Tracy Tynan) was born, and Kenneth Tynan was a theater critic for the London Evening Standard . In 1954 he moved to the Observer . Early on he campaigned for John Osborne and Samuel Beckett . His controversial, funny and sophisticated style soon made him famous and respected, his judgments were often controversial and created opponents for him. From 1958 he also became known in the USA when he began to publish reviews in the New Yorker .

In 1963 he became chief dramaturge at the Royal National Theater under the direction of Laurence Olivier . Despite its growing reputation, it became increasingly controversial; in vain did he sit down B. for Rolf Hochhuth's piece soldiers ; he turned more to politically left activities. But his erotic revue Oh! Calcutta! became a worldwide success in 1969. In 1971 he wrote the screenplay for the film drama Macbeth together with Roman Polański . In 1972 Tynan retired from the Royal National Theater .

In 1976 he moved to California , where he wrote newspaper articles, and continued for the New Yorker , and increasingly turned to sexual topics and subjects. Tynan died in 1980 and is buried in Holywell Cemetery , Oxford .

Publications

• Kenneth Tynan: Letters . Hgn. Kathleen Tynan. ISBN 0-517-39926-1 .
• Tynan Right and Left. Plays, Films, People, Places and Events . 1967. ISBN 0-689-10271-2 . (German theater today )
• The History of the National Theater . John Elsom and Nicholas Tomalin . 1978. ISBN 0-224-01340-8 .
• Show people. Profiles in entertainment . Kenneth Tynan. 1980. ISBN 0-671-25012-4 .
• The Diaries of Kenneth Tynan . (Ed. John Lahr). 2001. ISBN 0-7475-5418-8 , ISBN 1-58234-160-5 .

literature

• Kathleen Tynan: The Life of Kenneth Tynan . 1987. ISBN 0-688-05080-8 , ISBN 0-688-08906-2 , ISBN 0-413-18590-7 .
• William Triplet: Man They Loved to Hate . 1995. biography. ISBN 0-340-59240-0 .
• Dan Rebellato: 1956 and All That. The Making of Modern British Drama . 1999. ISBN 0-415-18939-X .
• Dominic Shellard: Kenneth Tynan, A Life . 2003. ISBN 0-300-09919-3 .

Web links

• Obituary in The Guardian .
• Tynan's biography on the National Theater's website .
• Peter Conrad: Tynan the vulgarian should be a lesson to us all , in The Observer , 2001. ( Review of The Diaries and a critical biographical overview.)
• Kenneth Tynan in the Internet Movie Database (English)