Ned Dickens (born 1959 in British Columbia) is a Canadian playwright. He authored 16 plays,[1] including the City of Wine series, a seven-play cycle which "traces the rise and fall of the ancient city of Thebes, from its founding by Cadmus and Harmonia to its demise at the siege of Troy."[2]
Ned Dickens | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1959 |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation | Playwright |
| Years active | 1994 — present |
| Notable work | City of Wine series |
Life
editDickens was born in 1959[3] in British Columbia and raised in Ontario.[4] His father was a teacher who taught in boarding schools.[4]
For 10 years, he worked in architecture.[1] He was the director for the Kensington Youth Theatre and Employment Skills program in Toronto, using theatre as a training tool for street youth.[1]
Playwriting career
editIn 1994, Dickens turned to playwriting from acting when he developed advanced glaucoma.[4] He was commissioned by Die In Debt Theatre to write a new version of Seneca's Oedipus .[2] After writing the piece and winning a Dora Award, Dickens wanted to further explore the story of Jocasta, Oedipus's mother. He then became fascinated by "the aftermath of Oedipus's downfall."[4] After six years, Dickens had expanded Oedipus to become a trilogy and decided to "dramatize the entire history of Thebes."[4] In total, the series took 15 years to write.[5] To support himself during this time, Dickens taught public speaking to politicians and worked in construction, injuring his hand in an accident.[5]
In May 2009, Dickens's seven-play cycle, City of Wine, debuted at Toronto's Theatre Passe Muraille.[6][7] The play involved 233 student actors, 172 professional actors, and 110 theatre artists[6] and was produced by Nightswimming, an independent theatre company.[5] In its entirety, the play's running time is 12 hours. Robert Kushman, in the National Post, described it as a "dizzyingly ambitious feat of producing and a dizzying achievement."[6]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Kingston Life". www.kingstonlife.ca. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
- ^ a b "Preview: City Of Wine". NOW Toronto Magazine - Think Free. Retrieved 2016-05-11.
- ^ "Ned Dickens - Presentation and Communication Services". Ned Dickens. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
- ^ a b c d e f "A playwright's marathon in ancient Greece". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
- ^ a b c "Living with Oedipus for 15 years - Macleans.ca". Macleans.ca. 2009-02-19. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
- ^ a b c nurun.com. "'A wonderful blend of stage production and rock..." The Kingston Whig-Standard. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
- ^ Fallis, Alex (2010). ""Without our past, we are just any town, no town at all": City of Wine". Canadian Theatre Review. 142 (1): 90–94. doi:10.1353/ctr.0.0021. ISSN 1920-941X. S2CID 143717622.