LAUGHTON COMMON:
(February 5, 2007 -- I have received an enquiry from Theatre Aquarius about presenting the full length version of Laughton Common as part of their 2008 - 2009 Studio Theatre season. Stay tuned for more details!)
From November 15 - 25, 2006: Barrie's Talk is Free Theatre www.talkisfreetheatre.com or www.tift.ca presented LAUGHTON COMMON as part of a double bill evening for twelve performances only.
This one hour version of the production was directed by Jim Betts and designed by Christina Luck, Kathy Simpson and Sandra Marcroft; stage management by Pam Craig and Melissa Cameron. The other half of the double bill was Jason Allin's one man show about Charlie Chaplin titled CHAPLIN: ABOUT FACE, and it was directed by Emily Boutet.
It was a terrific experience and each of the audiences taught me a lot about the project and trusting your audience. I hope to expand the show back to it's 90 minute format in 2007. To all who were able to attend - Thank You!
In 1984 I began to research the life of British-born film and stage actor Charles Laughton. Over the years I developed a one-man show and it came to be known as LAUGHTON COMMON.
In 1993 and 1996 I presented workshops at the Stratford Festival of Canada. The Festival awarded me two Tyrone Guthrie awards for the continued research and travel associated with the piece and in 1995 the Ontario Arts Council awarded me a small grant to continue the writing. This money was put to use in 1998 when the piece was dramaturged by director/writer, Ian Ferguson.
LAUGHTON COMMON has been in pre-production twice since 1998, but for a variety of reasons it ended up on the shelf until this year's world premiere at the Talk is Free Theatre in Barrie.
This is part of a brochure created to promote the touring aspect of the production. The information is now stale-dated and a new brochure will be created for the premiere production.
Here are a few pics of the man himself in a few of his film roles.
This image is from the 1933 film "The Private Life of Henry VIII". It was directed by Alexander Korda and for his performance Charles won his one and only Academy Award. He recreated the role twenty years later for the film "Young Bess" which featured Jean Simmons as his daughter.
In 1935 "Mutiny on the Bounty" was released and Charles received his second Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Captain Bligh. His co-stars Clark Gable and Franchot Tone were also nominated, but none of them took home the Oscar.
In 1936 Charles, and his wife Elsa Lanchester, appeared in another Alexander Korda film about "Rembrandt". It is one of my personal favourites as it shows a side of Charles and Elsa that was rarely captured on film. In the photo above Rembrandt is reading from a bible after returning home to Leyden to the mill where he was born.
This photo is from the final minutes of the film when Rembrandt is about to paint one of his famous self-portait. Charles was only 35 or 36 at the time.
In the late 1930s Charles created Mayflower Pictures which presented three films; The Beachcomber (also known as The Vessel of Wrath), Sidewalks of London (also known as St. Martin's Lane) and an Alfred Hitchcock movie who's name totally escapes me at the moment. It introduced the world to a young Irish actress by the name of Maureen O'Hara. She would be brought to North America by Charles to appear opposite him as Esmeralda in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" which was released in 1939.
Charles as Quasimodo.
In the early 1940s Charles began reading aloud to soldiers in the hospital and then to ever growing audiences who wanted to hear him read from great literature. He crossed the country twice doing just that and he released a grammy award winning LP titled The Storyteller.
Recently people have been asking me for a complete list of Charles' films... here is a list of all films currently available on DVD, Video or "dubs" from television. They total 50 of the 55 made.
* denotes a nomination for an Academy Award
** denotes having won the Academy Award
Piccadilly
The Old Dark House
Devil and the Deep
Payment Deferred
The Sign of the Cross
If I Had A Million
Island of Lost Souls
The Private Life of Henry VIII**
White Woman
The Barretts of Wimpole Street
Ruggles of Red Gap
Les Miserables
Mutiny on the Bounty*
Rembrandt
I, Claudius - The Epic That Never Was
Vessel of Wrath or The Beachcomber
St. Martin’s Lane or Sidewalks of London
Jamaica Inn
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
They Knew What They Wanted
It Started With Eve
Tales of Manhattan
The Tuttles of Tahiti
Forever and a Day
The Man From Down Under
Stand By For Action or Cargo of Innocents
This Land Is Mine
The Canterville Ghost
The Suspect
Captain Kidd
Because of Him
The Big Clock
Arch of Triumph
The Paradine Case
Girl from Manhattan
A Miracle Can Happen or On Our Merry Way
The Man on the Eiffel Tower
The Bribe
The Blue Veil
The Strange Door
O. Henry’s Full House or The Full House
Abbot and Costello Meet Captain Kidd
Young Bess
Salome
Hobson’s Choice
Witness for the Prosecution*
Under Ten Flags
Spartacus
Advise and Consent
And the only film that Charles Laughton directed is
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
In the future I will be adding a few more items from my Laughton Memoribilia. I'd also recommend that you spend a bit of time at the official Charles Laughton website which is maintained by my friend Linda Edwards; she's got a terrific site which pays tribute to Charles and his wife Elsa Lanchester. You can find it all at http://charleslaughton.freeservers.com/main.htm