Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller,
CBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 21 July 1934) is a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
theatreTheatre is a branch of the performing arts. While any performance may be considered theatre, as a performing art, it focuses almost exclusively on live performers creating a self contained drama. A performance qualifies as dramatic by creating a representational illusion...
and
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
director, author,
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a
physicianA physician — also known as medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, medical doctor, or simply doctor — practices the ancient profession of medicine, which is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease or injury...
in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in 1962 when the British comedy stage revue
Beyond the FringeBeyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in Britain's West End and on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satire in 1960s Britain.-The...
(written and performed by
Peter CookPeter Edward Cook was a British satirist, writer and comedian. He is widely regarded as the leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s...
,
Dudley MooreDudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s and became famous as half of the popular television double-act he formed with Peter Cook...
,
Alan BennettAlan Bennett is an English author, actor, humorist and playwright.-Early years:Bennett was born in Armley in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The son of a co-op butcher, Bennett attended Leeds Modern School , learned Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists during his National Service, and gained...
, and Miller himself) came to
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
. Despite having seen only a few operas and not knowing how to read music, he began stage directing operas in the 1970s and has since become one of the world's leading opera directors with several classic productions to his credit. (Probably best known is his 1982 "Mafia"
RigolettoRigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
, set in
Little ItalyThis article is about the neighborhood currently known as Little Italy in Lower Manhattan. For the neighborhood once known as Little Italy in Upper Manhattan, see Italian Harlem....
.) Along the way he has also become a well known and engaging television personality and familiar public intellectual in both the UK and the US.
Early life
Miller grew up in
St John's WoodSt John's Wood is a district of north-west London, England, in the City of Westminster, and at the north-west end of Regent's Park. It is approximately 2.5 miles north-west of Charing Cross. Once part of the Great Middlesex Forest, it was later owned by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem...
,
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
in a well-connected
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
ish family. His father Emanuel (1892–1970) was a
psychiatristA psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry and is certified in treating mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
specialising in child development and his mother Betty (née Spiro; 1910–1965) was a novelist and biographer. His sister Sarah (d. 2006) worked in television for many years and retained an involvement with Judaism that her brother, an atheist, has always eschewed.
Miller married Helen Rachel Collet in 1956; they have two sons and a daughter.
He studied natural sciences and medicine at
St John's College, CambridgeSt John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college has fixed assets of £567,390,000, granting it the largest endowment per student of any Cambridge college...
(MB BCh, 1959), where he was a member of the
Cambridge ApostlesThe Cambridge Apostles, also known as the Cambridge Conversazione Society, is an intellectual secret society at the University of Cambridge founded in 1820 by George Tomlinson, a Cambridge student who went on to become the first Bishop of Gibraltar....
, before going on to
University College LondonUniversity College London is a British university institution and a constituent college of the University of London, based primarily in Bloomsbury, London...
. He qualified as a medical doctor in 1959 and then worked as a hospital
house officerA Foundation House Officer is a grade of medical practitioner in the United Kingdom undertaking the Foundation Programme - a two-year, general postgraduate medical training programme which forms the bridge between medical school and specialist/general practice training...
for two years.
1960s: Beyond the Fringe
He was, however, also involved in the university drama society and the Cambridge Footlights and in 1960 he helped write and produce a musical
revueA revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th-century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from ca. 1916-32...
,
Beyond the FringeBeyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in Britain's West End and on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satire in 1960s Britain.-The...
, at the
Edinburgh FestivalEdinburgh Festival is a collective term for several simultaneous arts and cultural festivals that take place during August each year in Edinburgh, Scotland...
which launched the careers of
Alan BennettAlan Bennett is an English author, actor, humorist and playwright.-Early years:Bennett was born in Armley in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The son of a co-op butcher, Bennett attended Leeds Modern School , learned Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists during his National Service, and gained...
,
Peter CookPeter Edward Cook was a British satirist, writer and comedian. He is widely regarded as the leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s...
and
Dudley MooreDudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s and became famous as half of the popular television double-act he formed with Peter Cook...
. Miller quit the show shortly after its move to
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
in 1962 and took over as editor and presenter of the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
's flagship arts programme
Monitor. All of these appointments were unsolicited invitations in which Miller was assured that he would "pick it up as he went along". In 1966, he wrote, produced and directed a film adaptation of
Alice in WonderlandAlice in Wonderland was a BBC television play based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It was directed by Jonathan Miller, then most widely known for his appearance in the long-running satirical revue Beyond the Fringe....
for the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
, and in 1968
Whistle and I'll Come to You, an adaptation of
M. R. JamesMontague Rhodes James, OM, MA, , who used the publication name M. R. James, was a noted British mediaeval scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge and of Eton College . He is best remembered for his ghost stories which are widely regarded as among the finest in English literature...
' ghost story, "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad". By 1970 his reputation in the British theatre world was such that he mounted a
West EndWest End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's "Theatreland". Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking world...
production of
The Merchant of VeniceThe Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Although classified as a comedy in the First Folio, and while it shares certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps more remembered for its dramatic...
starring
Laurence OlivierLaurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, along with his contemporaries John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, Alec Guinness and Ralph Richardson...
.
1970s: Medical history and opera
Miller held a research fellowship in the
history of medicineAll human societies have medical beliefs that provide explanations for birth, death, and disease. Throughout history, illness has been attributed to witchcraft, demons, adverse astral influence, or the will of the gods...
at University College, London from 1970 to 1973. In 1974, he also started directing and producing operas for
Kent OperaKent Opera was a British opera company in the period 1969-1989. Based in Ashford, England the Company presented its productions in several centres mainly in the southern part of England. These included The Orchard Theatre, Dartford, the Assembly Halls, Tunbridge Wells, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury,...
and
GlyndebourneGlyndebourne Festival Opera is an opera festival held at Glyndebourne, a country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, except in 1993, when the theatre was being rebuilt. The renovated theatre opened...
, with a new production of
The Marriage of Figaro for
English National OperaEnglish National Opera is is an opera company based in London, England, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
in 1978. Despite only having seen a few operas and not knowing how to read music, he has become one of the world's leading opera directors with classic productions being
RigolettoRigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
and (operetta)
The MikadoThe Mikado or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
. Miller drew upon his own experiences as a physician as writer and presenter of the BBC television series
The Body in Question (1978), which caused some controversy for showing the dissection of a cadaver. For a time he was a vice president of the
Campaign for Homosexual EqualityThe Campaign for Homosexual Equality is one of the oldest gay rights organisations in the UK. It is a membership organisation which aims to promote legal and social equality for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in England and Wales...
.
1980s: Shakespeare and neuropsychology
Miller was persuaded to join the troubled
BBC Television ShakespeareThe BBC Television Shakespeare was a set of television adaptations of the plays of Shakespeare, produced by the BBC between 1978 and 1985. It was a project completed by corporations in the United Kingdom and the United States.-Production:...
project (1978–85) in 1980. He became producer (1980–82) and directed six of the plays himself, beginning with a well received
Taming of the Shrew starring
John CleeseJohn Marwood Cleese is an Academy Award-nominated English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer who is known for being a member of the group of comedians responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus and the four Monty Python films: And Now for Something Completely Different,...
. In the early 1980s, Miller was a popular and frequent guest on PBS'
Dick Cavett Show.
Miller wrote and presented the BBC television series
States of Mind in 1983. In 1984, he studied
neuropsychologyNeuropsychology is the basic scientific discipline that studies the structure and function of the brain related to specific psychological processes and overt behaviors. The term neuropsychology has been applied to lesion studies in humans and animals...
with Dr. Sandra Witelson at
McMaster UniversityMcMaster University is a public research university located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It bears the name of William McMaster, a prominent Canadian Senator and banker whose substantial bequeathed funds helped form the beginning of the university. The institution being incorporated under the...
in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada before becoming a neuropsychology research fellow at
Sussex UniversityThe University of Sussex is a British campus university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. It was the first of the "plate glass" universities founded in the 1960s. It received its Royal Charter in August 1961...
the following year.
1990s
In the 1990s, Miller wrote and presented the television series,
Madness (1991) and
Jonathan Miller on Reflection (1998). The five-part
Madness series ran on PBS in 1991. It featured a brief history of madness and interviews with psychiatric researchers, clinical psychiatrists, and patients in therapy sessions. Music for the series was composed by
Duncan BrowneDuncan Browne was an English singer-songwriter.-Career:Browne attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, studying both music theory and drama. He chose to become a musician when in 1967 he met Andrew Loog Oldham, and signed with his Immediate Records label...
.
2000s: Atheism
In 2004, Miller wrote and presented a series on
atheismAtheism can be either the rejection of theism,or the position that deities do not exist.In the broadest sense, it is the absence of belief in the existence of deities....
,
Atheism: A Rough History of DisbeliefAtheism: A Rough History of Disbelief – known in the United States as A Brief History of Disbelief – is a 2004 television documentary series written and presented by Jonathan Miller for the BBC and tracing the history of atheism. It was first shown on BBC Four and was repeated on BBC...
(on-screen title; but more commonly referred to as
Jonathan Miller's Brief History of Disbelief) for
BBC FourBBC Four is a BBC television channel available to digital television viewers in the UK. The part successor to BBC Knowledge. BBC Four launched on 2 March 2002....
TV, exploring the roots of his own atheism and investigating the history of atheism in the world. Individual conversations, debates and discussions for the series that could not be included, due to time constraints, were individually aired in a six-part series entitled
The Atheism TapesThe Atheism Tapes is a 2004 BBC television documentary series presented by Jonathan Miller. The material that makes up the series was originally filmed in 2003 for another, more general series, Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief, but was too lengthy for inclusion...
. He also appeared on a BBC Two programme in February 2004, called
What the World Thinks of God appearing from New York. The original three-part series was slated to air on Public Television in the United States, starting May 4, 2007, cosponsored by the American Ethical Union,
American Humanist AssociationThe American Humanist Association is an educational organization in the United States that advances Humanism. "Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that...
, Centre for Inquiry, the HKH Foundation, and the
Institute for Humanist StudiesThe Institute for Humanist Studies is a humanist think tank. It is a non-profit organization, for non-theistic, and secular, Humanism. IHS is a Specialist Member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union....
.
Return to directing
Miller directed
The Cherry OrchardThe Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last play. It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy and it does contain some elements of farce; however, Stanislavski insisted on...
(2007) at
The Crucible, SheffieldThe Crucible Theatre is a theatre built in 1971 and located in the city centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. As well as theatrical performances, it is home to the most important event in professional snooker, the World Snooker Championship....
, his first work on the British stage for ten years. He also directed
Monteverdi'sClaudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi , was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period...
L'Orfeo in Manchester and Bristol, and
Der RosenkavalierDer Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
in
Tokyo, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....
and gave talks throughout Britain during 2007 called
An Audience with Jonathan Miller in which he spoke about his life for an hour and then fielded questions from the audience. He also curated an exhibition on camouflage at the
Imperial War MuseumThe Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...
. His has appeared at the Royal Society of the Arts in London discussing humour (4 July 2007) and at the British Library on religion (3 September 2007).
In January 2009, he returned to the
English National OperaEnglish National Opera is is an opera company based in London, England, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
after a break of twelve years to direct his own production of
La BohèmeLa bohème is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. The world première performance of La bohème was in Turin on February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio and conducted by the young Arturo...
, notable for its 1930s setting.
Personal life
Miller lives in
CamdenCamden Town is an inner-city district within the London Borough of Camden, situated in the northern part of London, England. It is well-known for its markets, liberal attitude and associations with popular culture. Since the 1960s, The Roundhouse theatre and music venue has been a centre of...
, North London.
Biographies
Miller is the subject of a biography
In Two Minds by
The Independent on Sunday's theatre critic Kate Bassett to be published in November 2010. The title refers to Miller's career which has embraced both medicine and the arts, and to his riven feelings and deep regrets about having given up working as a doctor to become an internationally renowned drama and opera director.
Controversy
- During the later 1960s, Miller had a major falling-out with the magazine Private Eye that he attributes to implicit anti-semitism
Antisemitism is prejudice against or hostility towards Jews, often rooted in hatred of their ethnic background, culture, or religion....
.
- In 1996, The UK Sunday Express newspaper published under the headline "Chronic Bandwagon Disease", Miller's claim that Chronic fatigue syndrome
Chronic fatigue syndrome is the most common name given to a variably debilitating disorder or disorders characterized by persistent fatigue unrelated to exertion and not substantially relieved by rest...
, was "the absolutely most fashionable disease", dismissing the illness as a "Chronic Fictitious Sickness".
Honours and accolades
- Distinguished Supporter, British Humanist Association
The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect...
- Honorary Associate, National Secular Society
The National Secular Society is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism, the separation of church and state. It holds that no-one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of religion. It was founded by Charles Bradlaugh in 1866...
- Honorary Fellow, St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college has fixed assets of £567,390,000, granting it the largest endowment per student of any Cambridge college...
(1982)
- Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
(CBE; 1983)
- Knighted for his services to the arts (2003)
- Nominated artist of honour at Bornholm thanks to his instruction in Rønne Theater. Opera Island Bornholm. (2003)
- Fellow, Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians of London was the first medical institution in England to receive a Royal Charter. It was founded in 1518 and is one of the most active of all medical professional organisations...
(London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
and EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the second largest Scottish city, after Glasgow, and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas....
)
- Foreign Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
- President, Rationalist Association
The Rationalist Association, formerly the Rationalist Press Association, is an organisation of the United Kingdom, founded on 26 May 1899 to promote freedom of thought and inquiry and the principles of rationalism, defined as 'the mental attitude which unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason...
(2006–present)
Parodies and representations
- Private Eye (which had a falling-out with Miller) occasionally lampooned him under the name 'Dr Jonathan', depicting him as a Dr Johnson-like self-important man of learning.
- The satirical television puppet show Spitting Image
Spitting Image was a British satirical puppet show which ran on the ITV television network from 1984 to 1996. It was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central. The series was nominated for 10 BAFTA Awards, winning one, for editing, in 1989....
portrayed Miller as an anteater (lampooning his large nose), as well as featuring a segment entitled "Talking Bollocks" (the 'A' in 'Talking' combining with the 'ollo' in "Bollocks" below to create a penis), in which he discussed, with Bernard LevinHenry Bernard Levin CBE was an English journalist, author and broadcaster.-Early life:He was educated at the independent school Christ's Hospital in the countryside near Horsham, West Sussex , and at the London School of Economics, where he contributed to the student...
, various cultural matters in a ridiculously pretentious way.
- In the film for television Not Only But Always about the careers of Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook was a British satirist, writer and comedian. He is widely regarded as the leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s...
and Dudley MooreDudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s and became famous as half of the popular television double-act he formed with Peter Cook...
, Jonathan ArisJonathan Aris is a British actor who has appeared in films, television and the theatre.- Credits :Acting credits include:* Doc Martin * * Beau Brummell: This Charming Man...
played Jonathan Miller as a young man; Aris reprised the role in the BBC Radio 4 play Good Evening (2008), by Roy Smiles.
Presenter
- Monitor, BBC's flagship arts programme (1962, also editor)
- The Body in Question (1978)
- Madness (1991)
- Jonathan Miller on Reflection (1998)
- Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief
Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief – known in the United States as A Brief History of Disbelief – is a 2004 television documentary series written and presented by Jonathan Miller for the BBC and tracing the history of atheism. It was first shown on BBC Four and was repeated on BBC...
(2004)
Director
- Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland was a BBC television play based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It was directed by Jonathan Miller, then most widely known for his appearance in the long-running satirical revue Beyond the Fringe....
(1966), BBC television drama (and writer/producer; Miller has a commentary track on the DVD)
- Whistle and I'll Come to You
Whistle and I'll Come to You is a 1968 BBC Television drama by Jonathan Miller based on one of the favourite stories of Victorian supernatural writer M R James's, 'Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad'.- Cast and characters :...
(1968), BBC television drama
- The BBC Television Shakespeare
The BBC Television Shakespeare was a set of television adaptations of the plays of Shakespeare, produced by the BBC between 1978 and 1985. It was a project completed by corporations in the United Kingdom and the United States.-Production:...
(1978–85)
- The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1594.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a drunken tinker named Sly is tricked into thinking he is a nobleman by a mischievous Lord...
(1980), starring John CleeseJohn Marwood Cleese is an Academy Award-nominated English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer who is known for being a member of the group of comedians responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus and the four Monty Python films: And Now for Something Completely Different,...
- Timon of Athens
The Life of Timon of Athens is a play by William Shakespeare about an Athenian misanthrope named Timon , generally regarded as one of his most obscure and difficult works...
(1981), starring Jonathan PryceJonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor/singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and marrying English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
- Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Life of Markus Antonius and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony from the time of the Parthian War to...
(1981), starring Colin BlakelyColin George Blakely was a Northern Irish character actor. He was considered an actor of great power and presence, working chiefly in the theatre but also in television and films.-Early life:...
- Othello
Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
(1981), starring Anthony HopkinsSir Philip Anthony Hopkins, CBE is a Welsh film, stage and television actor. Considered to be one of film's greatest living actors, he is known for his portrayal of cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in the 1991's The Silence of the Lambs, its sequel, Hannibal, and its prequel, Red Dragon...
and Bob HoskinsRobert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr. is an English actor, known for playing Cockney rough diamonds, psychopaths and gangsters, and for his performances in family films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit , Hook , and Super Mario Bros. .-Early life:Hoskins was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England,...
- Troilus and Cressida
Troilus and Cressida is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602. The play is not a conventional tragedy, since its protagonist does not die. The play ends instead on a very bleak note with the death of the noble Trojan Hector and destruction of the love between...
(1981)
- King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1603 and 1606, and is considered one of his greatest works. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king...
(1982), starring Michael HordernSir Michael Murray Hordern was an English actor, knighted in 1983 for his services to the theatre.-Early life:...
- "(Merchant of Venice-BBC)
Interviewee
Miller appears on the Puccini and Bach DVDs of this BBC series. In the Bach episode, he discusses his affection for the famous "Erbarme Dich" aria of the
St Matthew Passion Miller appears in this one-hour program on the painter
Musical revue
- Beyond the Fringe
Beyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in Britain's West End and on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satire in 1960s Britain.-The...
(Performer, writer, producer); Edinburgh FestivalEdinburgh Festival is a collective term for several simultaneous arts and cultural festivals that take place during August each year in Edinburgh, Scotland...
(1960)
- Beyond the Fringe
Beyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in Britain's West End and on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satire in 1960s Britain.-The...
(Performer, writer); John Golden TheatreThe John Golden Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 252 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan. Designed in a Moorish style along with the adjacent Royale Theatre by architect Herbert J. Krapp for Irwin Chanin, it opened as the Theater Masque on February 24 1927 with the play...
, (27 October 1962–30 May 1964; 667 performances)
Oratorium
- St. Matthew's Passion (Director); St. George's Theatre, London (February 1994), with Paul Goodwin
Paul Goodwin is an English conductor, and former oboist.As an oboist he studied oboe with Janet Craxton and, following his graduation from Nottingham University with a degree in composition, specialized in contemporary oboe techniques and the baroque oboe at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama...
. A dramatized production of J.S. Bach's masterpiece, recorded for BBC television.
Drama
- The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Although classified as a comedy in the First Folio, and while it shares certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps more remembered for its dramatic...
(Director); Cambridge TheatreThe Cambridge Theatre is a West End theatre, on a corner site in Earlham Street facing Seven Dials, in the London Borough of Camden, built in 1929-30. It was designed by Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie; interior partly by Serge Chermayeff, with interior bronze friezes by sculptor Anthony Gibbons...
(1970), starring Laurence OlivierLaurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, along with his contemporaries John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, Alec Guinness and Ralph Richardson...
- Danton's Death
Danton's Death was the first play written by Georg Büchner. Research for the play started in late 1834 and he completed a first version of the complete script in five weeks during 1835....
(Director; 1972), starring Christopher PlummerChristopher Plummer, CC is a Canadian theater, film and television actor. In a career that spans over five decades and includes substantial roles in film, television, and theater, Plummer is perhaps best known for the role of Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music...
- Long Day's Journey Into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night is a 1956 drama in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play is widely considered to be his masterwork...
(Director); Broadhurst TheatreThe Broadhurst Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 235 West 44th Street in midtown Manhattan.It was designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, a well-known theatre designer who had been working directly with the Shubert brothers; the Broadhurst opened 27 September 1917...
(28 April–29 June 1986; 54 performances)
- King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1603 and 1606, and is considered one of his greatest works. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king...
(Director); Vivian Beaumont TheatreThe Vivian Beaumont Theater is a legitimate theater located in the Lincoln Center complex at 150 West 65th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan...
(4 March–18 April 2004; 33 performances)
- The Cherry Orchard
The Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last play. It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy and it does contain some elements of farce; however, Stanislavski insisted on...
(Director); Crucible TheatreThe Crucible Theatre is a theatre built in 1971 and located in the city centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. As well as theatrical performances, it is home to the most important event in professional snooker, the World Snooker Championship....
(2007), Miller's return to the English stage after a 10 year absence
Opera
- Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
(Stage director); Kent OperaKent Opera was a British opera company in the period 1969-1989. Based in Ashford, England the Company presented its productions in several centres mainly in the southern part of England. These included The Orchard Theatre, Dartford, the Assembly Halls, Tunbridge Wells, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury,...
(1974), first of seven operas Miller directed at the Kent
- Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
(1975), set in the 19th century
- Le Nozze di Figaro (Stage director); English National Opera
English National Opera is is an opera company based in London, England, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
(1978, also a televised version in 1991)
- Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
(Stage and video director); English National OperaEnglish National Opera is is an opera company based in London, England, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
(1982), set in Little Italy, New York City, in the 1950s
- La Traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on the novel La dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, published in 1848. The title "La traviata" means literally The Woman Who Strayed, or perhaps more figuratively, The...
(Stage director); Glimmerglass OperaGlimmerglass Opera is an opera company which was founded in 1975 by Peter Macris and presents an annual season of operas at the Alice Busch Opera Theater on the lake eight miles north of Cooperstown, New York, United States....
(1989)
- La Fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, based on the play The Girl of the Golden West by David Belasco...
(Stage and video director); (1991)
- The Mikado
The Mikado or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
(Stage and video director); English National Opera (1987), starring Eric IdleEric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer and composer of comic songs. He wrote and performed as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python.-Early life:...
- Die Zauberflöte (Stage and video director); (2000)
- Tamerlano
Tamerlano is an opera in three acts, with music by George Frideric Handel to an Italian text by Nicola Francesco Haym, adapted from Agostin Piovene's Tamerlano together with another libretto entitled Bajazet after Nicolas Pradon's Tamerlan, ou La Mort de Bajazet.One of Handel's major works, he...
(Stage and video director); (2001)
- Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...
(Stage and video director); (2003)
- Jenufa
Jenůfa is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Její pastorkyňa by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed at the Brno Theater, Brno, 21 January 1904...
(Stage director); Glimmerglass OperaGlimmerglass Opera is an opera company which was founded in 1975 by Peter Macris and presents an annual season of operas at the Alice Busch Opera Theater on the lake eight miles north of Cooperstown, New York, United States....
(with New York City OperaThe New York City Opera is an American opera company and the second largest opera company, after the Metropolitan Opera, in New York City. The company was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
, Cooperstown, New YorkCooperstown is a village in Otsego County, New York, USA. It is located in the Town of Otsego. The population was estimated to be 2,032 at the 2000 census.The Village of Cooperstown is the county seat of Otsego County, New York...
; 29 July–29 August, 2006)
- L'Orfeo (Stage director); Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
and BristolBristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London, and east of Cardiff.With an estimated population of 416,400 for the unitary authority in mid-2007, and a surrounding urban area with an estimated 561,500 residents, it is England's sixth, and...
(200?)
- Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
(Stage director); Tokyo, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....
(200?)
- La Traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on the novel La dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, published in 1848. The title "La traviata" means literally The Woman Who Strayed, or perhaps more figuratively, The...
(Stage director); Glimmerglass OperaGlimmerglass Opera is an opera company which was founded in 1975 by Peter Macris and presents an annual season of operas at the Alice Busch Opera Theater on the lake eight miles north of Cooperstown, New York, United States....
(2009)
See also
- National Secular Society
The National Secular Society is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism, the separation of church and state. It holds that no-one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of religion. It was founded by Charles Bradlaugh in 1866...
- Rationalist Association
- Las Meninas
Las Meninas is a 1656 painting by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The work's complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and creates an uncertain relationship between the viewer and the figures...
External links
Other BBC shows