British playwright (1930?2012)
John Arden
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Born
| 26 October 1930
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Died
| 28 March 2012
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Nationality
| British
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Occupation
| Playwright
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John Arden
(26 October 1930 ? 28 March 2012) was an English
playwright
who at his death was lauded as "one of the most significant British playwrights of the late 1950s and early 60s".
[1]
Career
[
edit
]
Born in
Barnsley
, son of the manager of a glass factory, he was educated at
Sedbergh School
in Cumbria,
King's College, Cambridge
, and the
Edinburgh College of Art
, where he studied architecture.
[2]
He first gained critical attention for the
radio play
The Life of Man
in 1956 shortly after finishing his studies.
Arden was initially associated with the English Stage Company at the
Royal Court Theatre
in London. His 1959 play,
Serjeant Musgrave's Dance
, in which four army deserters arrive in a northern mining town to exact retribution for an act of colonial violence, is considered to be his best
[
by whom?
]
. His work was influenced by
Bertolt Brecht
and
Epic Theatre
as in
Left-Handed Liberty
(1965, on the anniversary of
Magna Carta
).
[3]
Other plays include
Live Like Pigs
,
The Workhouse Donkey
, and
Armstrong's Last Goodnight
, the last of which was performed at the 1965 Chichester Festival by the
National Theatre
after it was rejected by the Royal Court.
[1]
His 1978 radio play
Pearl
was considered in a
Guardian
survey
[4]
to be one of the best plays in that medium. He also wrote several novels, including
Silence Among the Weapons
, which was shortlisted for the
Booker Prize
in 1982,
[5]
and
Books of Bale
, about the
Protestant
apologist
John Bale
. He was a member of the
Royal Society of Literature
.
[2]
With his wife and co-writer
Margaretta D'Arcy
he picketed the
RSC
premiere of his
Arthurian
play
The Island of the Mighty
, because they thought the production was pro-imperialist, and they wrote several plays together which were highly critical of the British presence in Ireland, where he and D'Arcy lived from 1971 onward.
[1]
In 1961, he was a founder member of the anti-nuclear
Committee of 100
, and he also chaired the pacifist weekly
Peace News
.
[6]
In Ireland, he was for a while a member of
Official Sinn Fein
.
[7]
He was an advocate of civil liberties, and opposed anti-terror legislation, as demonstrated in his 2007 radio play
The Scam
.
[7]
Last years and death
[
edit
]
He was elected to
Aosdana
, an Irish arts academy, in 2011 before dying in
Galway
in 2012.
[8]
[9]
He was waked in a wicker casket.
[10]
Awards
[
edit
]
Works
[
edit
]
(Selected)
Books
[
edit
]
- Arden, John
(1977),
To present the pretence: essays on the theatre and its public
, London: Methuen,
ISBN
978-0413381507
- Arden, John
(1982),
Silence among the weapons: some events at the time of the failure of a republic
, London: Methuen,
ISBN
978-0413496706
- Arden, John, (2009), Gallows and other Tales of Suspicion and Obsession, Original Writing, Dublin,
ISBN
978-1-907179-19-8
- D'Arcy, Margaretta
;
Arden, John
(1988),
Awkward corners: essays, papers, fragments
, London: Methuen,
ISBN
978-0-413-40340-7
- D'Arcy, Margaretta
;
Arden, John
(1991),
Plays: 1: The Business of Good Government, The Royal Pardon, The Little Gray Home in the West, Ars Longa Vita Brevis, Friday's Hiding, Vandaleur's Folly, and Immediate Rough Theatre
, Methuen Publishing Limited,
ISBN
978-0-413-65150-1
- D'Arcy, Margaretta
;
Arden, John
(1996),
Galways Pirate Women, a Global Trawl
, Women's Pirate Press,
ISBN
978-0-9528206-0-4
Plays by John Arden
[
edit
]
- Serjeant Musgrave's Dance
: an Unhistorical Parable
(1960)
- Live Like Pigs
(1958)
- The workhouse donkey: a vulgar melodrama
(1964)
- Armstrong's last goodnight
(1965), based on the story of
Johnnie Armstrong
- Ironhand: adapted by John Arden from Goethe's Goetz von Berlichingen
(1965)
- Left-handed liberty
(1965)
- Two autobiographical plays: the true history of Squire Jonathan and his unfortunate treasure, and The bagman, or the impromptu of Muswell Hill
(1971)
- Pearl
: a play about a play within the play
(1979)
- Books of Bale
(1988)
- Cogs tyrannic
(1992)
- Jack Juggler and the emperor's whore: seven tall tales linked together for an indecorous toy theatre
(1995)
- Stealing Steps
(2003)
Plays written in collaboration with Margaretta D'Arcy include:
- The Happy Haven
(1960)
- The Business of Good Government: a Christmas Play
(1963)
- Ars Longa Vita Brevis
(1965)
- The Royal Pardon
(1967)
- The Hero Rises Up
(1969)
- The Island of the Mighty
trilogy (Part I, "Two Wild Young Noblemen: Concerning Balin and Balan and How Ignorant They Were"; Part II, "Oh the Cruel Winter: Concerning Arthur ? Flow He Refused to See That the Power of His Army Was Finished"; and Part III, "A Handful of Watercress: Concerning Merlin ? How He Needed to Be Alone and Then How He Needed Not to Be Alone") (1972)
[11]
[12]
[13]
- The Ballygombeen Bequest
- The Non-Stop Connolly Show: a dramatic cycle of continuous struggle in six parts
(1977)
- Vandaleur's folly: an Anglo-Irish melodrama: the hazard of experiment in an Irish co-operative, Ralahine, 1831
(1981)
- The little gray home in the west: an Anglo-Irish melodrama
(1982)
- Keep the People Moving
(BBC Radio);
- Portrait of a Rebel
(RTE Television);
- The Manchester Enthusiasts
(BBC 1984 and RTE 1984 under the title
The
Ralahine
Experiment
);
- Whose is the Kingdom?
(9-part radio play, BBC 1987).
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Coveney, Michael (30 March 2012).
"Obituary: John Arden"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
29 August
2017
.
- ^
a
b
"John Arden"
.
Daily Telegraph
. 30 March 2012.
ISSN
0307-1235
. Retrieved
30 January
2019
.
- ^
"BBC Radio 3 - Sunday Feature, Left-Handed Liberty"
.
- ^
John Arden's Radio Plays
; retrieved 9 October 2009
- ^
"John Arden"
Archived
21 May 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
, Man Booker Prize website
- ^
Wroe, Nicholas (3 January 2004).
"Profile: John Arden"
.
The Guardian
.
ISSN
0261-3077
. Retrieved
30 January
2019
.
- ^
a
b
III., Lentz, Harris M. (2013).
Obituaries in the performing arts, 2012
. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc.
ISBN
9781476603858
.
OCLC
841416459
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
"O'Connor one of five new Aosdana members"
.
The Irish Times
. Irish Times Trust.
- ^
Siggins, Lorna (30 March 2012).
"Playwright and political activist John Arden dies"
.
The Irish Times
. Irish Times Trust
. Retrieved
30 March
2012
.
- ^
Siggins, Lorna (2 April 2012).
"Wake for 'teller of tales' Arden"
.
The Irish Times
. Irish Times Trust
. Retrieved
2 April
2012
.
- ^
"ARDEN, JOHN, and MARGARETTA D ARCY - Arthurian era"
. Archived from
the original
on 29 October 2013
. Retrieved
7 July
2013
.
- ^
"Interview with John Arden and Margaretta D'Arcy | Robbins Library Digital Projects"
.
d.lib.rochester.edu
. Retrieved
12 December
2019
.
- ^
Leach, Robert (1 January 2012). "A mighty bust-up: John Arden and Margaretta D'Arcy's The Island of the Mighty at the Aldwych theatre, December 1972".
Studies in Theatre and Performance
.
32
(1): 3?14.
doi
:
10.1386/stap.32.1.3_1
.
ISSN
1468-2761
.
S2CID
192189442
.
External links
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Key works
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1967?1969
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1970?1979
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1990?1999
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2000?2009
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2010?
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