Misplaced Pages

Young Vic

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
#809190

40-523: The Young Vic Theatre is a performing arts venue located on The Cut , near the South Bank , in the London Borough of Lambeth . The Young Vic was established by Frank Dunlop in 1970. Kwame Kwei-Armah has been Artistic Director since February 2018, succeeding David Lan . In the period after World War II, a Young Vic Company was formed in 1946 by director George Devine as an offshoot of

80-758: A book of video transcripts. Condell was born to an Irish Catholic family, and was raised in England. His father was a compulsive gambler working in a betting shop until he was sent to prison for stealing money; he subsequently died of leukaemia . The Condell family in consequence was impoverished, moving repeatedly from home to home. Condell was educated in several different Church of England schools in South London , saying of this time, "I found myself segregated in assembly and shunted into another room while everyone said their morning prayers. The whole pantomime seemed hollow to me even then. Once you become aware of

120-526: A major reconstruction of its building and closed in 2004 for work to start. Designed by architects Haworth Tompkins – also known for their refurbishment of the Royal Court Theatre , Regent's Park Open Air Theatre , and two temporary venues for the Almeida – and with Jane Wernick Associates as the structural engineers, and consulting engineers Max Fordham LLP designing the building services,

160-409: A man with an umbrella turned inside up and full of prints; next, you hear one with a peepshow of Mazeppa , and Paul Jones the pirate, describing the pictures to the boys looking in at the little round windows. Then is heard the sharp snap of the percussion-cap from the crowd of lads firing at the target for nuts; and the moment afterwards, you see either a black man half-clad in white, and shivering in

200-617: A precursor of the Young Vic's education and community engagement programme. The latter now runs an office which accommodates and houses the 'homeless' Belarus Free Theatre , of Nikolai Khalezin, Natalia Koliada, with Sarah Kane's '4.48 Psychosis' performed underground, illegally in Minsk and Farringdon , in the cold cells of Clerkenwell House of Detention, a secret location in London. Echoing the words of Woolf and mirroring her suicide, Kane's play

240-574: A proposed Islamic centre and mosque near the site of the World Trade Center September 11 attacks , in lower Manhattan. On 4 June 2010, he released a video titled "No Mosque at Ground Zero", in which he said that it was representative of Islamic triumphalism and that the United States would soon be on the verge of Islamization and have its freedoms trimmed, as he said Europe has. Condell's video Welcome to Saudi Britain

280-480: A range of restaurants, shops and offices. 51°30′12.3″N 0°6′24.6″W  /  51.503417°N 0.106833°W  / 51.503417; -0.106833 This London road or road transport-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Pat Condell Patrick Condell (born 23 November 1949) is a British writer, polemicist, and former stand-up comedian . In his early career, he wrote and performed in alternative comedy shows during

320-637: A shipping company, volunteering on a kibbutz in Israel and then doing six years of logging in Canada. After moving back to the United Kingdom from Canada, Condell performed alternative comedy shows during the 1980s and 1990s. His first performance on stage was at the age of 32 in a comedy sketch called Mountbatten's Plimsoll . He also wrote poetry and appeared in the Poetry Olympics at

360-592: A significant amount of support. Condell has spoken favourably of Dutch politician Geert Wilders and has described the Qur'an as hate speech. Condell has thus been described as part of the counter-jihad movement. Condell's first video, uploaded to YouTube on 8 February 2007, was his participation in The Blasphemy Challenge , an Internet-based project which aims to get atheists to declare themselves. The challenge asks atheists to submit videos to

400-513: The Muslim world ", such as "the intolerance of radical Islamists who say if you insult Allah, you should have your head cut off". Condell said that its popularity proves "there is an enthusiastic audience for comedy ideas and opinions which are routinely censored out of existence in the UK’s mainstream media, thanks to misguided political correctness ". Condell also opposed the development of Park51 ,

440-603: The Old Vic Theatre School for the purpose of performing classic plays for audiences aged nine to fifteen. This was discontinued in 1948, when Devine and the entire faculty resigned from the Old Vic, but in 1969 Frank Dunlop became founder-director of The Young Vic theatre with Scapino , his free adaptation of Molière 's The Cheats of Scapin , presented at the new venue as a National Theatre production. It opened on 10 September 1970 and starred Jim Dale in

SECTION 10

#1732772069810

480-537: The South Eastern Railway . The Old Vic theatre is at the western (Lambeth) end, and the more experimental Young Vic theatre halfway along on the other side. Lewisham Southwark College is sited on the south side of the Cut and at the eastern (Southwark) end is Southwark Underground station . Waterloo and Waterloo East stations are also nearby. Lower Marsh and the Cut formed the commercial heart of

520-754: The Young Vic Theatre in 1982, which led to a job writing weekly poems for the Time Out magazine. Condell was described at the time as "a manic gimlet-eyed, crop-haired poet" in Drama: The Quarterly Theatre Review book . He performed at the Tunnel Club, next to the Blackwall Tunnel , where he describes the audience as a "nightmare;" bottles and glasses were thrown at him, and one person attempted to cut

560-530: The microphone lead with a pair of garden shears. Condell was a performer at The Comedy Store in the Cutting Edge team, with whom he performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1991. That year Condell was the winner of a Time Out Comedy Award . From 1991 to 1994 Condell was a regular panellist on BBC Radio 1's Loose Talk . During the mid-1990s, he was performing over 200 times a year. Due to

600-565: The 1980s and 1990s in London, winning the Time Out Comedy Award in 1991. He was also a regular panelist on BBC Radio 1 's Loose Talk programme. In early 2007, Condell began uploading videos on the internet, consisting of monologue polemics primarily about religious authority, authoritarianism in government and left-wing politics , and notably criticism of Islam and the societal effects of Muslim immigration into Europe. His videos have also been published on DVD, and as

640-521: The California city of Berkeley 's Peace and Justice Commission. Condell said in the video that Islam is "a religion of war", that "Muslim women in Britain who cover their faces are mentally ill", though in some parts of the world women have no choice but to cover their face, as they are "governed...by primitive pigs whose only achievement in life is to be born with a penis in one hand and a Qur'an in

680-577: The Young Vic in early 1971, in order to rehearse what would become their album, Who's Next . One of these shows was released on the Deluxe edition of this album. A memorial at the theatre's south-east corner commemorates the 54 people killed in 1941 while sheltering in the cellars of the former building during the Blitz . In 1982 the theatre hosted a Poetry Olympics , where comedian Pat Condell took part. Virginia Woolf taught at Morley College from 1905,

720-638: The abandonment of its 30-year-old "sit anywhere" policy and a new strapline, "It's a big world in here". The Young Vic was one of the launch theatres for Digital Theatre , a project that makes theatre productions available in video download form. The first performances that were filmed were Kafka's Monkey and The Container . The Cut (London) The Cut (formerly New Cut ) is a street in London which runs between Waterloo Road in Lambeth and Blackfriars Road in Southwark , approximately parallel to

760-467: The area from the early 19th century. Henry Mayhew estimated in the 1840s that 300 costermongers attended the market here. He described the scene in his work London Labour and the London Poor : THE LONDON STREET MARKETS ON A SATURDAY NIGHT. The street sellers are to be seen in the greatest numbers at the London street markets on a Saturday night. Here, and in the shops immediately adjoining,

800-411: The bright lamps are almost totally superseded by the dim, guttering candle. Even the pole under the tray or "shallow" is resting on the ground, the policeman on duty is obliged to interfere. The mob of purchasers has diminished one-half; and instead of the road being filled with customers and trucks, the pavement and kerb-stones are scarcely crowded." The market in the Cut continued until the 1950s, when

840-400: The butchers' gaslights streaming and fluttering in the wind, like flags of flame, pour forth such a flood of light, that at a distance the atmosphere immediately above the spot is as lurid as if the street were on fire. ... This stall is green and white with bunches of turnips—that red with apples, the next yellow with onions, and another purple with pickling cabbages. One minute you pass

SECTION 20

#1732772069810

880-470: The cold with tracts in his hand, or else you hear the sounds of music from Frazier's Circus ... Such, indeed, is the riot, the struggle, and the scramble for a living, that the confusion and uproar of the New-cut on Saturday night have a bewildering and saddening effect upon the thoughtful mind. The fortunes of the street market changed rapidly with time. In 1851 Mayhew wrote: "Since the above description

920-401: The configuration and capacity can vary depending on the design of each production. The Theatre undertook a significant rebuilding and renewal project in the 2000s, designed by architects Haworth Tompkins, boosting its visibility on The Cut. In addition to the Young Vic's main house, there are now two smaller theatre spaces. The Maria, named after theatre designer Maria Björnson, is the larger of

960-706: The gulf between what people profess to believe and how they actually behave, it's hard to take any of it seriously." Condell left school at 16. His first job was as a dish-washer in the revolving restaurant on top of the Post Office Tower, now known as the BT Tower in London, for five shillings an hour. Condell did a number of jobs including working in a furniture warehouse, as a welder at the Ford Transit plant in Southampton , as an office clerk for

1000-590: The late nights and regular travelling he decided to start writing for other comedians, while still doing the occasional performance. Condell's 1996 play Barry Sorts It Out was given a negative review in the Financial Times , which described it as "a sordid East End comedy" which "repeats ad nauseam the same gag." The reviewer concluded that it is "a play with all the bite of a set of joke-shop fangs." His 2006 stand-up show Faith Hope and Sanity , subtitled "A Few Jokes About Religion Before It Kills Us All,"

1040-807: The latter often in innovative productions. Despite its small size, like the Almeida Theatre, the Young Vic has attracted well-known actors since its creation. These have included Ian Charleson , who made his memorable professional debut with the Young Vic 1972–74, and who played Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger and Hamlet in the first revival of Stoppard 's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in 1973, and Vanessa Redgrave , Helen Mirren , Judi Dench , Timothy Dalton , Robert Lindsay , Willard White , John Malkovich , Michael Sheen and Arthur Lowe . The rock band The Who held free, weekly concerts at

1080-402: The other". Commissioner Elliot Cohen described Condell's comments as "insulting, degenerating and racist". Condell then accused Cohen of being "motivated by his own narrow personal and political agenda which has nothing to do with [Condell] or the video clip". The video was initially sent to them by fellow Peace and Justice Commissioner Jonathan Wornick, who said it "tries to expose intolerance in

1120-455: The refurbishment was completed in October 2006. The main auditorium has been left intact, but refurbished and technically enhanced. The butcher's shop has also been retained as the main entrance to the building and also the box office. The remainder of the 1970s structure has been rebuilt to provide new foyers , dressing rooms, two studio theatres, and workshop spaces. An award of £5 million

1160-462: The street was designated as the B300 thoroughfare between Borough High Street and Westminster Bridge Road ; the remaining traders moved to Lower Marsh where some street stalls continue (to 2019), or to new shops rebuilt on the bombed sites. A boxing gymnasium situated above a pub on the Cut is alleged to be where the modern rules for the sport of boxing were penned. The street is also now home to

1200-697: The title role, with designs by Carl Toms (decor) and Maria Björnson (costumes). Initially part of the National Theatre , the Young Vic Theatre became an independent body in 1974. In the words of Laurence Olivier , then-director of the National Theatre: "Here we think to develop plays for young audiences, an experimental workshop for authors, actors and producers." The aim was to create an accessible theatre which offered high quality at low cost in an informal environment. The aim

1240-470: The two with a capacity of 150. The Clare, named after a former artistic director of the Young Vic and Sheffield Crucible , Clare Venables , seats 70. Like the main house, both smaller theatres have flexible seating configurations which can be arranged to suit the production design. In the two smaller auditoria, seating is usually unreserved, with the actors performing in close proximity to the audience. The Young Vic performs both new writing and classic plays,

Young Vic - Misplaced Pages Continue

1280-545: The website YouTube, in which they record themselves blaspheming or denying the existence of the Holy Spirit . The book Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief , describes Condell as "breathtakingly intelligent, articulate, uncompromising, and funny". The New York Times Magazine described Condell as a "smug atheist". Condell received criticism after links to his monologue titled The Trouble with Islam were circulated to commissioners in

1320-477: The working-classes generally purchase their Sunday's dinner ... on Saturday night, or early on Sunday morning, the New-cut, and the Brill in particular, is almost impassable. Indeed, the scene in these parts has more of the character of a fair than a market. There are hundreds of stalls, and every stall has its one or two lights ... these, with the sparkling ground-glass globes of the tea-dealers' shops, and

1360-431: Was a platform for his comedy and atheist beliefs. "This is the first time I've set out to write a show in order to say something, rather than just as a vehicle for stand-up" he said of the show. He performed the show at London's Etcetera Theatre . Chortle gave Condell's 2006 show a negative review, noting that Condell is covering familiar territory but "is not quite up to the job," and observing that Condell's material

1400-476: Was delivered "with very little variation in pace or tone, ... with the feel of a lecture" and "no structure, no building up to a passionate, climactic conclusion, no ebb and flow of storytelling." Chortle concluded that "Condell is still going through the motions." Condell began posting videos online in 2007, with most of his YouTube videos chastising Islam and Western appeasement of Islam. His videos have caused Condell to receive hundreds of death threats but also

1440-800: Was received from the Arts Council of England . The Young Vic re-opened on 11 October 2006, with a production of the community opera Tobias and the Angel ; with music by Jonathan Dove and a libretto by David Lan . On 16 May 2007, the refurbished Young Vic won the RIBA London Building of the Year Award . Following this award, the Young Vic was also shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize on 27 July 2007. A rebranding exercise by Sense Worldwide in 2010 resulted in

1480-497: Was removed by YouTube early in October 2008, but reinstated shortly after. In it Condell criticises Britain's sanctioning of a Sharia court, and refers to the entire country of Saudi Arabia as "mentally ill" for its abuse of women . A YouTube spokesman said "YouTube has clear policies that prohibit inappropriate content on the site, such as pornography, gratuitous violence or hate speech.... If users repeatedly break these rules we disable their accounts." The National Secular Society

1520-481: Was sponsored by another feminist, Sue Emmas, who since the year 1993 has been Associate Director of the social engagement programme, working closely with Kwame Kwei-Armah and leads the Directors Program which provides initiatives for emerging directors, with emphasis on seeking out and nurturing artists from under-represented backgrounds. In 2003, the Young Vic launched a campaign to raise £12.5 million for

1560-449: Was to appeal to young audiences, but this time not specifically to children. Frank Dunlop completed creation of the theatre venue in 1970, a breeze-block building constructed out of a former butcher's shop and an adjacent bomb-site with a red wooden slat auditorium bench seating . The structure was intended to last for five years, but has become permanent. The auditorium, with a thrust stage , has an approximate capacity of 420, although

1600-500: Was written, the New Cut has lost much of its noisy and brilliant glory. In consequence of a New Police regulation, "stands" or "pitches" have been forbidden, and each coster, on a market night, is now obliged, under pain of the lock-up house, to carry his tray, or keep moving with his barrow. The gay stalls have been replaced by deal boards, some sodden With wet fish, others stained purple with blackberries, or brown with walnut-peel; and

#809190