Nick Dear
Encyclopedia
Nick Dear is a writer for stage, screen and radio. He received a BAFTA for his first screenwriting credit, a TV adaptation of Jane Austen
's Persuasion
.
Dear graduated with a degree in Comparative European Literature from the University of Essex
in 1977.
Dear’s plays include Power
and The Villains’ Opera at the National Theatre
; The Art of Success, Zenobia
and Pure Science for the RSC; In the Ruins at Bristol
Old Vic
; and Food of Love at the Almeida. Adaptations include Gorky
’s Summerfolk
and Molière
’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
at the National; Tirso de Molina
’s The Last Days of Don Juan at the Royal Shakespeare Company
; Arbuzov’s The Promise at the Tricycle; Henry James
’ The Turn of the Screw
at Bristol Old Vic; and Ostrovsky’s A Family Affair for Cheek by Jowl. Dear's screenplays include Persuasion
, The Gambler, The Turn of the Screw
, Cinderella
, Byron, Eroica
and Agatha Christie’s Poirot. Opera libretti include The Palace in the Sky at Hackney Empire and Siren Song at the Almeida.
In 2005, Lunch in Venice appeared at the Shell Connections festival at the National Theatre. His plays Power
(2003), and Summerfolk
(1999) both premiered at the same venue. Power deals with the intrigue and tension of the court of the young Louis XIV of France. It has been produced at theatres in Portugal
, Poland
and Hungary
, as well as the Finnish National Theatre
(Kansallisteatteri).
His play The Art of Success premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company
in 1986 in a production starring Penny Downie and Michael Kitchen
, and was nominated for an Olivier Award. It features William Hogarth
and the political manipulation of art, the corruption of politics and treatment of women. His adaptation of Frankenstein (2011 play)
premiered at the Royal National Theatre
in 2011, in a production directed by Danny Boyle
.
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/62808/productions/frankenstein.html
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
's Persuasion
Persuasion
Persuasion is a form of social influence. It is the process of guiding or bringing oneself or another toward the adoption of an idea, attitude, or action by rational and symbolic means.- Methods :...
.
Dear graduated with a degree in Comparative European Literature from the University of Essex
University of Essex
The University of Essex is a British campus university whose original and largest campus is near the town of Colchester, England. Established in 1963 and receiving its Royal Charter in 1965...
in 1977.
Dear’s plays include Power
Power (play)
Power is a play by the British playwright Nick Dear. It is set in the court of King Louis XIV of France. It deals with the intrigue and tension of the court and explores the events and ideas that led Luis XIV to take full control of government and become an absolute monarch.The play is essentially...
and The Villains’ Opera at the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
; The Art of Success, Zenobia
Zenobia
Zenobia was a 3rd-century Queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Roman Syria. She led a famous revolt against the Roman Empire. The second wife of King Septimius Odaenathus, Zenobia became queen of the Palmyrene Empire following Odaenathus' death in 267...
and Pure Science for the RSC; In the Ruins at Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
; and Food of Love at the Almeida. Adaptations include Gorky
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...
’s Summerfolk
Summerfolk (play)
Summerfolk is a play written in 1903 by Maxim Gorky. Based in part on the life of the writer Anton Chekhov, it takes place in 1904—the same year that Chekhov died...
and Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme is a five-act comédie-ballet—a play intermingled with music, dance and singing—by Molière, first presented on 14 October 1670 before the court of Louis XIV at the Château of Chambord by Molière's troupe of actors...
at the National; Tirso de Molina
Tirso de Molina
Tirso de Molina was a Spanish Baroque dramatist, poet and a Roman Catholic monk.Originally Gabriel Téllez, he was born in Madrid. He studied at Alcalá de Henares, joined the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy on November 4, 1600, and entered the Monastery of San Antolín at Guadalajara,...
’s The Last Days of Don Juan at the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
; Arbuzov’s The Promise at the Tricycle; Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
’ The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw is a novella written by Henry James. Originally published in 1898, it is ostensibly a ghost story.Due to its ambiguous content, it became a favourite text of academics who subscribe to New Criticism. The novella has had differing interpretations, often mutually exclusive...
at Bristol Old Vic; and Ostrovsky’s A Family Affair for Cheek by Jowl. Dear's screenplays include Persuasion
Persuasion (1995 film)
Producer Fiona Finlay had for several years been interested in making a film based on the novel Persuasion, and approached screenwriter Nick Dear about adapting it for television...
, The Gambler, The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw is a novella written by Henry James. Originally published in 1898, it is ostensibly a ghost story.Due to its ambiguous content, it became a favourite text of academics who subscribe to New Criticism. The novella has had differing interpretations, often mutually exclusive...
, Cinderella
Cinderella (2000 TV film)
Cinderella is a TV film released on January 1, 2000 in the UKand directed by Beeban Kidron. The cast is led by movie legend Kathleen Turner who plays the Wicked Stepmother Claudette...
, Byron, Eroica
Eroica (2003 film)
Eroica - The day that changed music forever is a BBC television film which dramatises the first performance of Beethoven's third symphony, the Eroica....
and Agatha Christie’s Poirot. Opera libretti include The Palace in the Sky at Hackney Empire and Siren Song at the Almeida.
In 2005, Lunch in Venice appeared at the Shell Connections festival at the National Theatre. His plays Power
Power (play)
Power is a play by the British playwright Nick Dear. It is set in the court of King Louis XIV of France. It deals with the intrigue and tension of the court and explores the events and ideas that led Luis XIV to take full control of government and become an absolute monarch.The play is essentially...
(2003), and Summerfolk
Summerfolk (play)
Summerfolk is a play written in 1903 by Maxim Gorky. Based in part on the life of the writer Anton Chekhov, it takes place in 1904—the same year that Chekhov died...
(1999) both premiered at the same venue. Power deals with the intrigue and tension of the court of the young Louis XIV of France. It has been produced at theatres in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, as well as the Finnish National Theatre
Finnish National Theatre
The Finnish National Theatre , founded in 1872 in the city of Pori, is located in central Helsinki on the northern side of the Helsinki Central Railway Station Square. It is the world's oldest theatre with performances in Finnish...
(Kansallisteatteri).
His play The Art of Success premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
in 1986 in a production starring Penny Downie and Michael Kitchen
Michael Kitchen
Michael Kitchen is an English actor and television producer, best known for his starring role as DCS Foyle in the British TV series Foyle's War.-Early life:...
, and was nominated for an Olivier Award. It features William Hogarth
William Hogarth
William Hogarth was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects"...
and the political manipulation of art, the corruption of politics and treatment of women. His adaptation of Frankenstein (2011 play)
Frankenstein (2011 play)
Frankenstein is a stage adaptation by Nick Dear of the novel of the same name.-Production:Its world premiere was at the Royal National Theatre on 5 February 2011, where it officially opened on 22 February...
premiered at the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
in 2011, in a production directed by Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle
Daniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...
.
External links
- The Portuguese Production of POWER: http://www.ctalmada.pt/cgi-bin/wnp_db_dynamic_record.pl?dn=db_temporada&sn=temporada_2005&orn=46
- The Danny Boyle production of Nick Dear's FRANKENSTEIN: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/147872-Director-Danny-Boyle-Returns-with-Frankenstein-Opening-at-Londons-National-Theatre)
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/62808/productions/frankenstein.html