Timberlake Wertenbaker
Encyclopedia
Biography
Wertenbaker grew up in the Basque CountryBasque Country (historical territory)
The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast....
of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
near Saint-Jean-de-Luz
Saint-Jean-de-Luz
Saint-Jean-de-Luz is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.Saint-Jean-de-Luz is part of the province Basque of Labourd and the Basque Eurocity Bayonne - San Sebastian .-Geography:...
. She attended schools in Europe and the US before settling permanently in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Having been the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
's writer-in-residence in 1985, she had several successful plays, The Grace of Mary Traverse, Our Country's Good
Our Country's Good
Our Country's Good is a 1988 play written by British playwright, Timberlake Wertenbaker, adapted from the Thomas Keneally novel The Playmaker. The story concerns a group of Royal Marines and convicts in a penal colony in New South Wales, in the 1780s, who put on a production of The Recruiting...
, (based on the novel The Playmaker
The Playmaker
The Playmaker is a novel based in Australia written by the Australian author Thomas Keneally.In 1789 in Sydney Cove, the remotest penal colony of the British Empire, a group of convicts and one of their captors unite to stage a play...
by Thomas Keneally
Thomas Keneally
Thomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor...
), Three Birds Alighting on a Field and Credible Witness. She is the author of many other plays for the stage and for radio, and has translated works by authors including Sophocles
Sophocles
Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...
, Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
, Jean Anouilh
Jean Anouilh
Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1943 play Antigone, an adaptation of Sophocles' Classical drama, that was seen as an attack on Marshal Pétain's...
, Racine
Jean Racine
Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...
and Marivaux.
Honours and awards
- 1985 Plays and Players Most Promising Playwright Award for The Grace of Mary Traverse
- 1988 Evening Standard AwardEvening Standard AwardsThe Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December...
for Most Promising Playwright for Our Country's Good - 1988 Laurence Olivier/BBC AwardLaurence Olivier AwardsThe Laurence Olivier Award is presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre. Named after the renowned British actor Laurence Olivier, they are given for West End shows and other productions staged in London...
for Best New Play for Our Country's Good - 1989 Eileen Anderson Central TelevisionCentral Independent TelevisionCentral Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...
Drama Award for The Love of the Nightingale - 1990 Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best New Foreign Play (New York) Our Country's Good
- 1991 Critics' Circle Theatre Awards for Best West End Play (London) Three Birds Alighting on a Field
- 1992 Susan Smith Blackburn PrizeSusan Smith Blackburn PrizeThe Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is for English-language women playwrights. Named for Susan Smith, alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer.-Winners:* 1978-79 Mary O'Malley* 1979-80 Barbara Schneider...
Three Birds Alighting on a Field - 1992 Writers' Guild Award (Best West End Play) Three Birds Alighting on a Field
Works
- This Is No Place for Tallulah Bankhead, 1978
- The Third, 1980
- Second Sentence, 1980
- Case to Answer, 1980
- Breaking Through, 1980
- New Anatomies, 1981
- Inside Out, 1982
- Home Leave, 1982
- Abel’s Sister, 1984
- The Grace of Mary Traverse, 1985
- Our Country's GoodOur Country's GoodOur Country's Good is a 1988 play written by British playwright, Timberlake Wertenbaker, adapted from the Thomas Keneally novel The Playmaker. The story concerns a group of Royal Marines and convicts in a penal colony in New South Wales, in the 1780s, who put on a production of The Recruiting...
, 1988 - The Love of the NightingaleThe Love of the NightingaleThe Love of the Nightingale is a play by Timberlake Wertenbaker, commissioned for the Royal Shakespeare Company and published in 1989. It is an adaptation of the Ancient Greek legend of the rape of Philomela by her brother-in-law Tereus, and the gruesome revenge undertaken by Philomela and her...
, 1989 - Three Birds Alighting on a FieldThree Birds Alighting on a FieldThree Birds Alighting on a Field is a 1992 play by Timberlake Wertenbaker. Set in the 1980s, it tells the story of various characters associated with a failing art gallery and an opera house, and their attempts improve their prestige....
, 1992 - The Break of Day, 1995
- After Darwin, 1998
- Dianeira 1999 (radio)
- The Ash Girl (adaptation of "Cinderella"), 2000
- Credible Witness, 2001
- Galileo's Daughter, 2004
- Scenes of Seduction, 2005 (radio)
- Divine Intervention, 2006
- Jenůfa by Gabriela Preissova (adaptation), 2007
- Arden City (For the National Theatre Connections program) 2008
- The LineThe Line (play)The Line is a 2009 play by British dramatist Timberlake Wertenbaker about the relationship between Edgar Degas and Suzanne Valadon. Set in " the intimate, if quarrelsome world of Montmartre", at the play's heart are " a leading artist, a protegee and a clash between traditions, lifestyles and...
, 2009 - What Is the Custom of Your Grief? (radio)
Translations
- Mephisto by Ariane MnouchkineAriane MnouchkineAriane Mnouchkine is a world-renowned French stage director. She founded the Parisian avant-garde stage ensemble Théâtre du Soleil in 1964. She has written and directed 1789 and Molière , and in 1989, she directed La Nuit Miraculeuse...
(1986) - Leocadia by Jean AnouilhJean AnouilhJean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1943 play Antigone, an adaptation of Sophocles' Classical drama, that was seen as an attack on Marshal Pétain's...
(1987) - False Admissions; Successful Strategies; La Dispute: Three Plays by Marivaux (1989)
- The Thebans by SophoclesSophoclesSophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...
(1992) - Filumena by Eduardo de FilippoEduardo De FilippoEduardo De Filippo was an Italian actor, playwright, screenwriter, author and poet, best known for his Neapolitan works Filumena Marturano and Napoli Milionaria.-Biography:...
(1998) - Hecuba by EuripidesEuripidesEuripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
(2001) (radio) - Hippolytus by EuripidesEuripidesEuripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
(2009) - Phedre by Jean RacineJean RacineJean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...
(2009) - Elektra by SophoclesSophoclesSophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...
(2010) - Britannicus by Jean RacineJean RacineJean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...
(2011)
Compilations
- Plays, Vol. 1: New Anatomies; The Grace of Mary Traverse; Our Country's Good; The Love of the Nightingale; Three Birds Alighting on a Field (Faber and FaberFaber and FaberFaber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music...
) - Plays, Vol. 2: The Break of Day; After Darwin; Credible Witness; The Ash Girl; Diianeira (Faber and Faber)
External links
- Entry in The Literary Encyclopedia
- Georgetown Hosts Playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker
- Article about translating Mephisto From The Sunday Times (UK)The Sunday Times (UK)The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
- April 6, 1986 - Biography and critical perspective from the British Council Arts Contemporary Writers website
{Artistic adviser to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]