Wayne Sleep
Encyclopedia
Wayne Philip Colin Sleep OBE
(born 17 July 1948) is a British dancer, director
, choreographer and panelist. He was a Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet and has appeared as a Guest Artist with several other ballet companies.
ca. 1951 and spent ten years there. He was educated at Hyde Park Junior School Plymouth, and began dancing lessons in Hartlepool in 1955 with Muriel Carr, before gaining a Leverhulme Scholarship to the Royal Ballet School
in 1961 and joining the Royal Ballet in 1966.
for the school early and missed his final physical examination
, he would not have gained a place. Because of his diminutive stature many directors were reluctant to cast him in traditional male lead roles. As a result many roles were created for him by noted choreographers including Ashton
, MacMillan
, de Valois
, Layton
, Nureyev, and Neumeier
. Sleep is often chosen for character roles because of his unusual physique. In 1982, Andrew Lloyd Webber
adapted his Variations album as the second half of stage show Song and Dance for Sleep. Sleep created the role of Mr. Mistoffelees in Lloyd Webber's musical Cats
in London's
West End
, at the New London Theatre
, on May 11, 1981.
In 1973, Sleep established a world record
by doing an entrechat-douze - a jump with twelve beats of the feet. This record still stands to this day (2011).
in Winnie the Pooh and Villiers in Soldiers. He also appeared, as himself, in The Goodies
episode "Football Crazy
".
Sleep's choreography
credits include David and Goliath.
Sleep is remembered for dancing with Princess Diana at the annual Christmas party of the Friends of Covent Garden at the Royal Opera House in 1985.
In 2003, Wayne appeared in the reality TV series, I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. In the 2005/06 pantomime season, Sleep appeared in Beauty and the Beast at the
Theatre Royal, Windsor
. Sleep recently completed a tour of Magic of the Musicals with Marti Webb
and Robert Meadmore
, as well as appearing as a judge on BBC One
's Strictly Dance Fever
.
Wayne Sleep has worked with the British Shakespeare Company
on three successful occasions, playing Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream
twice (most recently on a national tour in 2006), as well as Feste in Twelfth Night.
Sleep runs workshops all over the country that children of over the age of six can attend. He has recently appeared as Uncle Willy in a performance of High Society
and is currently appearing as Emcee in 'Cabaret' which is touring around England.
Sleep also appeared in the 2008 series of Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, as a team member in the feature Ant v. Dec. On the first show Ant's team lost the challenge which meant Ant had to choose one of the team members to be eliminated and chose Wayne.
In January 2011, Sleep featured on British reality cooking show "Come Dine With Me", alongside presenter Terry Christian, Labour MP Diane Abbott and glamour model Danielle Lloyd. Sleep prepared a menu including mushrooms on toast, paella and pavlova, albeit with a lot of help from his partner.
, alongside Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland. In it, he climbs a sheer granite prison wall and along a railway station's roof as part of a storyline about stealing a key from a guarded office.
. When Michael's Americanophile friend Tex mentions that "[my idol] has gotta be Wayne", Alan mistakenly concludes he means Wayne Sleep. Tex tries to correct this misconception by drawling "Get on yer horse and drink yer milk" in an approximation of John Wayne
's voice, but Alan is merely further confirmed in his belief that Sleep is the man Tex is referring to.
He is mentioned numerous times in the film Billy Elliot
, and also in the British stage musical version of this film. (On Broadway references to Sleep were changed to Rudolf Nureyev
, for the benefit of American theatre-goers who might be confused by cultural references beyond their own immediate experience.)
The diminutive and frizz-haired Green Wing
character Martin Dear (played by Karl Theobald
) refers to Wayne Sleep as the celebrity to whom he was most flattered to have his appearance compared.
In Sean Lock's "15 storeys high", Wayne Sleep is one of several people Vince addresses a letter to.
Sleep is a recipient of the Carl Alan Award, an industry honour voted for by dance professionals in recognition of outstanding contributions to dance.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 17 July 1948) is a British dancer, director
Artistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...
, choreographer and panelist. He was a Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet and has appeared as a Guest Artist with several other ballet companies.
Early life
Wayne was born in Plymouth Devon then he moved with his family to HartlepoolHartlepool
Hartlepool is a town and port in North East England.It was founded in the 7th century AD, around the Northumbrian monastery of Hartlepool Abbey. The village grew during the Middle Ages and developed a harbour which served as the official port of the County Palatine of Durham. A railway link from...
ca. 1951 and spent ten years there. He was educated at Hyde Park Junior School Plymouth, and began dancing lessons in Hartlepool in 1955 with Muriel Carr, before gaining a Leverhulme Scholarship to the Royal Ballet School
Royal Ballet School
The Royal Ballet School is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world and is the associate school of the Royal Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Royal Opera House in London...
in 1961 and joining the Royal Ballet in 1966.
Career
At only 5'2", Sleep is famous for being the shortest male dancer ever admitted into the Royal Ballet School. Had he not left his auditionAudition
An audition is a sample performance by an actor, singer, musician, dancer or other performing artist.Audition may also refer to:* The sense of hearing* Adobe Audition, audio editing software...
for the school early and missed his final physical examination
Physical examination
Physical examination or clinical examination is the process by which a doctor investigates the body of a patient for signs of disease. It generally follows the taking of the medical history — an account of the symptoms as experienced by the patient...
, he would not have gained a place. Because of his diminutive stature many directors were reluctant to cast him in traditional male lead roles. As a result many roles were created for him by noted choreographers including Ashton
Frederick Ashton
Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton OM, CH, CBE was a leading international dancer and choreographer. He is most noted as the founder choreographer of The Royal Ballet in London, but also worked as a director and choreographer of opera, film and theatre revues.-Early life:Ashton was born at...
, MacMillan
Kenneth MacMillan
Sir Kenneth MacMillan was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977.-Early years:...
, de Valois
Ninette de Valois
Dame Ninette de Valois, OM, CH, DBE, FRAD, FISTD was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer and director of classical ballet...
, Layton
Layton
Layton is a surname derived from various place names in England. Two known etymologies stem from place names in Lancashire and another in North Yorkshire. The former was named in Old English as ‘settlement by the watercourse’, from Old English lād ‘watercourse’ + tūn ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’; the...
, Nureyev, and Neumeier
John Neumeier
John Neumeier is a well-known American ballet dancer, choreographer, and director. He has been the director and chief choreographer of the Hamburg Ballet since 1973. 5 years later he founded the Hamburg Ballet School, which also includes a boarding school...
. Sleep is often chosen for character roles because of his unusual physique. In 1982, Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
adapted his Variations album as the second half of stage show Song and Dance for Sleep. Sleep created the role of Mr. Mistoffelees in Lloyd Webber's musical Cats
Cats (musical)
Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...
in London's
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...
West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, at the New London Theatre
New London Theatre
The New London Theatre is a West End theatre located on the corner of Drury Lane and Parker Street in Covent Garden, in the London Borough of Camden...
, on May 11, 1981.
In 1973, Sleep established a world record
World record
A world record is usually the best global performance ever recorded and verified in a specific skill or sport. The book Guinness World Records collates and publishes notable records of all types, from first and best to worst human achievements, to extremes in the natural world and beyond...
by doing an entrechat-douze - a jump with twelve beats of the feet. This record still stands to this day (2011).
Television
As well as dancing, Sleep also acts and his credits include TiggerTigger
Tigger is a fictional tiger-like character originally introduced in A. A. Milne's book The House at Pooh Corner. Like other Pooh characters, Tigger is based on one of Christopher Robin Milne's stuffed animals...
in Winnie the Pooh and Villiers in Soldiers. He also appeared, as himself, in The Goodies
The Goodies (TV series)
The Goodies is a British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s. The series, which combines surreal sketches and situation comedy, was broadcast by BBC 2 from 1970 until 1980 — and was then broadcast by the ITV company LWT for a year, between 1981 to 1982.The show was...
episode "Football Crazy
Football Crazy (Goodies episode)
Football Crazy is an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies— a BAFTA-nominated series for Best Light Entertainment Programme.This episode was made by LWT for ITV.As always, the episode was written by members of The Goodies....
".
Sleep's choreography
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
credits include David and Goliath.
Sleep is remembered for dancing with Princess Diana at the annual Christmas party of the Friends of Covent Garden at the Royal Opera House in 1985.
In 2003, Wayne appeared in the reality TV series, I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. In the 2005/06 pantomime season, Sleep appeared in Beauty and the Beast at the
Theatre Royal, Windsor
Theatre Royal, Windsor
The Theatre Royal, Windsor is located in the town of Windsor, Berkshire, England, directly across the road from Windsor Castle.The present building was opened on 17 December 1910 after the previous theatre had burned down on 18 February 1908, under the ownership of Sir William Shipley.With the...
. Sleep recently completed a tour of Magic of the Musicals with Marti Webb
Marti Webb
Marti Webb is a musical actress from England, who appeared on stage in Evita, before starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's one woman show Tell Me on a Sunday in 1980...
and Robert Meadmore
Robert Meadmore
Robert Meadmore a musical theatre artist.-Theatre:He has starred in many of the biggest hit shows in London's West End which include Phantom of The Opera, Brigadoon, My Fair Lady, Bless the Bride, The Gondoliers, Oklahoma!, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Metropolitan Mikado and Camelot.In...
, as well as appearing as a judge on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
's Strictly Dance Fever
Strictly Dance Fever
Strictly Dance Fever is a British television programme, broadcast on BBC One on Saturday evenings. It was an amateur dance talent competition, hosted by Graham Norton, which ran during Spring 2005 and Spring 2006. It was, in many ways, similar to the BBC's popular Strictly Come Dancing, a celebrity...
.
Wayne Sleep has worked with the British Shakespeare Company
British Shakespeare Company
The British Shakespeare Company was a British open-air touring Shakespeare Company. Founded by Robert J. Williamson in 1994 , it was renamed in 2005...
on three successful occasions, playing Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
twice (most recently on a national tour in 2006), as well as Feste in Twelfth Night.
Sleep runs workshops all over the country that children of over the age of six can attend. He has recently appeared as Uncle Willy in a performance of High Society
High Society (musical)
High Society is a musical with a book by Arthur Kopit and music and lyrics by Cole Porter.Based on the Philip Barry play The Philadelphia Story and the 1956 musical screen adaptation with Porter's songs, High Society, the plot centers on pretentious Long Island socialite Tracy Lord, who is planning...
and is currently appearing as Emcee in 'Cabaret' which is touring around England.
Sleep also appeared in the 2008 series of Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, as a team member in the feature Ant v. Dec. On the first show Ant's team lost the challenge which meant Ant had to choose one of the team members to be eliminated and chose Wayne.
In January 2011, Sleep featured on British reality cooking show "Come Dine With Me", alongside presenter Terry Christian, Labour MP Diane Abbott and glamour model Danielle Lloyd. Sleep prepared a menu including mushrooms on toast, paella and pavlova, albeit with a lot of help from his partner.
Film
Sleep showed great acrobatic and physical dexterity in the cameo role of a roof- and wall-climbing prisoner impersonator, known as 'Clean Willy' in the 1979 Michael Crichton film The First Great Train RobberyThe First Great Train Robbery
The First Great Train Robbery — known in the U.S. as The Great Train Robbery — is a 1979 film directed by Michael Crichton, who also wrote the screenplay based on his novel The Great Train Robbery...
, alongside Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland. In it, he climbs a sheer granite prison wall and along a railway station's roof as part of a storyline about stealing a key from a guarded office.
Popular culture
Sleep is mentioned in "Never Say Alan Again", an episode from the second series of I'm Alan PartridgeI'm Alan Partridge
I'm Alan Partridge is a BBC situation comedy starring Steve Coogan, of which two series of six episodes each were produced — the first in 1997 and the second in 2002...
. When Michael's Americanophile friend Tex mentions that "[my idol] has gotta be Wayne", Alan mistakenly concludes he means Wayne Sleep. Tex tries to correct this misconception by drawling "Get on yer horse and drink yer milk" in an approximation of John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
's voice, but Alan is merely further confirmed in his belief that Sleep is the man Tex is referring to.
He is mentioned numerous times in the film Billy Elliot
Billy Elliot
Billy Elliot is a 2000 British drama film written by Lee Hall and directed by Stephen Daldry. Set in the fictional town of "Everington" in the real County Durham, UK, it stars Jamie Bell as 11-year-old Billy, an aspiring dancer, Gary Lewis as his coal miner father, Jamie Draven as Billy's older...
, and also in the British stage musical version of this film. (On Broadway references to Sleep were changed to Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev was a Russian dancer, considered one of the most celebrated ballet dancers of the 20th century. Nureyev's artistic skills explored expressive areas of the dance, providing a new role to the male ballet dancer who once served only as support to the women.In 1961 he...
, for the benefit of American theatre-goers who might be confused by cultural references beyond their own immediate experience.)
The diminutive and frizz-haired Green Wing
Green Wing
Green Wing is a British sitcom set in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. It was created by the same team behind the sketch show Smack the Pony, led by Victoria Pile, and stars Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan and Julian Rhind-Tutt....
character Martin Dear (played by Karl Theobald
Karl Theobald
Karl Theobald is an English comedian and actor, best known as Dr. Martin Dear in Channel 4 sitcom Green Wing, and for his physical comedy style....
) refers to Wayne Sleep as the celebrity to whom he was most flattered to have his appearance compared.
In Sean Lock's "15 storeys high", Wayne Sleep is one of several people Vince addresses a letter to.
Personal life
Despite being out as gay, Sleep has stated he is still attracted to women but has not been intimate with any for many years.Sleep is a recipient of the Carl Alan Award, an industry honour voted for by dance professionals in recognition of outstanding contributions to dance.
External links
- Wayne Sleep's Official Website
- TV show clip
- http://www.fandango.com/waynesleep/filmography/p+66222 Wayne Sleep Filmography
- http://www.reallyuseful.com/rug/shows/song/cast/WayneSleep.htm Wayne Sleep at Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group
- http://listing-index.ebay.com/actors/Wayne_Sleep.html Listing Index
- http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/leisure/leisurenews/display.var.1417277.0.sleep_on_the_job_in_high_society.php Sleep on the job in High Society
- http://www.answers.com/topic/wayne-sleep Wayne Sleep at Answers.com
- http://www.shieldsgazette.com/regional-news?articleid=2137008 Wayne's still stepping out
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/03/nballet03.xml No British dancer to fill Darcey's pointe shoes
- The Hot Shoe Show - "Pinball Wizard" - Wayne Sleep dance/choreography mid-80s BBC
- The Hot Shoe Show - "Modern Girl" - Wayne Sleep and Finola Hughes mid-80s BBC