Jonathan Kent (director)

Jonathan Kent (born 1946, South Africa) is an English theatre director and opera director. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa A theatre director or stage director is a practitioner in the Theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production (a play, This ' List of opera directors' is an inclusive register of famous drama producers and directors who have worked or are working in the opera world He is most well known as one of the director/producer partners of London's Almeida Theatre between 1990 to 2002. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980 is a 325 seat Studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located off

After an upbringing in South Africa, where he went to school at Diocesan College, he came to London in the 1970s and trained as an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama. The Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young Actors and other students Working under Giles Havergal and Phillip Prowse at the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, he found that "acting taught him just how difficult it is to act. The Citizens' Theatre is based in Glasgow, Scotland and is the major producing theatre for the west of Scotland . . . acting is a valiant pursuit" ^[1].

By 1990 Kent had formed an association with the Scottish actor, Ian McDiarmid, and between 1990 and 2002 as joint artistic directors, they turned the Almeida Theatre into a major production house. Ian McDiarmid (born 11 August 1944 is a Scottish Tony Award -winning actor and Theatre director.

The success of this venture - presenting a wide range of international plays - led to productions transferring to the West End (14 between 1990 and 2002 under Kent's tenure) and also to Broadway. West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London 's "Theatreland" Broadway theater, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located

In 1995/6, he directed Mother Courage and Her Children, at the Royal National Theatre. Mother Courage and Her Children (Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956 The Royal National Theatre, located on the South Bank in the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Diana Rigg was awarded an Evening Standard Theatre Award for her performance as Mother Courage. Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg DBE (born 20 July 1938 is an English actress. The Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955 are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. For the stage, Kent's most recent production of Brian Friel's Faith Healer was a success in both Dublin and on Broadway. Brian Friel (born 9 January 1929) is a playwright and more recently director of his own works from Northern Ireland who now resides in County Donegal Faith Healer is a play by Brian Friel about the life of faith healer Francis Hardy as monologued through the shifting memories of Hardy his wife Grace and stage Dublin (ˈdʌblɨn/ /ˈdʊblɨn or /ˈdʊbəlɪn/, bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh or cliə(ɸ is both the largest city and capital of Ireland. Broadway, as the name implies is a wide avenue in New York City.

On 9 July 2007 it was announced^[2] that Kent had been invited to direct three plays at the Haymarket Theatre from September 2007 as a means of re-invigorating the West End theatre scene. Haymarket Theatre (Leicester|Her Majesty's Theatre The Theatre Royal Haymarket or Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre is a West End theatre in West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London 's "Theatreland" These were William Wycherley's The Country Wife, Edward Bond's The Sea, and Marguerite, a musical based on La Dame aux camélias, with music by Michel Legrand and book by Alain Boublil. William Wycherley ( c 1640 – 31 December 1715) was an English Dramatist of the Restoration period The Country Wife is a Restoration comedy written in 1675 by William Wycherley. Edward Bond (born 18 July 1934) is an English Playwright, Theatre director, Poet Marguerite is a musical with a book by Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Jonathan Kent, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer The Lady of the Camellias (French La Dame aux camélias) is a Novel by Alexandre Dumas fils, first published in 1848 Michel Legrand (born February 24, 1932 in Paris) is a French musical composer arranger conductor and pianist of Armenian descent Alain Boublil is a Librettist, born in Tunisia in 1941 best known for his collaborations with the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg.

Kent as opera director

Following his departure from the Almeida, Kent has emerged as a significant force in the world of opera. His operatic directing debut was during the Santa Fe Opera's 2003 season production of Katya Kabanova, a production received with great acclaim. The Santa Fe Opera (SFO is an American Opera company located north of Santa Fe in the U Káťa Kabanová is an Opera in three acts with music by Leoš Janáček to a libretto by Vincenc Cervinka, based on The Storm, a ^[3]

His first British production was not actually an opera at all but Michael Tippett's oratorio, A Child of Our Time in 2005. Sir Michael Kemp Tippett, OM (2 January 1905 &ndash 8 January 1998 was one of the foremost English Composers of the 20th century A Child of Our Time is an Oratorio written by Michael Tippett between 1939 and 1941 He returned that same year to Santa Fe for Mozart's Lucio Silla as well as in 2006, when he directed the US premiere of Thomas Adès' The Tempest, again with significant critical acclaim: ^[4]

In Britain, Kent's most recent work in opera has been on a new production of Puccini's Tosca for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Santa Fe ( Navajo: Yootó is the Capital of the state of New Mexico. Lucio Silla (K135 is an Italian Opera in three acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Thomas Adès (born in London, 1 March 1971) is a British Composer, Pianist and conductor. Henry Purcell also wrote an opera The Tempest, in 1695 For the 1993 Michael Nyman opera see Noises Sounds & Sweet Airs WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini ( December 22, 1858 Tosca is an Opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on This article is about the post-1945 opera company at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Expectations were high, since this was Covent Garden's replacement for the famous Franco Zeffirelli production for Maria Callas in 1964, and which had been in use for 42 years. Franco Zeffirelli, KBE (born Gianfranco Corsi on February 12, 1923) is an Italian Film director. Kent "believes Tosca - which Puccini adapted from a five-act French play - is an ideal vehicle for his talents. "What I admire about it, quite apart from the thrilling music, is its theatre craft", he said. . . . "It's a taut, sinewy melodrama, exquisitely put together. There isn't an ounce of flesh on it. . . . "That's what interested me: to find a way within that hurtling narrative to examine the relationships and its themes of sex, power and death. " ^[5]

In 2007 Kent directed Strauss' Elektra at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg and Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw for the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the 2007 season. The Mariinsky Theatre ( Мариинский театр, also spelled Maryinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of Opera and Ballet in Saint Petersburg ( tr: Sankt-Peterburg,) is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River Edward Benjamin Britten Baron Britten, OM CH (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976 was an English Composer, conductor, The Turn of the Screw This article is about the Glyndebourne opera festival See Glyndebourne for details of the Country house and opera house Glyndebourne Festival

He returns to the Santa Fe Opera in 2008 to direct a new production of The Marriage of Figaro and again in 2009 to direct the premiere of a new opera by Paul Moravec and Terry Teachout, The Letter based on Somerset Maugham's 1927 stage version of his story story of the same name, The Letter. The Santa Fe Opera (SFO is an American Opera company located north of Santa Fe in the U Le nozze di Figaro ossia la folle giornata (Trans The Marriage of Figaro or the Day of Madness) K Paul Moravec (born November 2, 1957, in Buffalo New York) is an American Composer and the Music Department Chair at Adelphi University Terry Teachout (born 6 February 1956, Cape Girardeau Missouri) is a Critic, biographer and blogger. The Letter is an Opera by composer Paul Moravec and librettist Terry Teachout. William Somerset Maugham, CH ( January 25 1874 &ndash December 16 1965) was an English Playwright,

References

^ The Observer (London), 27 January 2002
^ Michel Billington, "People Thought We Were Mad", The Guardian (London), 10 July 2007
^ Simon Williams, Opera News, “Director Jonathan Kent is new to opera, having made his name in spoken drama in London. Events 98 - Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. He displayed a natural feel for the dynamics and rhetoric of opera, and he directed with unwavering attention to the score. In short, this was an outstanding interpretation of a great modern tragedy".
^ Hugh Canning of The Times (London), June 2006 writes:
"Kent’s production began with one of the most magical stage images I can recall in recent opera seasons. Paul Brown’s permanent set is a sandy island with a pool of water representing the sea: in the prelude, a procession of fully clothed people (presumably the Neapolitan shipwreck survivors) walk out of the water like amphibious creatures, a dazzlingly surreal opening gambit in a production remarkable for its narrative clarity and observant delineation of character.
Kent and Brown achieve an organic fusion of theatrical elements with the simplest of means. The dune-like “island” provides opportunities for wittily surprising entrances — at one point, Ariel’s head pops out of Prospero’s magic cabinet — and perilous exits — the comic characters, Stefano and Trinculo, are swallowed up as if by quicksand".
^ BBC online interview

Kent as opera director

References

See also