Пегги Рамсей
Пегги Рамсей | |
|---|---|
| Рожденный | Маргарет Франческа Венникер 27 мая 1908 г. Молонг , Новый Южный Уэльс , Австралия |
| Умер | 4 сентября 1991 г. (в возрасте 83 лет) Лондон , Великобритания |
| Национальность | Британский |
| Занятие | Театральный агент |
Маргарет Франческа Рамсей (27 мая 1908 г. - 4 сентября 1991 года) была австралийским британским театральным агентом . [ 1 ]
Ранний период жизни
[ редактировать ]Пегги Рамсей родилась у английских родителей в Молонге , Новый Южный Уэльс , Австралия. [ 2 ] Первоначально ее отца звали Виленски, но ее мать полагала, что это еврейское имя было социальным недостатком, так что оно изменилось на Венникер. [ 3 ] Ее семья поселилась в Южной Африке к концу великой войны , в которой ее отец служил в Южноафриканском медицинском корпусе . [ 4 ] Во время короткого и несчастного брака она приехала в Англию в 1929 году; Ее муж Норман Рамсей был под следствием в Южной Африке. После гастролей с оперной компанией и заклинанием в качестве актрисы она начала читать сценарии для театральных менеджеров, включая Питера Дабени , [ 5 ] который был позже известен организацией ежегодных мировых театральных сезонов .
Театральный агент
[ редактировать ]As she was gaining no financial return from scripts she was finding, in 1953 her friends and acquaintances persuaded her to open her own agency, in which they invested. For her entire career her business was based in Goodwin's Court, an alley off St Martin's Lane, London. She was able to buy out her partners in 1963, after the success of her first "discovery'", Robert Bolt.[1] Sometimes she could be wrong in her opinions. Of A Man for All Seasons (1966), Bolt's own screen adaptation of his play, she was dismissive: "We don’t expect it to succeed as it’s not very dramatic and has no sex at all".[6]
She represented many of the leading dramatists to emerge from the 1950s onwards, including Alan Ayckbourn, Eugène Ionesco, J. B. Priestley, Stephen Poliakoff and David Hare.[1] After discovering Joe Orton, then living on National Assistance,[7] she persuaded producer Michael Codron to stage Orton's Entertaining Mr Sloane. Ramsay represented the dramatist, and then his estate, for the rest of her life. The 1978 biography of Orton by John Lahr, initiated by Ramsay in 1970, led to friction between the author and the playwright's former agent.[8] For about ten years, she consulted her client, David Hare, about the quality of the work of other writers represented by her agency.[6]
Ramsay's last years were affected by the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Her long term companion, the actor William Roderick, died in April 1991. She died on 4 September 1991 in London from the effects of a heart condition and circulation problems.[9]
Legacy
[edit]The Peggy Ramsay Foundation has been established by her estate and makes grants and awards to help writers and writing for the stage.[10] Her archive has been donated to the British Library.[11] In 2009, a blue plaque was unveiled at Ramsay's former home in Kensington Place, Brighton by her friend and biographer Simon Callow.[12]
Portrayals and books
[edit]In Prick Up Your Ears (1987), the Orton film biopic based on the Lahr book, Ramsay is portrayed by Vanessa Redgrave,[9] while in Peggy For You (1999), a play by Alan Plater[13] set in the late 1960s, Ramsay is placed centre stage. Two books have been written about Ramsay; Peggy: The Life of Margaret Ramsay, Play Agent (1997) by Colin Chambers a biography, and Simon Callow's memoir Love Is Where It Falls: The Story of a Passionate Friendship (1999),an account of their friendship.[14] Peggy to her Playwrights: The Letters of Margaret Ramsay, Play Agent, a collection of her letters edited by Colin Chambers, was published in 2018.[15]
From December 2021 to January 2022 Tamsin Greig played Ramsay in a revival of Plater's Peggy For You, directed by Richard Wilson at the Hampstead Theatre.[16][17][18]
References
[edit]- ^ Jump up to: a b c Christopher Stevens Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams, London: John Murray, 2010, p.409 ISBN 1-84854-195-3
- ^ Colin Chambers, Peggy: The Life of Margaret Ramsay, Play Agent, London: Nick Hern Books, 1997, p. 7.
- ^ Simon Callow, Love is Where it Falls, 1999, p. 92
- ^ Chambers (1997), p. 8.
- ^ John Lahr, Prick Up Your Ears: The Life of Joe Orton, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002 [1978, 2000], p. 144.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Brooks, Richard (8 August 2010). "Enter stage left, Hare the secret critic". The Times. Retrieved 23 July 2018. (subscription required)
- ^ Chambers (1997), p. 157.
- ^ Chambers (1997), pp. 179-86.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Peggy Ramsay, 83, An Agent in Britain Of Top Playwrights". The New York Times. 7 September 1991.
- ^ "Welcome to the Peggy Ramsay Foundation". peggyramsayfoundation.org.
- ^ Zoe Wilcox, "The Peggy Ramsay archive", The Writers Guild, 15 September 2010.
- ^ Gurner, Richard (30 June 2009). "Actor Simon Callow unveils blue plaque in Brighton". The Argus. Newsquest. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
- ^ Michael Billington, "Peggy For You" (review), The Guardian, 24 November 1999.
- ^ Laurence Watts, "Interview: Simon Callow on Dickens, Peggy Ramsay and being gay", Pink News, 29 December 2011.
- ^ Seymour, Miranda (27 July 2018). "The ferocious Peggy Ramsay, grande dame of British theatre". Financial Times. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ Allfree, Claire (7 December 2021). "Tamsin Greig interview: 'I probably shouldn't have been in Friday Night Dinner'". The Telegraph – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ^ "Peggy for You and Tamsin Greig on the Andrew Marr Show".
- ^ «Тэмсин Грейг и актер Пегги для вас первые взгляды репетиции выпущены | Whatsonstage» . www.whatsonstage.com . 26 ноября 2021 года.
Внешние ссылки
[ редактировать ]- Фонд Пегги Рамсей
- Архив Margaret Ramsay Ltd в Британской библиотеке
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