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Edward and Eleonora

Play · 1775

Edward and Eleonora is a 1739 tragedy by the British writer James Thomson. Originally due to be performed at Covent Garden in 1739, the play was banned by the censor, the Lord Chamberlain Charles FitzRoy, Duke of Grafton, under the recent Licensing Act. This happened late into rehearsals in March 1739. The original cast was intended to feature Dennis Delane as Edward, Christiana Horton as Eleanor, James Rosco as Gloucester and Lacy Ryan as the Sultan. Thomson was closely identified with the Patriot Whigs opposed to the government of Robert Walpole. His play, ostensibly about Edward I and his wife Eleanor during the Ninth Crusade, was viewed as an attack on Walpole's policies and personal corruption. Because the play begins with Edward as a patriotic Prince of Wales compared favourably to his father Henry III, similarities were drawn with the strained relationship between George II and his son Frederick, Prince of Wales who was a backer of the Patriot Whigs. Thomson dedicated the published version of the play to Frederick's wife Augusta. The play finally premiered at Covent Garden on 18 March 1775, many years after Thomson's death. The cast included Thomas Hull, Robert Bensley, Ann Street Barry and Isabella Mattocks. It ran for seven performances.

Edward the Black Prince

Play · 1750

Edward the Black Prince is a 1750 historical play by the British writer William Shirley. Written in the style of Shakespeare, it portrays the life of Edward the Black Prince an English leader in the Hundred Years War and father of Richard II. The original Drury Lane cast included David Garrick as Edward, Spranger Barry as Lord Ribemont, Edward Berry as Cardinal Perigot, John Sowdon as King John, William Havard as Arnold, Richard Winstone as Charney, Thomas King as Duke of Athens and John Palmer as Audley.

Edwy and Elgiva

Play · 1795

Edwy and Elgiva is a historical tragedy by the English writer Fanny Burney. Written in 1790 it was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on 21 March 1795. The original cast included John Philip Kemble as Edwy, Sarah Siddons as Elgiva, John Palmer as Aldhem, William Barrymore as Cedric, Thomas Caulfield as Ernulf, John Whitfield as Redwald, Robert Bensley as Dunstan, Robert Benson as Orgar, Charles Kemble as Sigebert, John Hayman Packer as Leofric, Walter Maddocks as Peasant, John Phillimore as Ruffian and Jane Powell as Eltruda. The prologue was written by the author's brother Charles Burney. Despite its high-profile cast including three members of the Kemble dynasty, it was withdrawn after only one performance.

Eighty in the Shade

Play · 1958

Eighty in the Shade is a 1958 play by the British writer Clemence Dane. It was her final play and was written as a vehicle for her friend Sybil Thorndike who played a famous stage actress celebrating fifty years on the stage while confronting family problems. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle before transferring to the Globe Theatre in London's West End where it ran for 179 performances between 8 January and 13 June 1959. As well as Thorndike the cast included Lewis Casson, Robert Flemyng, Mary Peach and Valerie Taylor.

Elfrid

Play · 1710

Elfrid: or The Fair Inconstant, generally shortened to Elfrid, is a 1710 tragedy by the British writer Aaron Hill. Hill wrote the work in less than a fortnight. Set in Saxon England it featured Barton Booth as Athelwold, Charles Powell as King Edgar and Lucretia Bradshaw as Elfrid. Concerned about the play's modest reception, Hill wrote an afterpiece entitled The Walking Statue which proved to be more popular than the main play, and was revived numerous times. In 1731 Hill reworked the play and staged it under a new title Athelwold at Drury Lane. It marked his return to the London stage after an eight year absence. Although he hoped to persuade Robert Wilks to star in the title role, it ended up being played by Roger Bridgewater. Although Alexander Pope tried to generate interest, the new version lasted for three nights and met a largely poor reception.

Elling

Play · 2007

Elling is a 2007 theatre adaptation by Simon Bent of the 2001 film of the same name. The film and play is based on the book of the same name of Norwegian author Ingvar Ambjørnsen. The play was directed by Paul Miller and produced at the Bush Theatre, London, it then transferred to the West End at Trafalgar Studios for a critically acclaimed twelve-week run, with John Simm in the title role (who was nominated for an Olivier award for best actor) Adrian Bower, Ingrid Lacey, Jonathan Cecil & Keir Charles. A different (and less successful) version of the play premiered on Broadway on November 21, 2010 using a completely different cast and director, it closed on November 28, 2010, after 9 performances and 22 previews. The cast included Brendan Fraser and Denis O'Hare playing the mismatched roommates who deal with common concerns related to friendship, work and women. It also starred Jennifer Coolidge as Reidun, Richard Easton as Alfons, and Jeremy Shamos as Frank.

Elmerick

Play · 1740

Elmerick, or Justice Triumphant is a 1740 tragedy by the British writer George Lillo. It was performed posthumously following his death the year before. It portrays the assassination of Gertrude of Merania, the consort of Andrew II of Hungary, and the play is part of the so-called Bánk bán tradition. The original Drury Lane cast included William Mills as Andrew II, William Milward as Conrade, James Quin as Elmerick, Richard Winstone as Belus and Thomas Wright as Bathori. The prologue was written by James Hammond.

England Preserved

Play · 1795

England Preserved is a 1795 historical play by the British politician and writer George Watson-Taylor. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London on 21 February 1795. The original cast included Alexander Pope as Earl of Pembroke, Thomas Hull as Bishop of Winchester, William Farren as Earl of Chester, Joseph George Holman as Earl of Surrey, James Middleton as William Mareschal, William Davies as Earl of Lincoln, John Richardson as Lord Robert Fitzwalter, William Macready as English knight, George Davies Harley as French Prince, William Claremont as Vicomte De Beaumant and Tryphosa Jane Wallis as Lady Surrey. It takes place during the era of the Earl of Pembroke who acts as Lord Protector on behalf of his infant nephew in the early fifteenth century.

Enjoy

Play · 1980

Enjoy is a British comedy play written in 1980 by Alan Bennett. An idiosyncratic view of working-class family life in Leeds, a city in the north of England, it was one of the rare theatrical flops in Bennett's career. An elderly couple living in one of the last back-to-back houses in Leeds encounter a series of jolting surprises, not least when their son returns, as a council official in drag, and reveals that the council intends to demolish their house brick by brick, and reassemble it in the local museum, complete with its occupants. Following a national tour, directed by Ronald Eyre, it opened at the Vaudeville Theatre, in London's West End on 15 October 1980, but in spite of the stellar cast of Joan Plowright, Colin Blakely, Susan Littler, Marc Sinden, Philip Sayer and Liz Smith (who replaced Joan Hickson during rehearsals), it closed on 6 December 1980. Twenty-nine years later, a new production of Enjoy toured and then moved to the Gielgud Theatre in January 2009. This time the play was described as "an astonishingly prescient, blackly comic modern classic". Starring Alison Steadman and David Troughton, it reportedly took over £1 million in advance ticket sales.

Enter Madame

Play · 1920

Enter Madame was a 1920 Broadway three-act comedy written by Gilda Varesi and Dolly Byrne, produced and directed by Brock Pemberton. Varesi also played the lead role of opera singer Madame Lisa Della Robia with Norman Trevor playing her husband Gerald Fitzgerald. It ran a total of 350 performances from August 16, 1920 to October 2, 1920 at the Garrick Theatre, from October 4, 1920 - May 21, 1921 at the Fulton Theatre, then May 23, 1921 - April 1922 at Theatre Republic. It was included in Burns Mantle's The Best Plays of 1920-1921. It was adapted into two films of the same name Enter Madame(1922) and the 1935 remake starring Cary Grant.

Entertaining Mr Sloane

Play · 1964

Mr Sloane, a young man looking for a place to board, happens by the residence of Kath, a middle-aged landlady whose home is on the outskirts of a rubbish dump. Kath is eager to have Mr Sloane as a tenant at her home, which she shares with her nearly-blind father Kemp. Getting acquainted with Mr Sloane, Kath is open about a previous relationship she had which led to her bearing a child; her brother insisted that she give it up for adoption because it was conceived out of wedlock. Mr Sloane reveals he is himself an orphan, though vague about his parents' death, except that they "passed away together". Kath's father immediately distrusts Mr Sloane, believing him to be the man who killed his employer some years earlier. After Kemp and Sloane have an altercation that gets Sloane stabbed in the leg, Kath starts making subtle advances toward the young man. When he tries to reciprocate, Kath facetiously warns him not to betray her trust. Her brother Ed soon arrives and is dismayed to see his sister's new boarder. Kemp has an estranged relationship with his son as he found him to be "committing some kind of felony in the bedroom" as a teenager. Despite Ed's initial opposition to Mr Sloane staying with his sister, after speaking with him, Ed eventually relents and even offers him a job as his chauffeur. As Sloane recovers from his injury, Kath returns wearing a transparent negligee and seemingly seduces Mr Sloane as the lights go down and Act One ends. The action resumes "some months later" and begins with Mr Sloane recounting an evening in which a young woman gave him her telephone number. Kath ambiguously hints at her jealousy, then reveals that she is pregnant and concerned that her brother will strongly disapprove. Ed arrives soon after and discovers that Mr Sloane took his car out joyriding the night before with his friends. Upon finding out that they also had a woman with them, Ed divulges that he feels women are crude, and misleading. Ed advises Sloane to pack his things as he will be on call as his assistant at all hours. When Sloane leaves the room to pack, Kemp mildly attempts to reconcile with his son, and conveys that Kath and Sloane have been sleeping together and he believes that Kath is pregnant. When confronted, Sloane confirms he has been sleeping with Kath, but claims that she "threw herself" at him. A short time later, Ed departs to buy cigarettes, and Kemp returns to confront Sloane as his employer's murderer. Sloane eventually attacks Kemp, resulting in his death. Upon finding his dead father, Ed is initially insistent that justice be served and Sloane be turned over to the police. However, Sloane persuades Ed to fabricate a story to make the death appear an accident, in exchange for his servitude. When Kath discovers the dead body, she is apprehensive to stray from the truth especially given Sloane's intention to go and live with her brother. Sloane finds himself in a predicament: if he stays with Kath, Ed will report the murder to the authorities, and vice versa if he chooses to leave with Ed. Ultimately, a compromise is reached that will result in the pair "sharing" Mr. Sloane a few months at a time.

Epic Proportions

Play · 1986

In July 1936, in a vast desert in Arizona, after the first take of legendary film director D.W. DeWitt's film, Exeunt Omnes, the assistant director, Louise Goldman introduces herself to the cast of 3400 extras and explains the details of the film production and how they will play their part. Meanwhile, former high school band musician Phil Bennet finds his younger brother Benny and tries to bring him home, but Benny tells Phil that he dreams of becoming a movie star. Phil then gets over it and tries to leave, only to be told that once a person arrives, they cannot leave until filming is completed, forcing Phil to join Benny in the cast and is ranked a Three, while Benny is Four. A month passes, and the film is in poor shape. One night, Phil decides to help Louise with adjusting the scenes. Impressed with Phil's ideas, Louise gives him a casting role, and the two begin a romantic relationship. When Benny discovers Phil's promotion, he gets very jealous of being a Four and expresses his misery of the film's dark scenes and his distance from home, but Phil assures him that he will do fine. The next day, the crew begins shooting the "Queen of the Nile" scene, with Benny as the Queen's slave and Phil as the executioner. However, Louise is forced to do it alone, as DeWitt will not come out of the pyramid until shooting is done, though still seemingly involved in the project, as announced by the strict head assistant Jack Kramer, who chastised Phil earlier for trying to leave in the midst of production, and also because he and Shel, another assistant, have to shoot the "Burning Bush" scene. After three takes of the Queen scene, having the third be the most successful and after Phil congratulates Benny for his performance, a devastated Shel arrives and announces that Jack was accidentally burned to death. Phil, Benny and Louise enter the pyramid and ask DeWitt to come out and help, only to find out that DeWitt had quit the project; when DeWitt saw Benny trying his hardest in his parts, he got very emotional and decided to end his career. Phil is then offered to become the head assistant to replace Jack. Overjoyed to have full ownership of the movie, Phil accepts the offer. Phil gives Benny and Louise the main roles, Benny as Prince Ramadidis, and Louise as Princess Isis, who is in love in the movie. One night, when Phil fails to show up to a surprise birthday party Louise threw for him, despite his promise that he would, she feels betrayed. Benny comforts Louise, and the two find real love for each other, and ultimately begin an affair, unbeknownst to Phil. A few days pass, and Phil almost catches Louise cheating. Benny and Louise begin to have second thoughts about their relationship, but at the same time, they can't help it. The next day, the crew begins working on the film's climax, where the slave is forced to prove his worth for the princess by fighting gladiators. When Benny and Louise start kissing for part of the scene, Phil discovers their relationship. He tries to apologize to Louise, but she assures him that Benny is a better man. Enraged, Phil removes them from the picture and ranks Benny a Five. The cast starts to show hatred for Phil when he says that they will change the whole movie, as they have already spent too much time away from civilization and that Phil is a horrible person for the way he treated Louise, but Phil encourages them to keep going, as the movie is "about us." Louise tries to escape with Benny, only to be kidnapped by Phil. Benny and Phil then engage in a swordfight until DeWitt comes out of the pyramid. DeWitt then tells everyone, including Benny, Phil, and Louise that their actions would not be helpful to themselves or anyone else in life. DeWitt then finally agrees to let his people go, and Benny, who plans to marry Louise, and have Phil be the best man, leads everybody across the desert, resembling the film's title, Exeunt Omnes, Latin for "Everybody Out!"

Epitaph for George Dillon

Play · 1957

Epitaph for George Dillon is an early John Osborne play, one of two he wrote in collaboration with Anthony Creighton (the other is Personal Enemy). It was written before Look Back in Anger, the play which made Osborne's career, but opened a year after at Oxford Experimental Theatre in 1957, and was then produced at London's Royal Court theatre, where Look Back in Anger had debuted. It transferred to New York City shortly afterwards and garnered three Tony Award nominations.

Epsom Wells

Play · 1672

Epsom Wells is a 1672 restoration comedy by the English writer Thomas Shadwell. It was the first in a line of plays set in spa towns. The incidental music was composed by Nicholas Staggins. In the 1690s Henry Purcell scored a new staging of the play. It was performed at the Dorset Garden Theatre by the Duke's Company. The cast included Henry Harris as Rains, Thomas Betterton as Bevil, William Smith as Woodly, Cave Underhill as Justice Clodpate, Anne Gibbs as Lucia, Mary Betterton as Mrs Jilt, James Nokes as Bisket and Edward Angel as Fribble. It continued to be revived well into the eighteenth century.

Equus

Play · 1973

Martin Dysart is a psychiatrist working in a psychiatric hospital. He begins with a monologue in which he outlines the case of 17-year-old Alan Strang, who has blinded six horses. He divulges his feeling that his occupation is not all that he wishes it to be and his dissatisfaction and disappointment with his life. Dysart finds that the supply of troubled young people for him to "adjust" back into "normal" living is never-ending, but he doubts the value of treating these youths, since they will simply return to a dull, normal life that lacks any commitment or "worship". He comments that while Strang's crime was extreme, just such extremity is needed to break free from the chains of existence. A court magistrate, Hesther Saloman, visits Dysart, believing that he has the skills to help Alan come to terms with what he did. At the hospital, Dysart struggles to engage with Alan, who at first responds to questioning by singing TV advertising jingles. Dysart reveals a dream he has had, in a Homeric Grecian setting, in which he is a public official presiding over a mass ritual sacrifice. One after another, he slices open the abdomens of hundreds of children and pulls out their entrails. He becomes disgusted with what he is doing, but fears being murdered in the same manner if discovered as a "non-believer" by the other priests, and so continues. Eventually the other priests become aware of his misgivings and grab the knife from his hand, at which point he awakens from the dream. Dysart interviews Alan's parents. He learns that, from an early age, Alan has been receiving conflicting views on religion from his parents. Alan's mother, Dora, is a devout Christian who has read to him daily from the Bible, but this practice has antagonized Alan's father Frank, a non-believer. Slowly, Dysart makes contact with Alan by playing a game where each of them asks a question, which must be answered honestly. Dysart learns that Frank, concerned that Alan was taking far too much interest in the more violent aspects of the Bible, destroyed a violent picture of the crucifixion of Jesus that Alan had hung at the foot of his bed. Alan then replaced the picture with one of a horse, with large, staring eyes. Alan reveals to Dysart that, during his youth, his attraction to horses came about by way of his mother's Biblical tales, a horse story that she had read to him, Western films, and his grandfather's interest in horses and riding. Alan's sexual education began with his mother, who told him that he could find true love and contentment by way of religious devotion and marriage. During this time, Alan also began to develop a sexual attraction to horses, desiring to pet their coats, feel their muscular bodies, and smell their sweat. Alan reveals to Dysart that he had first encountered a horse at age six, on the beach. A rider approached him, and took him up on the horse. Alan was visibly excited, but his parents found him and Frank pulled him violently off the horse; the horse rider scoffed at Frank and rode off. Dysart hypnotizes Alan, during which he reveals elements of his dream about human sacrifice. He begins to jog Alan's memory by filling in blanks and asking questions. Alan reveals that he wants to help captive horses by removing the bit, which enslaves them. After turning 17, Alan took a job working in a shop selling electrical goods, where he met Jill Mason, an outgoing and free-spirited young woman who works for a local stable owner. She visited the shop wanting to purchase blades for horse-clippers, which piqued Alan's interest. Jill suggested that Alan work for Harry Dalton, the owner of the stables, to which Alan agreed. Dysart meets with Dalton, who tells him that he first held Alan to be a model worker, since he kept the stables immaculately clean and groomed the horses, including one named Nugget. Through Dysart's questioning, it becomes clear that Alan is erotically fixated on Nugget (or "Equus") and secretly takes him for midnight rides, bareback and naked. Alan envisions himself as a king astride the godhead Equus, both destroying their enemies. Dysart gives Alan a placebo "truth pill". Revealing a tryst with Jill, Alan begins to re-enact the event: Jill, who has taken an interest in Alan, asks him to take her to an adult movie theater. While there, they run into Frank. Alan is traumatized, particularly when he realizes that his father is lying to justify his presence in the theatre; however, this allows Alan to realize that sex is a natural thing for all men, even his father. Alan walks Jill home after they leave and she convinces Alan to come to the stables with her. Once there, Jill seduces Alan and the two undress and attempt to have sex. However, Alan hesitates when he hears the horses making noises in the stables beneath, and he is unable to get an erection. Jill tries to ask Alan what the problem is, but he shouts at her to leave. After Jill dresses and walks out of the stables, the still-nude Alan begs the horses for forgiveness. "Mine!...You're mine!...I am yours and you are mine!" cries Equus through Dysart's voice, but then he becomes threatening: "The Lord thy God is a jealous God," Equus/Dysart seethes, "He sees you, he sees you forever and ever, Alan. He sees you!...He sees you!" Alan screams, "God seest!" and then says "No more. No more, Equus!" Alan then uses a steel spike to blind the six horses in the stable, whose eyes have "seen" his very soul. In the final scene, Dysart delivers a monologue questioning the fundamentals of his practice and whether his methods will help Alan, as the effect of his treatment will make him normal, but at the cost of his humanity.

Errors Excepted

Play · 1807

Errors Excepted is an 1807 comedy play by the British writer Thomas Dibdin. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London on 13 August 1807. The original cast included Charles Mayne Young as Frank Woodland, John Fawcett as Commodore Convoy, Charles Mathews as Lawyer Verdict, John Waddy as Mr Grumley, William Chapman as Old Mannerly, Vincent De Camp as Young Mannerly, Mr. Carles as Gabriel Invioice, John Liston as Richard, Harriett Litchfield as Sylvia, Jane Powell as Betty Barnes, Sarah Liston as Mrs Hall and Maria Gibbs as Fanny Freeman.

Escape Me Never

Play · 1934

Escape Me Never is a 1934 play written by Margaret Kennedy based upon her 1930 novel The Fool of the Family. Set in pre World War I Europe, it tells the story of two brothers (Caryl and Sebastian Durbok) who are composers, share a flat, and are both in love with two women—an heiress and a young innocent. The original West End run of the play at the Apollo Theatre starred Elisabeth Bergner for whom the play was written. Bergner, in her Broadway debut, starred also in the play's 1935 production at the Shubert Theatre.

Escort

Play · 1942

Escort is a 1942 play by the British writer Patrick Hastings. It is a wartime spy thriller about sabotage on a Royal Navy ship. It ran for 24 performances at the West End Lyric Theatre between 18 August and 5 September 1942. The cast included Thorley Walters, Michael Shepley, John Stuart and Barry Morse. It was produced by Basil Dean. It was praised by The Spectator, which had recently panned Terence Rattigan's much more successful Flare Path, as "the best and most convincing spy play" to date.

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