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Joan Littlewood (The hostage - Brendan Behan (Translated to English.…
Joan Littlewood
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Facts
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Fought endlessly for working class Britain - breaking the barriers of upper class theatre she made it accessible to the average person.
Born 1914 during ww1 outbreak,stockwell London. She was a illegitimate child. Her mother was a 16 year old child. She was raised by her grandparents in a working class family. In her teenage years she was particularly active regularly attending protests which inspire her later work.She lived until age 87 directing over 80 shows in the 45 years she was active. Hence being the mother of modern theatre - advocated theatre brought to masses.
Joan disliked traditional approaches to acting - not relatable + unattainable to ordinary people make clear by her Radar departure after only 3 months age 16.
When growing up theatre was being commertraditionalised tending to be full of glitz and glamour due to post war depression it was only accessible to middle and upper class - Joan disliked and thought theatre should be made available to everyone and it should have true meaning to it showing the lives of real men and women.
She predominantly worked in a working class area. Lived on the breadline. During active years she was part of theatre companies: Theatre action, Theatre Union, Theatre Workshop.All preformed controversial pieces of theatre, which caused issues with authorities
She wove in the humor of working class fairgrounds and carnivals.She created a familiar atmosphere for the audience.Last edition wasa pay last performed in 1940 written by littlewoods then husband Ewan Maccoll it was known as a living newspaper with scene changing every weeks to keep up with the times events. It was a factitious period with WW2 on the way-last edition reflected this.Controversial prediction that was stopped by the police both Littlewood and Maccoll were arrested and fined with behavior that could break the peace. This brought the end of theatre union and they broke up a few months after. Taste of honey written by Shelagh Delaney preformed 1958 had some of the times most controversial themes.Littlewood choose this piece recognising working class themes that echoed with her own philosophy
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Littlewood played big part in people's careers in the world of theatre and film.She is said to be the creator of british soap stars. She worked with and influenced actors such as Barbara Windsor. . Theatre Royal Stratford east set up by her and Ewan Maccoll and still running profesional productions today. Working with people from all backgrounds. Joan Littlewood would have loved this as a legacy in itself.
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Mid twentieth century Littlewood was one of the foremost directors of her generation. Her imagination, originality,theatrical chutzpah and lively representation of working class life stood out when compared to the rather bland theatre at the time. She was a maverick associated with anti-establishment views. Fiery temperament and refused to respect authority for its own sake.
Continued education past age 14 after a local convent school recognised her academic potential and awarded a scholarship.Discovered theatre after seeing a production of shakespeare's “ the merchant of venice” .
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At the time of writing government WW1 files were restricted - had to rely on sources produced between war so contained controversies. Critics have argued that although littlewood may have inaccurately emphasised aspects the nostalgia evoked by the music hall style and soldier songs ensured the plays success.
Oh what a lovely war - possibly the best known work that littlewood has been involved with produced in 1963 it explored the horror of WW1. Having lived through both WWs her outlook was greatly affected by these experiences.Using musical theatre to explore such dark subjects matter was an effort to highlight the vulgarity of battle as Littlewood believed that war is for clowns. The style of the piece comes from he background and belief in working class theatre it has elements of musical style performance a popular style of entertainment among working classes. Lovely war was such a success it was given a new lease of life in the 1969 Richard Attenborough movie adaptation - This greatly upset Joan as she was fundmentaly against commercialism however theatre workshop made the choice due to lack of funds of the company.