Simon Corble
Encyclopedia
Simon Corble is an English playwright
, director and performer. At the age of sixteen he played Hamlet
at Lymm Grammar School, Cheshire and "never looked back". After training as an actor at Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University
) he went on to create his own dramatic works. He has explored the potential of site-specific theatre in a both his own works and those of others. On his website he writes that his strengths lie in "comedy, site-specific and promenade theatre, audio work, directing Shakespeare, and in creating unique theatrical experiences."
by a mile and a half trek."
, which Corble co-wrote with Nobby Dimon.
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, director and performer. At the age of sixteen he played Hamlet
Prince Hamlet
Prince Hamlet is a fictional character, the protagonist in Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. He is the Prince of Denmark, nephew to the usurping Claudius and son of the previous King of Denmark, Old Hamlet. Throughout the play he struggles with whether, and how, to avenge the murder of his father, and...
at Lymm Grammar School, Cheshire and "never looked back". After training as an actor at Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
) he went on to create his own dramatic works. He has explored the potential of site-specific theatre in a both his own works and those of others. On his website he writes that his strengths lie in "comedy, site-specific and promenade theatre, audio work, directing Shakespeare, and in creating unique theatrical experiences."
Writing
According to Tony Craze and Katie Brannigan, Corble writes "in obeyance of the unities of time and space - applying realistic and parallel scales between worlds of performance and real environment (short promenades for short distances traveled in a fictional world, careful allotment of time at each stationary point). Temporal and spatial settings for his work were seen to be of paramount importance. For The Woodlanders, this writer's research included close study of the North of England countryside, until focusing on a site with the largest, most remote wooded area, accessible onlyby a mile and a half trek."
Midsommer Actors' Company
Corble was founder and artistic director of the Midsommer Actors' Company (1990–1999), which created open air site-specific theatre with the emphasis on the actor's performance. It moved indoors in 1997 to stage The 39 StepsThe 39 Steps (play)
The 39 Steps is a farce adapted from the 1915 novel by John Buchan and the 1935 film by Alfred Hitchcock. Patrick Barlow wrote the adaptation, based on the original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon of a two-actor version of the play...
, which Corble co-wrote with Nobby Dimon.
Found Theatre
He created Found Theatre in 2005, with the aim of telling powerful stories through simple means.Playscripts
- The Woodlanders, 1991
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 1992 (a dramatisation of the 14th century Arthurian romance)
- The Wonderland Adventures of Alice
- The Fisherman and his Soul, 1995-2007
- The 39 Steps, 1996
- Dracula, 1998
- The Hound of the Baskervilles
- The Signalman, 2008
- Operation Mincemeat, 2008 (based on the successful British deception plan of the same nameOperation MincemeatOperation Mincemeat was a successful British deception plan during World War II. As part of the widespread deception plan Operation Barclay to cover the intended invasion of Italy from North Africa, Mincemeat helped to convince the German high command that the Allies planned to invade Greece and...
in World War II) - Sward, 2010