Word: chekhov
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...actor was virtually born one: great-nephew of actress Ellen Terry and second cousin of designer Gordon Craig. By 21, in Chekhov and Coward, he was a London fixture. He directed and starred in the renowned 1935 Romeo and Juliet (the cast included Peggy Ashcroft, Edith Evans and Alec Guinness), advancing Olivier's career by swapping roles (Romeo and Mercutio) in mid-run. Later he championed bold young playwrights, directing Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, starring in Christopher Fry's The Lady's Not for Burning, Edward Albee's Tiny Alice and Edward Bond's Bingo...
...offers 45 minutes of Shakespeare, rehearsing a single play all year. Afterward, still on his own time, Esquith coaches volleyball, teaches computer use and helps with homework. Saturday mornings he tutors 40 former pupils, in Grades 6 through 9, in more Shakespeare--along with Ibsen, Chekhov, algebra and SAT preparation. Saturday afternoons he rehearses music with his students. "Call me the 'Education Equalizer,'" Esquith says, noting that middle-class kids get sports, music and extra tutoring, while poor children usually go home to TV and the temptations of the street...
...fairness, this split between drama and literature is far from absolute. Playwrights as diverse (and widely performed) as Anton Chekhov, Samuel Beckett, and David Mamet are considered great writers in much the same way that Fyodor Dostoevsky, James Joyce, or Don DeLillo are highly regarded. But this doesn't erase the gulf between dramatic literature and other types of literature. Writing a play still seems fundamentally different than writing a novel or a poem for more than the obvious stylistic disparities. I have to believe there's still a lingering senseof this difference between work and play...