 |
|
- Willy Russell is one of the
most successful playwrights of his generation. His plays have
been performed in countries across the globe and have won countless
appreciation and creative awards as well as academic honours
for their author. Since their premiers plays such as EDUCATING
RITA, STAGS AND HENS, SHIRLEY VALENTINE,
BREEZEBLOCK PARK and OUR DAY OUT
have been in constant production throughout the world. Twenty
years after it first opened there in 1983, the revival of BLOOD
BROTHERS is still playing to large and enthusiastic audiences
in London's West End.
-
- We present this timeline which,
although under the heading of PLAYWRIGHT, shows all of Willy
Russell's work including films, novels and significant moments
in his career.
- Use the links to find more
information.
- 1971
- 'KEEP YOUR EYES DOWN'
- Produced as part of a student
production at St. Katherines College, Liverpool.
- 1972
- 'SAM O'SHANKER'
- Again produced at St. Katherines
College, Liverpool. The same production was taken to the Edinburgh
Fringe in August/September the same year.
- 'PLAYGROUND'
- Also produced at St Katherine's
College. With KEEP YOUR EYES DOWN and SAM O SHANKER this formed
the triple bill, BLIND SCOUSE first produced at St. Katherine's
College and then at the Edinburgh Fringe - The Rifle Lodge, Broughton
Terrace. The production was seen and admired in Edinburgh by
John McGrath who was then instrumental in getting Willy his first
professional commission for the Liverpool Everyman Company, then
under the directorship of Alan Dossor.
- 1973
- 'WHEN THE REDS'
- Adapted from Alan Plater's
play, 'The Tigers Are Coming.' Produced at the Everyman Theatre,
Liverpool. Directed by Pam Brighton and featuring amongst the
cast a young Bernard Hill and even younger Anthony Sher.
- "Even at the time
and without the benefit of hindsight one knew just what an extraordinary
company of actors Alan Dossor had assembled. As well as Bernard
Hill and Tony Sher there was Johnathan Price, Alison Steadman,
George Costigan, Trevor Eve, Liz Estensen, Philip Joseph, Matthew
Kelly, Pete Postlethwaite, Julie Walters, Bill Nighy......awesome
really."
- 'KING OF THE CASTLE'
- A television play produced
by BBC Birmingham as part of the Second City Firsts season. Transmitted
12th November 1973. John Owens played Fitz and Bill Maxwell,
Brocky in King of the Castle the fifth in a season of six plays
by new writers, screened on BBC2 on 12th Nov.
- 'TAM LIN'
- A musical play for children,
produced at Dovecot Primary School.
- Book Lyrics and Music by Willy
Russell
- 'SAM O'SHANKER'
- A greatly reworked musical
version of this play. Commissioned by Vanload, the Everyman Theatre
Touring Company. This play toured pubs, clubs and community centres.
- 1974
- 'DEATH OF A YOUNG MAN'
- BBC Birmingham Play for Today
- 'JOHN PAUL GEORGE RINGO ... and BERT'
- Commissioned and directed
by Alan Dosser for Liverpool's Everyman Theatre where it opened
in May 1974. The production transferred to the Lyric Theatre,
Shaftesbury Avenue, London in August. It ran for a year and won
both the Evening Standard and London Critics' awards for Best
Musical of 1974. Two major tours followed the West End run. The
soundtrack with Barbara Dickson and the London cast was released
on RSO records.
- 'BREAK IN'
- Produced for BBC Schools television
programme Scene.
- 1975
- 'JOHN, PAUL, GEORGE, RINGO ... and BERT'
- Screenplay commissioned by
the Robert Stigwood Organisation but never produced.
- 'BREEZEBLOCK PARK'
- Commissioned and directed
by Alan Dosser for the Liverpool Everyman Theatre. A new production
of this play was directed by Alan Dosser for the Mermaid Theatre,
London in August 1977, which transferred to the Whitehall Theatre
in September of the same year.
- 1976
- 'I READ THE NEWS TODAY'
- BBC Schools radio production
- 'OUR
DAY OUT'
- 'I still watch it today. The
performances are exquisite. Shot on 16mm in just three weeks
by a first time director working with a largely untrained cast
it just seemed to be one of those charmed ventures in which everything
just fell into place. A great bonus, for me, is the understated
but stunning Nic Jones version of Teddy Bears Picnic over the
final credits.'
- 'ONE FOR THE ROAD'
- First performed at Manchester
Contact Theatre where it was originally advertised as TUPPERWARE
MAN. Following legal threats from the Tupperware Company, however,
the title was changed to PAINTED VEG AND PARKINSON for its opening
in November, directed by Caroline Smith. The play subsequently
went through various changes in title and content and finally
became known as ONE FOR THE ROAD when Bob Swash produced and
Mike Ockrent directed for for a national tour starring Alun Armstrong,
Elizabeth Estensen and Prunella Scales.
- 1977
- 'LIES'
- A two part film for BBC Schools
television programme Scene.
- 1978
- 'DAUGHTERS OF ALBION'
- Written for ITV's first Plays
for Pleasure season and produced by Yorkshire ITV.
- 'STAGS AND HENS'
- Written while Willy Russell
was a Fellow in Creative Writing at Manchester Polytechnic and
performed by the students on closed circuit television. Revised
as a stage play for the Everyman Theatre where it was directed
by Chris Bond.
- 1979
- 'BAND ON THE RUN'
- Commissioned by McCartney
Productions Limited and written with Mike Ockrent, as yet unproduced.
- 'EDUCATING
RITA'
- Commissioned by the Royal
Shakespeare Company, directed by Mike Ockrent, starring Julie
Walters and Mark Kingston. First performed at the RSC's Warehouse
in June 1980 the play then transferred to the Piccadily Theatre
in September where it ran for the next three years winning many
awards for its author and cast. The original production was followed
by two highly successful national tours and a long run at the
Liverpool Playhouse in a production directed by the author.
- 1980
- 'BOY WITH A TRANSISTOR
RADIO'
- Produced by Thames ITV for
schools.
- 'ONE
SUMMER'
- A five part television serial
produced by Yorkshire TV for Channel Four. A highly controversial
production which leads to Willy Russell having his name removed
from the credits.
- 1981
- 'EDUCATING RITA'
- Screenplay. Commissioned by
Columbia Pictures and eventually produced and directed by Lewis
Gilbert for Acorn Pictures starring Michael Caine and Julie Walters.
Released 1983. Along with Michael Caine and Julie Walters, Willy
Russell was nominated for an Academy Award.
- 'BLOOD BROTHERS'
- Non-musical schools version.
Commissioned by Paul Harman's Merseyside Young People's Theatre
Company for Secondary school children. First performed at Fazakerley
Comprehensive School in November 1981.
- 1982
- Willy spent the whole of this
year turning the small scale production of Blood Brothers into
a full scale musical. Revising the book, writing the lyrics and
composing all the music himself.
- 1983
- 'BLOOD
BROTHERS'
- The musical - opened at the Liverpool Playhouse in
association with Bob Swash, directed by Chris Bond. From it's
hugely successful Liverpool production Blood Brothers transferred
to the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, where it eventually
became the musical hit of the season, winning three Best Musical
Awards for its author/composer and one Best Actress award
for its leading actress/singer Barbara Dickson.
- HON M.A.
- The OPEN UNIVERSITY Award
Willy an Honourary MA in recognition of his work as a playwright.
- 'OUR DAY OUT'
- Musical stage version of the
original television film first staged at the Liverpool Everyman
with book by Willy Russell and songs by Willy Russell, Chris
Mellor and Bob Eaton (who also directed).
- 'ONE FOR THE ROAD'
- Starring Russ Abbot opens
in the West End.
- 1984
- 'BLOOD BROTHERS'
- A new touring production by
Roberts Fox in association with Bob Swash, directed by Chris
Bond.
- 1985
- 'CONNIE'
- Composed the music for this
TV series by Ron Hutchinson. A single of the theme, 'The Show'
sung by Rebecca Storm made it to the lower shores of the charts
- 1986
- 'MR LOVE'
- Composed music for the film.
' I was approached by director Roy Battersby who'd already shot
the film from a script by Ken Eastaugh. I really liked the script
and took the job even though by that time there was very little
left in the budget for scoring the film. It was a good opportunity
to learn though and with the help of some gifted musicians, including
Dave Goldberg, I think I wound up with a simple but effective
score.'
- 'SHIRLEY
VALENTINE'
- Opens at the Liverpool Everyman
directed by Glen Walford and starring Noreen Kershaw.
- "On reflection I find
it hard to fathom how someone as superstitious as myself could
have agreed that in the event of Noreen ever being off, I would
go on and read the text....."
- 1987
- 'SHIRLEY VALENTINE'
- Willy begins writing the screenplay
for Shirley Valentine
- 1988
- 'SHIRLEY VALENTINE'
- Stage play opens at London's
Vaudeville Theatre, starring Pauline Collins, directed by Simon
Callow and produced by Bob Swash. The play won numerous awards
including Best Comedy for Willy Russell and Best Actress for
Pauline Collins
- 1989
- 'SHIRLEY VALENTINE'
- 1989 The film of SHIRLEY VALENTINE
is released, starring Pauline Collins, Bernard Hill and Tom Conti,
directed by Lewis Gilbert. Like the play, the film wins many
awards including Baftas for its star and director and The Evening
Standard Film Award for Best Screenplay.
- 'SHIRLEY VALENTINE'
- At the Booth Theatre, New
York the Broadway stage version opens, again directed by Simon
Callow and starring Pauline Collins who won a Tony Award for
her performance.
- 'BLOOD BROTHERS'
- The revival of BLOOD BROTHERS
opens at The Albery Theatre in a production directed by Bob Thomson
and Bill Kenwright, produced by Bill Kenwright (in association
with Bob Swash) and starring Kiki Dee, Con O Neil, Robert Locke
and Warwick Evans. Still running, but now at the Phoenix Theatre
where it transferred in 1995, this production won Olivier Awards
for its leading players.
- 1990
- 'DANCIN'
THRU THE DARK'
- Adapted from the stage play
'Stags and Hens'. A BBC & Formost Films Production, directed
by Mike Ockrent, produced by Annie Russell and Andree Molyneux.
The film starred Claire Hackett, Con O'Neill, Simon O'Brien,
Angela Clarke, Julia Deakin, Mark Womack, Louise Duprey, Colin
Welland, Conrad Nelson, Andrew Naylor, Peter Watts and Sandy
Hendrickse. As well as writing the screenplay and composing music
for the film, Willy Russell appears in a cameo acting role. Unfortunately
the film is not available on either video or DVD.
Says WR, "I don't know why it's not available but ...."
- 1992
- LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY
- Liverpool University honours
Willy Russell by making him a Doctor of Literature.
- 'SOLDIER'S
TALE'
- Willy Russell writes new libretto
and takes the role of Narrator in new version of Stravinsky's
SOLDIER'S TALE.
- 1993
- 'SHIRLEY VALENTINE'
- Opens at the Liverpool Playhouse.
- 'BLOOD BROTHERS'
- Opens at the Music Box Theatre
in New York. Initially savaged by the US critics, the show nevertheless
survived and eventually triumphed, going on to run for more than
two years and garnering six Tony nominations.
- 'TERRACES'
- A film for the BBC, screenplay
and music by WR, directed by Rob Rohrer receives the first of
its many showings on tv.
- 1995
- Willy Russell
is made a Fellow of John Moores University.
- 'WORDS
ON THE RUN'
- With poets Adrian Henri, Brian
Patten, Roger McGough and musician Andy Roberts, Willy puts together
WORDS ON THE RUN, a unique evening of prose, poetry, song and
music which toured Britain throughout the autumn of that year.
When the show toured again in 1997 an 'official' bootleg tape
of the show, called The Wellingborough Bootleg was produced.
- 1996
'WORDS ON THE RUN'
- Played at festivals throughout
the year - Hay On Wye, Birmingham Writers Festival, Edinburgh
Festival etc.
- 'OUR DAY OUT'
- Stage version at Belgrade
Theatre Coventry. "With Bob Eaton (one of the original co-composers
) and Glen Walford (director) I overhauled the whole show, restructuring,
writing new songs, introducing new elements to the text; ever
since the hastily put together first production I'd wanted to
devote time to making Our Day Out into the really big musical
that I thought it deserved to be. We got a long way towards achieving
that in Coventry, helped in no small way by a great cast of young
actors from the Coventry area. We didn't, though, fully get there
and, along with Bob and Glen I'm still hoping that we can mount
one more production, the one that will, in terms of musical theatre,
take Our Day Out all the way.
- 1997
- 'TERRACES'
- Is broadcast by BBC Schools
Television.
- 2000
- 'WRONG BOY'
- A first novel from Willy Russell.
A major success and translated into fifteen languages.
-
- "Full of memorable characters
and with an utterly engrossing plot, The Wrong Boy is
one of the funniest and most moving novels."
- 2001
- 'WILLY RUSSELL & FRIENDS'
- Willy is joined onstage at
the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool by Sir Paul McCartney and Adrian
Mitchell. Willy's performances are highly regarded events and
his reading of Shirley Valentine has entered folk history in
Liverpool. Sir Paul read extracts from his book of original poems
'Blackbird Singing'.
- 2003
- 'HOOVERING THE MOON'
- Willy Russell's songwriting
prowess and musicianship comes out of the shadows and into the
limelight with this new album. The album has been co-produced
by Willy and Andy Roberts and contains 14 self-penned tracks
with contributions from some of Willy Russell friends and collaborators,
including Kate Rusby, Barbara Dickson and Tim Firth.
-
- 2004
- 'HOOVERING THE MOON'
- Willy Russell's HOOVERING
THE MOON album goes on general release from 17th May and
is available in shops across the country. A single featuring
two tracks - China & Any Father is also produced.
- 'IN OTHER WORDS'
- A blend of music, songs, verse,
readings and anecdotes, all woven together and performed by Willy
and Tim Firth appearing as soloists, as a duo or as part of a
six piece band, led by musical director, Andy Roberts.
- THE W. R. FOUNDATION AWARD
- Willy Russell in collaboration
with Tim Firth sets up the W.R. Foundation Award to stage
new writing at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival.
- THE SINGING PLAYWRIGHTS
- The musical show, created
and polished by Willy and Tim Firth, moves on to Edinburgh for
a twelve date season as part of the internationally famous Edinburgh
Festival - the world’s largest arts festival.
- 2007
- BLOOD BROTHERS - the movie?
Willy Russell spent several months working with Alan Parker to
produce a screenplay for BLOOD BROTHERS - the movie. Willy
said: "I've finished the script and along with Alan Parker
I'm extremely happy with the result".
|
|
|
