Charles Marowitz (26 January 1934 – 2 May 2014)[1] was an American critic, theatre director, and playwright, regular columnist on Swans Commentary.[2] He collaborated with Peter Brook at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and later founded and directed The Open Space Theatre in London.[3]
He was also the co-founder of Encore magazine which was published between 1954 and 1965, and co-editor of The Encore Reader: A Chronicle of the New Drama (1965). He was a regular contributor to publications such as The New York Times, The Times (London), TheaterWeek, and American Theatre and was the lead critic on the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner until it ceased publication.
The period as a critic in London was recorded in the book Confessions of a Counterfeit Critic (Eyre Methuen 1973). Its subtitle was A London Theatre Notebook 1958-1971.
He was the author of Murdering Marlowe, which imagined a rivalry between William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. It was selected as a finalist for the GLAAD Media Awards of 2002. He was author the 1987 Broadway play Sherlock's Last Case with Frank Langella in the lead role.[4]
His free adaptations of Shakespeare were collected in The Marowitz Shakespeare. He died of complications from Parkinson's disease in 2014 at the age of 80.[5]
Selected bibliography
edit- Marowitz, Charles (1977). Artaud at Rodez. London: Marion Boyars. ISBN 0-7145-2632-0.
- Marowitz, Charles, ed. and trans. (2000). The Marowitz Shakespeare: Adaptions and Collages of Hamlet, MacBeth, the Taming of the Shrew, Measure for Measure, and the Merchant of Venice. London: Marion Boyars. ISBN 978-0-7145-2651-5.
- –––, Tom Milne, and Owen Hale, eds. (1981). The Encore Reader: A Chronicle of the New Drama. London: Methuen, 1965. Reissued as New Theatre Voices of the Fifties and Sixties. London: Eyre Methuen.
- Trussler, Simon (2014). Charles Marowitz in London: Twenty-Five Years Hard: Marowitz in the Sixties. New Theatre Quarterly, 30:3, p. 203–206
References
edit- ^ Charles Marowitz, Iconoclastic Director and Playwright, Dies at 82, New York Times, 11 May 2014
- ^ Bio on swans.com
- ^ Albert Hunt, Geoffrey Reeves, Peter Brook, Cambridge University Press, 1995, p.51
- ^ Frank Rich, "Stage: Langella In 'Sherlock's Last.' ", The New York Times, August 21, 1987, accessed October 11, 2007.
- ^ Elaine Woo "Charles Marowitz, playwright, director and critic, dies at 80", Los Angeles Times, 6 May 2014
External links
edit- Charles Marowitz Papers at the Harry Ransom Center
- "Biography: Charles Marowitz" on Marowitz Theatre.
- Charles Marowitz at the Internet Broadway Database
- "Commentary: Charles Marowitz" – Contributor page at Swans.com.
- Marowitz Theatre Marowitz's website.
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