#National Youth Theatre
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This is the second in our occasional series featuring luminaries of stage and screen with a strong personal or professional connection with Northeast England, inspired by @robbielewis. This time, Edward Wilson (1947-2008).
Edward Wilson was born into a South Shields mining family in 1947. He performed with the National Youth Theatre and aged 19, formed his own company, the South Shields Youth Theatre, staging their plays at the local Pier Pavilion.
According to his obituary in The Guardian;
"…The local press raved, while stern-faced local Labour mandarins wondered if the radical ideas on their stage were too dangerous. "Kitchen sink drama" had arrived, and so had Ed Wilson…"
He attended Manchester University, and continued acting and directing at the NYT, for which he was artistic director from 1987 to 2003 (or 2004, depending on the source). He also demonstrated a talent for business and administration, successfully negotiating major corporate sponsorships and Lottery funding to ensure the NYT’s ongoing viability.
On television, he had a major role in 35 episodes of the 1970s working-class family saga, When the Boat Comes In, as Billy Seaton, a radically minded, newly qualified doctor working in impoverished pre-NHS Tyneside communities. Billy Seaton's complicated and often combative relationship with Seaton family friend, capitalist chancer Jack Ford (James Bolam), was an ongoing theme that brought out some intense and compelling performances from both actors.
Edward Wilson was one of the few original cast members to return for the final, fourth series in 1981, where the action largely shifted away from Tyneside, and explored left-wing politics surrounding the Spanish Civil War.
Other television appearances included the historical dramatised documentary series, Fall of Eagles, as Russian revolutionary Julius Martov (with Patrick Stewart as Lenin and Michael Kitchen as Trotsky), and a regular role in the 1980s police drama, Rockliffe’s Babies.
In 2004, he went to work in the US as the director of the Los Angeles Young Actors Company, was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, and passed away in 2008, aged 60.
By all accounts he was extremely well loved and respected by the actors he had discovered, mentored and directed during his time at the NYT, including Daniel Craig, who provided ongoing financial and practical assistance during his final illness.
The Independent:
"…Ed Wilson did not merely select the members of the NYT during his time there – he championed each and every one, and retained an interest in them long after they had left the company. A noted wit, he was as clever as he was stylish, and he had an undoubted genius for friendship. When tragedy or bereavement struck, he was magnificent, and he would move mountains to help a friend in need..."
See also, John Nightingale, fellow alumni of the National Youth Theatre;
Sources: the Independent, The Guardian, IMDb
#social history#working class history#kitchen sink movement#social justice#northeast england#british actors#british theatre#edward wilson#national youth theatre#tyneside
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Ben Aldridge Attends The National Youth Theatre Annual Fundraising Gala At The Londoner Hotel On March 7, 2023 In London
#BenAldridge
#ben aldridge#benaldridge#benjaminaldridge#knock at the cabin#spoiler alert the hero dies#spoiler alert movie#national youth theatre#our girl#fleabag
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LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 07: Actress Zawe Ashton attends First Days Gala 2024, the National Youth Theatre's annual fundraising gala supporting emerging young talent, at The Roundhouse on February 7, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
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it's so wild to hear people say "actors are usually bad at music" or "this is how you do music as an actor" in regards to jamie.
he's been a musician just as long as he's been an actor. his first role on the screen was in a MUSICAL
for which he was hired because he could SING
#that#and he's been in two bands#and done solo work#and he started in the national youth music theatre#jamie campbell bower#typewriter dings
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making all the plans to audition for nyt this year but realising i turn 25 in august and 25 is the cut off age for nyt 🫠😭😵💫
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Helen Mirren, aged 19, playing Cleopatra in a National Youth Theatre Production at The Old Vic Theatre, London
📷REX
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Pass it on
This just in:
Meet the new Scottish Youth Cinema School. Funded by Screen Scotland, EDI's Youth Theatre and S. Tailored for 12-18 years' old, just to give them a first opportunity to get acquainted & immersed in the fascinating world of cinema. With a consistent offer to boot: 9 months of weekly film classes and industry professional masterclasses. All FREE.
The partnership is very prestigious: Screen Scotland is part of Creative Scotland, the Scottish Government's body competent for supporting 'the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits'. As such, funding is either via the Scottish public budget, or (as is customary in the UK - I successfully proposed a similar scheme in my country, a long time ago) by using part of the National Lottery's profits.
Passing it on and giving back to the community. Quietly and unassumingly - by now, we're used to his MO.
The boy who used to be an usher at Edinburgh's Lyceum Theatre. That good man bitches love to bitch about.
Well done, Sir! I see great things.
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Harry Styles Invests in British Brand S.S. Daley
FLORENCE, Italy – As Steven Stokey-Daley’s fall show in Florence during Pitti Uomo wrapped, the British designer, the 2022 recipient of the LVMH Prize for Young Designers, revealed longtime fan Harry Styles is acquiring a minority stake in the company.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Harry and I have a shared vision for the future of S.S. Daley and we look forward to this new chapter together as we focus on brand longevity and scaling the business into a modern British heritage house,” the designer, 26, said.
The pair was introduced by Styles’ stylist Harry Lambert, who masterminded the wardrobe for the artist’s “Golden” music video, outfitting him in Stokey-Daley’s graduate collection.
The investment is geared at building S.S. Daley’s direct-to-consumer business and forge ahead with plans for a “sustainable and long-term expansion,” the company said in a statement.
After graduating from the University of Westminster, Stokey-Daley made his London Fashion Week debut in September 2021 supported by the National Youth Theatre artistic director Paul Roseby, staging a four-part performance by members of the theater, riffing on British tailoring and tackling such topics as social class, inequality, school life, sexual awakening and homosexuality.
That same year, the S.S. Daley designer was among the recipients of the British Fashion Council’s Newgen initiative and was awarded again by the British fashion governing body the following year, with the BFC Foundation Awards.
read the full article on WWD.
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Inspired by @robbielewis and his brilliant ongoing series featuring a pictorial history of the Northeast, this is the first in an occasional series of posts on film, theatre and television luminaries with a strong personal or professional link with Northeast England, beginning with John Nightingale.
There doesn't appear to be a great deal of information available; he was apparently born in Burnley, Lancashire, in 1942, and attended St Cuthbert’s College, Durham University. He also spent several years with the National Youth Theatre, and while with the NYT made his television debut, which was noted by the Durham University paper, Palatinate, in 1964.
John Nightingale's highest profile role was in the BBC’s When the Boat Comes In, a gritty social and political drama set during the years after the Great War in the struggling Tyneside community of Gallowshields. Appearing in 39 episodes over 1976 and 77, he played the troubled but likeable Tom Seaton. It was a standout performance in the company of some very fine actors, including James Bolam, Susan Jameson, Edward Wilson, Jean Heywood, James Garbutt, Malcolm Terris, Ian Cullen, Madelaine Newton and Michelle Newell.
John Nightingale’s other television credits include appearances in Crown Court, in three episodes of Alan Plater’s dramatisation of the AJ Cronin novel, The Stars Look Down, the epic drama-documentary Fall of Eagles, and the Thames political drama, Bill Brand, as well as a handful of appearances in BBC television plays.
He passed away in 1980, aged just 37, from cancer. His challenging role in When the Boat Comes In demonstrated that he was one of the most gifted actors of his generation, and makes you wonder just what he could have achieved given the chance of a long life and career.
Thanks (again) to @robbielewis for a little additional history of Durham University.
#social history#working class history#british actors#british television#british theatre#national youth theatre#actors of the northeast#northeast england#durham university
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✨New Photos✨
Ben Aldridge Attends The National Youth Theatre Annual Fundraising Gala At The Londoner Hotel On March 7, 2023 In London
#ben aldridge#benaldridge#benjaminaldridge#spoiler alert movie#spoiler alert the hero dies#knock at the cabin#our girl#fleabag#national youth Theatre
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“Smith's drama teacher introduced him to acting by signing him up for theatrical productions without his consent. After failing to participate on the first two occasions,[5] his teacher arranged for him to play the tenth juror in an adaptation of Twelve Angry Men. Although he took part, he refused to attend a drama festival for which his teacher had also signed him up, as he saw himself as a football player and believed acting would damage his social life.[7] His teacher persisted, eventually persuading him to join the National Youth Theatre in London.”
hey team why did not one tell me that Matt Smith lived through real life high school musical
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The creators of She-Hulk legitimately don't know what they're doing
I think a lot of people have heard the director state
"There's a lot of talk about her body type and we based it on Olympian athletes and not bodybuilders."
Does anyone want to know a specific "Olympian" they based She-Hulk's body off of?
"Olympian Misty Copeland was a body that we referenced, you know, of someone who was very, very, very strong, but also could walk through the world and operate in the normal world at a scale that is very large, but it's still very human because she has to go on dates she has to work in a regular office."
Misty Copeland. Misty. Freaking. Copeland. She is a goddess and an icon. Here are some of her greatest accomplishments.
"2008 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts and was named National Youth of the Year Ambassador for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in 2013. In 2014, President Obama appointed Copeland to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. She is the recipient of a 2014 Dance Magazine Award and was named to the 2015 TIME 100 by TIME Magazine." - American Ballet Theatre
Misty Copeland is an amazingly talented person, who has dealt with immense struggles due to her body type, but she is not an Olympian. She's a ballerina. Ballet, by definition from Oxford Languages,
"...is characterized by light, graceful, fluid movements."
I'm especially pissed because when growing up, I was a ballerina. And my sister was a Track & Field thrower. When I heard of She-Hulk as a kid, I always imagined her looking like my sister. Looking like her build - not the ones of prima ballerinas.
While writing this, I've been sitting here thinking about how many great ACTUAL Olympians they could have used as inspiration for She-Hulk's build.
Raven Saunders aka The Hulk. 2020 Tokyo Olympics Silver Medalist in Shotput.
Hidilyn Diaz. 2020 Tokyo Olympics Gold Medalist and Record Holder in 55 KG Weightlifting.
Tamyra Mensah-Stock. 2020 Tokyo Olympics Gold Medal in Freestyle Wrestling.
There are so many incredible female Olympians they could have used as inspiration. There are so many strength-based sports. The Summer Olympics alone have 33 sports.
But they specifically wanted She-Hulk's build to be inspired by
"not bodybuilders."
Even if this meant putting more work on the VFX Artists of the show who made her larger to begin with. Sean Ruecroft, a VFX Artist who worked on Infinity War and Moon Knight, took to Twitter to let people know the struggles Marvel put their team through.
"I was at a company that did VFX for this. Apparently, she was bigger early on, but the notes kept saying to ‘make her smaller.'"
They put more work on the artists, pushing them into the same inspiration that was used for Natasha Romanoff.
"...light, graceful, fluid movements."
The creators didn't want a Hulk. They wanted grace, sex appeal, and a tiny waist on an hourglass figure.
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LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 07: (L to R) Actress Zawe Ashton, Sope Dirisu and Dominique Tipper attend First Days Gala 2024, the National Youth Theatre's annual fundraising gala supporting emerging young talent, at The Roundhouse on February 7, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
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FLORENCE, Italy – As Steven Stokey-Daley’s fall show in Florence during Pitti Uomo wrapped, the British designer, the 2022 recipient of the LVMH Prize for Young Designers, revealed longtime fan Harry Styles is acquiring a minority stake in the company.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Harry and I have a shared vision for the future of S.S. Daley and we look forward to this new chapter together as we focus on brand longevity and scaling the business into a modern British heritage house,” the designer, 26, said.
The pair was introduced by Styles’ stylist Harry Lambert, who masterminded the wardrobe for the artist’s “Golden” music video, outfitting him in Stokey-Daley’s graduate collection.
The investment is geared at building S.S. Daley’s direct-to-consumer business and forge ahead with plans for a “sustainable and long-term expansion,” the company said in a statement.
After graduating from the University of Westminster, Stokey-Daley made his London Fashion Week debut in September 2021 supported by the National Youth Theatre artistic director Paul Roseby, staging a four-part performance by members of the theater, riffing on British tailoring and tackling such topics as social class, inequality, school life, sexual awakening and homosexuality.
That same year, the S.S. Daley designer was among the recipients of the British Fashion Council’s Newgen initiative and was awarded again by the British fashion governing body the following year, with the BFC Foundation Awards.
The designer’s gender-fluid take on the uniforms of the British upper classes, such as wide-leg trousers, argyle-knit wool vests and embroidered shirts, appeals to a Gen-Z sensibility, and a growing female customer base. The brand is currently stocked in a handful of retailers, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Dover Street Market, Matchesfashion, Bergdorf Goodman, 10 Corso Como Seoul and I.T Store.
Attending the S.S. Daley show in Florence, Sir Paul Smith praised Stokey-Daley and said: “I think that the ideal thing [for him] would be to try and work in parallel with a commercial company that help him develop as a commercial designer, as well as creative designer. And of course, that’s what everybody dreams of. He has the balance between commerciality and creativity.”
“I think [his designs] might have had similarities in my earlier [career]… We are in 60-something countries now. So you have to be a lot more aware of commerciality and things that work for the shops especially right now because the business and around the world is so difficult for people,” Smith added.
Styles’ investment falls in line with a growing number of celebrities becoming brand shareholders. They include, among others, Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon who invested in Spanx; Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas in skiwear maker Perfect Moment; Beyoncé, Jessica Alba and Rihanna in French accessories firm Destree; Mila Kunis, Cameron Diaz and Gabrielle Union in Autumn Adeigbo, and Mark Wahlberg in Italian sneaker brand P448.
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All of the book owners (so far) are the fictional authors of fictional fables and stories.
Mother Goose collection has Cinderella, Master cat or Puss in Boots, the sleeping beauty in the wood, little red riding hood, the fairy (all written for Louis the XIV in the 1690’s appx… the Grimm brothers are more relevant retelling sod the stories for an 1800’s Germany
Scherezade from 1001 Arabian nights started as one thousand nights and evolved to what is is now known as titular and story content wise. Having the ebony horse, the thief and the merchant, the adventures of Sinbad the sailor, and Aladdin and the lamp.
An interesting tidbit if the most famous stories from the collection (Aladdin and the Genie, Sinbad the sailor and Ali baba and the 40 thieves) they were either independent and added in later editions or added for the French publication in the 1830’s
And Aesops fables are from Ancient Greece and contain the basis for all fairy tales and fables such as the tortoise and the hare, the boy who cried wolf, the lion and the mouse, and others.
All of these story tellers also share things in common, all of them are either historically (Aesop) or designed to be (Mother Goose and Scherezade) people who are not wealthy, do not hold a position of power but wants to help the future.
Aesop was a Greek Slave who wanted to document the oral stories being told amongst the common folk and to also make commentary on the politics happening as well. With the commentary being seen as moral lessons for the children to grow and learn with.
Scherezade is the extremely learnéd daughter of the Vizier who agreed to me the next bride for the king to stop him from killing all the virgin wives he had. She constantly gets him to postpone her execution with the fables and changes his mind so he doesn’t assume all women will cheat immediately after sleeping with him. Giving the reader an idea of what knowledge can do.
Mother Goose is supposed to be a village woman who met a goose who laid golden eggs for her and eventually spun tales for the children of the village, entertaining and imparting lessons to them.
They all have some aspect of their stories that undermines their influence on change as well. For Aesop is is his state of slavery, for Scherezade it is volunteering to try and avoid death as long as humanly possible, and for Mother Goose it is the witch connotations that came about.
All of these coincidences and similarity paints a beautiful picture of humanity and imparting knowledge to the youth reading them but to have them all be relevant? WHY BRENNAN LEE MULLIGAN! WHY?!?!?!?!?!!?! WHY ARE ALL OF THESE SIMILARITIES APPARANT?!?!!? WHAT IS THE REASON?!?!!? WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE?!?!!?
(Hi I am a Double Major in Psychology and History currently on a national scholarship research program, I just did a research paper on how popular media in each time reflects the politics of the time, meaning I did a LOT of digging into 1001 Arabian nights in terms of Orientalism, Mother Goose fables for the return of theatre (because of pantomime and an evolving comedia del arte) and Aesop was recent boredom research. Please message with questions if present!)
#dimension 20#neverafter#dimension 20 neverafter#aesops fables#scheherazade#mother goose#mother timothy goose#brennan lee mulligan#ally beardsley#fairy tale#fables
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