Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn Jack Harries[7] |
---|
Michael Frayn,
His novels, such as Towards the End of the Morning, Headlong and Spies, have also been critical and commercial successes, making him one of the handful of writers in the English language to succeed in both drama and prose fiction. He has also written philosophical works, such as The Human Touch: Our Part in the Creation of the Universe (2006).
Early life
Frayn was born at
Frayn grew up in
Theatre work
The play
Frayn's more recent play
His other original plays include two evenings of short plays, The Two of Us and Alarms and Excursions, the philosophical comedies Alphabetical Order, Benefactors, Clouds, Make and Break and Here, and the farces Donkeys' Years, Balmoral (also known as Liberty Hall), and Noises Off, which critic Frank Rich in his book The Hot Seat claimed "is, was, and probably always will be the funniest play written in my lifetime."
Novels
His novels include
Non-fiction
He has written a book about philosophy, Constructions, and a book of his own philosophy, The Human Touch.
His columns for The Guardian and The Observer (collected in At Bay in Gear Street, The Day of the Dog, The Book of Fub and On the Outskirts) are models of the comic essay; in the 1980s a number of them were adapted and performed for BBC Radio 4 by Martin Jarvis.
Frayn has also written screenplays for the films Clockwise, starring John Cleese, First and Last starring Tom Wilkinson, Birthday, Jamie on a Flying Visit, and the TV series Making Faces, starring Eleanor Bron.[13]
Translation
Frayn learned Russian during his period of National Service. Frayn is now considered to be Britain's finest translator of Anton Chekhov[14] (The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard), including an early untitled work, which he titled Wild Honey (other translations of the work have called it Platonov or Don Juan in the Russian Manner). From four of Chekhov's short stories and four of his one-act plays Frayn devised The Sneeze (originally performed on the West End by Rowan Atkinson).
Frayn has also translated
's Number One.Television
In 1980, Frayn presented the Australian journey of the
Personal life
Frayn has three daughters with his first wife, Gillian Palmer:
Awards
- 1966: Somerset Maugham Award, for The Tin Men[18]
- 1975: London Evening Standard Award (Best Comedy), for Alphabetical Order[19]
- 1976: Laurence Olivier Award (Comedy of the Year), for Donkeys' Years[20]
- 1980: London Evening Standard Award (Best Comedy), for Make and Break[21]
- 1982: London Evening Standard Award (Best Comedy), for Noises Off[21]
- 1982: Laurence Olivier Award (Comedy of the Year), for Noises Off[22]
- 1984: London Evening Standard Award (Best Play), for Benefactors[21]
- 1986: New York Drama Critics' Circle Award (Best Foreign Play), for Benefactors[23]
- 1990: International Emmy Awards (Best Drama), for First and Last (BBC)[24]
- 1991: Sunday Express Book of the Year, for A Landing on the Sun
- 1998: Critics' Circle Theatre Awards (Best New Play), for Copenhagen
- 1998: London Evening Standard Award (Best Play), for Copenhagen[21]
- 2000: Tony Awards (Best Play), for Copenhagen[25]
- 2000: New York Drama Critics' Circle Award (Best Foreign Play), for Copenhagen[26]
- 2002: Whitbread Novel Award, for Spies[27] (the 2002 Whitbread Book of the Year Award went to his wife Claire Tomalin)
- 2002: Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Spies[28]
- 2003: Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Europe and South Asia Best Book), for Spies[29]
- 2003: London Evening Standard Award (Best Play), for Democracy[21]
- 2003: Golden PEN Award[30]
- 2005: Honorary DLitt from the University of Birmingham[31]
- 2006: St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates[32]
He is an honorary associate of the
Bibliography
Novels
- The Tin Men (1965)
- The Russian Interpreter (1966)
- Towards the End of the Morning (US title: Against Entropy) (1967)
- A Very Private Life (1968)
- Sweet Dreams (1973)
- The Trick of It (1989)
- A Landing on the Sun (1991)[35][36]
- Now You Know (1993)
- Headlong (1999)
- Spies (2002)
- Skios (2012)
Plays
Newly-written
- The Two of Us, four one-act plays for two actors (1970) Black and Silver, Mr. Foot, Chinamen, and The new Quixote
- Alphabetical Order(1975)
- Donkeys' Years (1977)
- Clouds (1977)
- Balmoral (1978; revised 1980 as Liberty Hall, revised 1987)
- Make and Break (1980)
- Noises Off (1982)
- Benefactors (1984)
- The Sneeze (1988), based on short stories and plays of Chekhov
- First and Last (1989)
- Listen to This: Sketches and Monologues (1990)
- Jamie on a Flying Visit; and Birthday (1990)
- Look Look (1990)
- Audience (1991)
- Here (1993)
- La Belle Vivette, a version of Jacques Offenbach's La Belle Hélène (1995)
- Alarms and Excursions: More Plays than One (1998)
- Copenhagen (1998)
- Democracy (2003) [1][2]
- Afterlife (2008) [3]
- ISBN 9780571313938
Translated
- The Cherry Orchard, from Chekhov (1978)
- The Fruits of Enlightenment, from Tolstoy (1979)
- Three Sisters, from Chekhov (1983, revised 1988)
- Number One, from Jean Anouilh's Le Nombril (1984)
- Wild Honey, from Chekhov (1984)
- The Seagull, from Chekhov (1986)
- Uncle Vanya, from Chekhov (1986)
- Exchange, adapted from Yuri Trifonov(1990)
Anthologies
- Plays: One (1985), ISBN 978-0413592804– contains: Alphabetical Order; Donkey's Years; Clouds; Make and Break; Noises Off
- Plays: Two (1991), ISBN 978-0413660800– contains: Balmoral; Benefactors; Wild Honey
- Plays: Three (2000), ISBN 978-0413752307– contains: Here; Now You Know; La Belle Vivette
- Plays: Four (2010), ISBN 9781408128626– contains: Copenhagen; Democracy; Afterlife
Short fiction
- Speak After The Beep: Studies in the Art of Communicating With Inanimate and Semi-Animate Objects (1995).
Non-fiction
- The Day of the Dog, articles reprinted from The Guardian (1962).
- The Book of Fub, articles reprinted from The Guardian (1963).
- On the Outskirts, articles reprinted from The Observer (1964).
- At Bay in Gear Street, articles reprinted from The Observer (1967).
- The Original Michael Frayn, a collection of the above four, plus 19 new Observer pieces.
- Constructions, a volume of philosophy (1974).
- Celia's Secret: An Investigation (US title The Copenhagen Papers ), with David Burke (2000).
- The Human Touch: Our part in the creation of the universe (2006).
- Stage Directions: Writing on Theatre, 1970–2008 (2008), his path into theatre and a collection of the introductions to his plays.
- Travels with a Typewriter (2009), a collection of Frayn's travel pieces from the 1960s and '70s from The Guardian and the Observer.
- My Father's Fortune: A Life (2010), a memoir of Frayn's childhood.
- Among Others: Friendships and Encounters (2023), another memoir.
Notes
- ^ Gyles Brandreth (27 June 2002). "A closed book opens". The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
- ^ a b Hanks, Robert (17 November 2002). "Michael Frayn and Claire Tomalin: A marriage between the sheets". The Independent. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
- ^ "The ultimate twinset: Jack and Finn Harries!". Tatler. 5 March 2013.
- ^ Rainey, Sarah (14 September 2012). "YouTube videos funded our gap year travels". The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
- ^ Andrew Billen (23 April 2009). "Michael Frayn on his very current Alphabetical Order". The Times. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
- ^ Miller, Michael W. (6 January 2016). "Michael Frayn's 'Noises Off' Returns to Broadway". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ John Walsh @johnhenrywalsh (24 March 2013). "Michael Frayn: Farce and the uncertainty principle". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
- ^ "Michael Frayn British author and translator", Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
- ^ My Father's Fortune, A Life by Michael Frayn, Faber and Faber, 2010, pp. 12–14, 28–29, 225.
- ^ 2009 Interview in The Observer.
- ^ "Interview with Michael Frayn". British Library (sound recording).
- ^ Fiona Maddocks, "The History Play Man; Daring: Frayn's Drama Slips in and out of Rhyming Couplets 'To Blur the Distinction between Theatre and Life Just as Rheinhardt Did'", The Evening Standard, 3 June 2008.
- ^ "Michael Frayn". IMDb.
- ^ Donald Rayfield, "Review: Chekhov: Four Plays and Three Jokes by Sharon Marie - adapting the four major plays", Translation and Literature Vol. 20, No. 3, Translating Russia, 1890–1935 (Autumn 2011), pp. 408–410?
- ^ "Michael Frayn: 'I'm past it. Most playwrights either get worse as they get old or they stop'". The Stage. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
- ^ "A closed book opens". www.telegraph.co.uk. 28 June 2002. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
- ^ "Rebecca Frayn's Deceptions". Chiswick W4.com. 10 June 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
- The Society of Authors. 8 May 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- ^ "Evening Standard theatre awards: 1955-1979". Evening Standard. 12 April 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- West End Theatre. January 2009. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- ^ a b c d e "Evening Standard theatre awards: 1980-2003". Evening Standard. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- West End Theatre. January 2009. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- ^ "Past Awards". New York Drama Critics' Circle. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- ^ "Winners Archive". International Emmy Awards. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- ^ "Winners / 2000". Tony Awards. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
- ^ "Past Awards". New York Drama Critics' Circle. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- ^ "Whitbread Winners 1971-2005" (PDF). Costa Coffee. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- ^ "Michael Frayn and Howard Jacobson up for Wodehouse prize". BBC News. 3 April 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
- ^ "Tragic successes for Commonwealth prize". The Guardian. 12 May 2003. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
- ^ "Golden Pen Award, official website". English PEN. Archived from the original on 21 November 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
- ^ "Honorary Graduates of the University of Birmingham since 2000" (PDF). Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ^ "Saint Louis Literary Award - Saint Louis University". www.slu.edu. Archived from the original on 23 August 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
- ^ "National Secular Society Honorary Associates". National Secular Society. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- ^ "Some who turned the offer down". The Guardian. 22 December 2003.
- ^ John Banville. 1992. "Playing House. Rev. of A Landing on the Sun by Michael Frayn and Daughters of Albion by A. N. Wilson. The New York Review of Books. 14 May 1992.
- ^ New Statesman and Society. IV, 13 September 1991, p. 39.
References
- Theatre Record and its annual Indexes
External links
- Michael Frayn at British Council: Literature
- Michael Frayn at the British Film Institute
- Shusha Guppy (Winter 2003). "Michael Frayn, The Art of Theater No. 15". The Paris Review. Winter 2003 (168).
- Profile on BBC Four (archived 2007-10-21)
- Michael Frayn at the Internet Broadway Database
- Michael Frayn at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Profile at United Agents
- On Doollee
- Michael Frayn at IMDb