Michael Codron
Encyclopedia
Michael Victor Codron is a British
film
and theatre producer, known for his productions of the early work of Harold Pinter
, Christopher Hampton
, David Hare, Simon Gray
and Tom Stoppard
. He has been honored with a Laurence Olivier Award for Lifetime Achievement, and owns the Aldwych Theatre
in the West End
, London
.
, who had a play called The Birthday Party
. Codron has said that it was his Jewishness that helped him recognise the play's and Pinter's worth." The Birthday Party had its world première at the Arts Theatre
, in Cambridge
, England
, on 28 April 1958, where the play was "warmly received" on its pre-London tour, in Oxford
and Wolverhampton
, where it also met with a "positive reception" as "the most enthralling experience the Grand Theatre has given us in many months."
On 19 May 1958, the production moved to the Lyric Opera House, Hammersmith
(now the Lyric Hammersmith
), for its début in London, where it was a commercial and mostly critical failure, instigating "bewildered hysteria" and closing after only eight performances. The weekend after it had already closed, Harold Hobson
's belated rave review, "The Screw Turns Again", appeared in The Sunday Times
, rescuing its critical reputation and enabling it to become one of the classics of the modern stage.
productions began in April 1963, when he staged a short run of Rattle of a Simple Man
. Codron followed this with Poor Bitos (1964) and Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1965).
Codron's revival of The Clandestine Marriage
left critics confused, as many thought the title was "The Candelstein Marriage". He also produced Patrick Marber
's Dealer's Choice in the West End; on his next venture, Marber, however, sought a producer with "more experience". In the 1960s, Codron produced several controversial works, including Joe Orton
's Loot
and Frank Marcus
's The Killing of Sister George
.
For his next project, Codron took a more comedic turn with Christopher Hampton
's The Philanthropist
, running at the Royal Court
and Mayfair Theatre
s in London. It premiered on Broadway
at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre
on 15 May 1971, garnering Codron a Tony Award
nomination for Best Play. David Merrick
became lead producer for the Broadway transfer, with Codron gaining a "Produced in association with" credit.
's Butley. It was first performed at the Criterion Theatre
in London beginning on 14 July 1971, produced by Codron and directed by Harold Pinter, with Alan Bates
as Ben Butley. Codron re-staged the show in 1972 in a Broadway production directed by James Hammerstein
at the Morosco Theatre
, where it ran for 14 previews and 135 performances, being nominated for the Tony for Best Play.
The producer looked to Broadway for his next venture, The Norman Conquests
, a trilogy
of plays written by Alan Ayckbourn
in 1973. Each of the plays depicts the same six characters over the same weekend in a different part of a house. Table Manners is set in the dining room, Living Together in the living room, and Round and Round the Garden in the garden. The plays originally premiered on Broadway on 7 December 1975 for 69 performances at the Morosco Theatre
, directed by Eric Thompson and featuring Richard Benjamin
, Ken Howard
, Barry Nelson
, Estelle Parsons
, Paula Prentiss
, and Carole Shelley
. For this, Codron received three Drama Desk Award
s.
's play, Good Fun
. Wood, keen to trade on her previous stage success Talent
, was commissioned to write another play by Codron. According to Wood, "I wrote one called Pals, which he said was 'very enjoyable'. This is a euphemism for wincing, so it went in the bin. I then wrote another called Good Fun." The play premiered in April 1980 at Sheffield
's Crucible Theatre
. It was directed by David Leland
.
After The Crucible's second version, the plan was to transfer the play to the West End
. Though this never happened, it was performed at the King's Head Theatre in Islington
. Wood said she heard a man at the interval saying, "It's a bit witty witty isn't it?" Wood's view of the play was this: "[T]here was an awful lot wrong with it but there were some lovely performances and the audiences enjoyed it."
After Good Fun Wood concentrated on television comedy and her career as a stand up comic. Though she did write two more plays, "which to save bothering Michael Codron, I called 'very enjoyable' and put straight in the bin."
(1977 Tony nomination), Night and Day
(1980 Drama Desk nomination), The Dresser (1982 Tony nomination), Noises Off
(1984 Tony nomination), The Real Thing
(1984 Tony and Drama Desk Awards), Benefactors
(1986 Tony and Drama Desk nominations), and Copenhagen
(2000 Tony and Drama Desk Awards).
In 2003/2004, Codron presented a production of Michael Frayn
's Democracy
at the National Theatre
. Following this, he produced the play at the Wyndham's Theatre
in the West End
, from 15 April 2004 to 9 October 2004, with Michael Blakemore
as director.
Codron's next project, in association with the Manhattan Theatre Club
, was the play Losing Louis
, which he produced in the West End at the Hampstead Theatre
(and later Trafalgar Studios
) in January 2006, before opening on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre
in September 2006. It was directed by Jerry Zaks
and written by Simon Mendes da Costa
.
At the 2010 Laurence Olivier Awards
ceremony, held on 21 March 2010 at the Grosvenor House Hotel
, Codron was the recipient of the award for Outstanding Achievement, for being "one of the West End’s most influential producers" and "discovering Harold Pinter."
owned the Vaudeville Theatre
in Westminster
, London. He is an Esquire
and was appointed to the Order of the British Empire
in August 1989. From 1992 to 1993, Codron was a Cameron Mackintosh
Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University.
He currently serves on the board of trustees for Oxford School of Drama
, and on the Oxford University Dramatic Society
, funding productions in Oxford, England. Codron served as the director of the Hampstead Theatre
and Theatre Mutual Insurance Co., and currently owns the Aldwych Theatre
in the West End theatre
district.
(1986) and was the Associate Producer for Re:Joyce! - A Celebration of the Work of Joyce Grenfell
in 1991.
. "They became part of the dreaded Brighton opinion that we all used to worry about," says Codron. "They would go every week to see a play at the Theatre Royal and ring me the following day with their views. My father always thought the plays were too far-fetched."
In his autobiography, Putting it On, written with help from Alan Strachan, Codron confirmed that he is homosexual. His early partner
in the 1950s was music critic Andrew Porter
. Codron was also romantically linked to Peter Hulstrom and later David Hicks in the 1960s. For twenty-five years, his partner was David Sutton
.
Codron has stated that his "single flash of anger" is aimed at critics and bloggers who review productions during previews
. "It's almost invariably reactionary responses. They're the modern equivalent of the lot that used to boo the plays in the 50s and 60s. I think they're ghastly." He has also expressed his dislike of musical theatre
("Musicals weren't really my thing"), turning down a request to produce Blood Brothers.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
film
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
and theatre producer, known for his productions of the early work of Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
, Christopher Hampton
Christopher Hampton
Christopher James Hampton CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. He is best known for his play based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the film version Dangerous Liaisons and also more recently for writing the nominated screenplay for the film adaptation of...
, David Hare, Simon Gray
Simon Gray
Simon James Holliday Gray, CBE , was an English playwright and memoirist who also had a career as a university lecturer in English literature at Queen Mary, University of London, for 20 years...
and Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
. He has been honored with a Laurence Olivier Award for Lifetime Achievement, and owns the Aldwych Theatre
Aldwych Theatre
The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...
in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. 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...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Pinter's The Birthday Party
According one writer,"[P]erhaps he is most famous for the risk he took on a then virtually unknown playwright called Harold PinterHarold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
, who had a play called The Birthday Party
The Birthday Party (play)
The Birthday Party is the first full-length play by Harold Pinter and one of Pinter's best-known and most-frequently performed plays...
. Codron has said that it was his Jewishness that helped him recognise the play's and Pinter's worth." The Birthday Party had its world première at the Arts Theatre
Cambridge Arts Theatre
Cambridge Arts Theatre is a 666-seat theatre on Peas Hill in central Cambridge, England. The theatre presents a varied mix of drama, dance, opera and pantomime. It attracts some of the highest-quality touring productions in the country, as well as many shows direct from, or prior to, seasons in the...
, in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, on 28 April 1958, where the play was "warmly received" on its pre-London tour, in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
, where it also met with a "positive reception" as "the most enthralling experience the Grand Theatre has given us in many months."
On 19 May 1958, the production moved to the Lyric Opera House, Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
(now the Lyric Hammersmith
Lyric Hammersmith
The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on King Street, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, which takes pride in its original, "groundbreaking" productions....
), for its début in London, where it was a commercial and mostly critical failure, instigating "bewildered hysteria" and closing after only eight performances. The weekend after it had already closed, Harold Hobson
Harold Hobson
Sir Harold Hobson was an influential English drama critic and author.He was born in Thorpe Hesley near Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England and read History at Oxford University. He was an assistant literary editor for the Sunday Times from 1944 and later became its drama critic...
's belated rave review, "The Screw Turns Again", appeared in The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
, rescuing its critical reputation and enabling it to become one of the classics of the modern stage.
Subsequent career
His career of producing BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
productions began in April 1963, when he staged a short run of Rattle of a Simple Man
Rattle of a Simple Man
Rattle of a Simple Man is a 1964 British comedy film directed by Muriel Box and starring Diane Cilento, Harry H. Corbett and Michael Medwin. After travelling down from Manchester to watch the FA Cup final, a naive young man becomes involved with a prostitute.-Selected cast:* Diane Cilento as...
. Codron followed this with Poor Bitos (1964) and Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1965).
Codron's revival of The Clandestine Marriage
The Clandestine Marriage
The Clandestine Marriage is a comedy by George Colman the Elder and David Garrick, first performed in 1766 at Drury Lane. The idea came from one of William Hogarth's engravings.-Plot summary:...
left critics confused, as many thought the title was "The Candelstein Marriage". He also produced Patrick Marber
Patrick Marber
Patrick Albert Crispin Marber is an English comedian, playwright, director, puppeteer, actor and screenwriter.-Early life and education:...
's Dealer's Choice in the West End; on his next venture, Marber, however, sought a producer with "more experience". In the 1960s, Codron produced several controversial works, including Joe Orton
Joe Orton
John Kingsley Orton was an English playwright.In a short but prolific career lasting from 1964 until his death, he shocked, outraged and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies...
's Loot
Loot (play)
Loot is a two-act play by the English playwright Joe Orton. The play is a dark farce that satirises the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes to death, and the integrity of the police force....
and Frank Marcus
Frank Marcus
Frank Marcus was a British playwright, best known for The Killing of Sister George.-Life:Frank Ulrich Marcus was born 30 June 1928 into a Jewish family in Breslau . They came to England as refugees in 1939...
's The Killing of Sister George
The Killing of Sister George
The Killing of Sister George is a 1964 play by Frank Marcus that was adapted as a 1968 film directed by Robert Aldrich.- Stage version :Sister George is a beloved character in the popular radio series Applehurst, a nurse who ministers to the medical needs and personal problems of the local villagers...
.
For his next project, Codron took a more comedic turn with Christopher Hampton
Christopher Hampton
Christopher James Hampton CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. He is best known for his play based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the film version Dangerous Liaisons and also more recently for writing the nominated screenplay for the film adaptation of...
's The Philanthropist
The Philanthropist (play)
The Philanthropist is a play by Christopher Hampton, written as a response to Molière's The Misanthrope. After a tryout at the Royal Court Theatre, London, the piece premiered on Broadway under the direction of Robert Kidd...
, running at the Royal Court
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
and Mayfair Theatre
Mayfair Theatre
The Mayfair Theatre is Ottawa's oldest active movie theatre, operating since 1932. It operates as an independent repertory cinema. The theatre's programming includes independent, second-run and classic films....
s in London. It premiered on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
The Ethel Barrymore Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 243 West 47th Street in midtown-Manhattan, named for actress Ethel Barrymore....
on 15 May 1971, garnering Codron a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination for Best Play. David Merrick
David Merrick
David Merrick was a prolific Tony Award-winning American theatrical producer.-Life and career:Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick graduated from Washington University, then studied law at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University School of Law...
became lead producer for the Broadway transfer, with Codron gaining a "Produced in association with" credit.
Butley and The Norman Conquests
Codron next staged the original London production of Simon GraySimon Gray
Simon James Holliday Gray, CBE , was an English playwright and memoirist who also had a career as a university lecturer in English literature at Queen Mary, University of London, for 20 years...
's Butley. It was first performed at the Criterion Theatre
Criterion Theatre
The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has an official capacity of 588.-Building the theatre:...
in London beginning on 14 July 1971, produced by Codron and directed by Harold Pinter, with Alan Bates
Alan Bates
Sir Alan Arthur Bates CBE was an English actor, who came to prominence in the 1960s, a time of high creativity in British cinema, when he demonstrated his versatility in films ranging from the popular children’s story Whistle Down the Wind to the "kitchen sink" drama A Kind of Loving...
as Ben Butley. Codron re-staged the show in 1972 in a Broadway production directed by James Hammerstein
James Hammerstein
James Hammerstein was an American theatre director and producer. He was the son of Oscar Hammerstein II and his wife Dorothy ....
at the Morosco Theatre
Morosco Theatre
The Morosco Theatre was a legitimate theatre located at 217 West 45th Street in the heart of the theater district in midtown-Manhattan, New York, United States....
, where it ran for 14 previews and 135 performances, being nominated for the Tony for Best Play.
The producer looked to Broadway for his next venture, The Norman Conquests
The Norman Conquests
The Norman Conquests is a trilogy of plays written in 1973 by Alan Ayckbourn. The small scale of the drama is typical of Ayckbourn. There are only six characters, namely Norman, his wife Ruth, her brother Reg and his wife Sarah, Ruth's sister Annie, and Tom, Annie's next-door-neighbour...
, a trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
of plays written by Alan Ayckbourn
Alan Ayckbourn
Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE is a prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their...
in 1973. Each of the plays depicts the same six characters over the same weekend in a different part of a house. Table Manners is set in the dining room, Living Together in the living room, and Round and Round the Garden in the garden. The plays originally premiered on Broadway on 7 December 1975 for 69 performances at the Morosco Theatre
Morosco Theatre
The Morosco Theatre was a legitimate theatre located at 217 West 45th Street in the heart of the theater district in midtown-Manhattan, New York, United States....
, directed by Eric Thompson and featuring Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of productions, including Goodbye, Columbus , based on the novella by Philip Roth, and Westworld .-Life and career:...
, Ken Howard
Ken Howard
Kenneth Joseph "Ken" Howard, Jr. is an American actor, best known for his roles as Thomas Jefferson in 1776 and as basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the television show The White Shadow...
, Barry Nelson
Barry Nelson
Barry Nelson was an American actor, noted as the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond.-Early life:...
, Estelle Parsons
Estelle Parsons
Estelle Margaret Parsons is an American theatre, film and television actress and occasional theatrical director.After studying law, Parsons became a singer before deciding to pursue a career in acting. She worked for the television program Today and made her stage debut in 1961...
, Paula Prentiss
Paula Prentiss
Paula Ragusa , better known by her stage name Paula Prentiss, is an American actress well-known for her film roles in Where the Boys Are, Man's Favorite Sport?, The Stepford Wives, What's New Pussycat?, The Black Marble, and The Parallax View and her co-starring role in the television situation...
, and Carole Shelley
Carole Shelley
Carole Shelley is an English actress. Among her many stage roles are the character of Madame Morrible in the original Broadway cast of the musical Wicked.-Life and career:...
. For this, Codron received three Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
s.
Wood's Good Fun
In 1980, he produced Victoria WoodVictoria Wood
Victoria Wood CBE is a British comedienne, actress, singer-songwriter, screenwriter and director. Wood has written and starred in sketches, plays, films and sitcoms, and her live stand-up comedy act is interspersed with her own compositions, which she accompanies on piano...
's play, Good Fun
Good Fun
Good Fun is a play by Victoria Wood, first performed in 1980. It is set in an Arts Centre in North West England.-Origins:Wood, keen to trade on her previous stage success Talent, was commissioned to write another play by impresario Michael Codron. "I wrote one called Pals, which he said was 'very...
. Wood, keen to trade on her previous stage success Talent
Talent (1978 play)
Talent is a play written by Victoria Wood, first performed in 1978. It centres around two friends, one of whom is about to enter a talent contest in a run down nightclub. Commissioned for the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, it received much acclaim and transferred to a London run in 1979. That same...
, was commissioned to write another play by Codron. According to Wood, "I wrote one called Pals, which he said was 'very enjoyable'. This is a euphemism for wincing, so it went in the bin. I then wrote another called Good Fun." The play premiered in April 1980 at Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
's Crucible Theatre
Crucible Theatre
The 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....
. It was directed by David Leland
David Leland
David Leland is a director, screenwriter and actor who came to international fame with his directorial debut Wish You Were Here in 1987.-Life:...
.
After The Crucible's second version, the plan was to transfer the play to the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. 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...
. Though this never happened, it was performed at the King's Head Theatre in Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
. Wood said she heard a man at the interval saying, "It's a bit witty witty isn't it?" Wood's view of the play was this: "[T]here was an awful lot wrong with it but there were some lovely performances and the audiences enjoyed it."
After Good Fun Wood concentrated on television comedy and her career as a stand up comic. Though she did write two more plays, "which to save bothering Michael Codron, I called 'very enjoyable' and put straight in the bin."
Later career
In the later half of his career, Codron mainly focused on transferring shows he produced in England to New York City, and in the process won several awards. Among them were Otherwise EngagedOtherwise Engaged
Otherwise Engaged is a bleakly comic play by English playwright Simon Gray. The play previewed at the Oxford Playhouse and the Richmond Theatre, and then opened at the Queen's Theatre in London on 10 July 1975, with Alan Bates as the star and Harold Pinter as director, produced by Michael Codron....
(1977 Tony nomination), Night and Day
Night and Day (play)
Night and Day is a 1978 play by Tom Stoppard. The sets and costumes were designed by Carl Toms and it ran for two years at the Phoenix Theatre in central London, UK. The lead roles of Richard Wagner and Ruth Carson were created by John Thaw and Diana Rigg, respectively.The play is post-colonial in...
(1980 Drama Desk nomination), The Dresser (1982 Tony nomination), Noises Off
Noises Off
Noises Off is a 1982 play by English playwright Michael Frayn. The idea for it was born in 1970, when Frayn was standing in the wings watching a performance of Chinamen, a farce that he had written for Lynn Redgrave...
(1984 Tony nomination), The Real Thing
The Real Thing (play)
The Real Thing is a play by Tom Stoppard, first performed in 1982. It examines the nature of honesty, and its use of a play within a play is one of many levels on which the author teases the audience with the difference between semblance and reality....
(1984 Tony and Drama Desk Awards), Benefactors
Benefactors (play)
Benefactors is a 1984 play by Michael Frayn. It is set in the 1960s and concerns an idealistic architect David and his wife Jane and their relationship with the cynical Colin and his wife Sheila. David is attempting to build some new homes to replace the slum housing of Basuto Road and is gradually...
(1986 Tony and Drama Desk nominations), and Copenhagen
Copenhagen (play)
Copenhagen is a play by Michael Frayn, based around an event that occurred in Copenhagen in 1941, a meeting between the physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. It debuted in London in 1998...
(2000 Tony and Drama Desk Awards).
In 2003/2004, Codron presented a production of Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn
Michael J. Frayn is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy...
's Democracy
Democracy (play)
Democracy is a play by Michael Frayn which premiered at the Royal National Theatre on September 9, 2003, directed by Michael Blakemore, starring Roger Allam as Willy Brandt and Conleth Hill as Günter Guillaume...
at the National Theatre
National Theatre
National Theatre may refer to: -in Africa:*Kenya National Theatre in Nairobi, Kenya*National Theatre in Accra, Ghana-in Asia:*National Theater and Concert Hall, Republic of China in Taipei, Taiwan*National Theatre of Japan in Tokyo, Japan...
. Following this, he produced the play at the Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by the actor/manager Charles Wyndham . Located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, it was designed by W.G.R. Sprague about 1898, the architect of six other London theatres between then and 1916...
in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. 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...
, from 15 April 2004 to 9 October 2004, with Michael Blakemore
Michael Blakemore
Michael Howell Blakemore OBE is an Australian actor, writer and theatre director. In 2000 he became the only individual to win Tony Awards for best Director of a Play and Musical in the same year for Copenhagen and Kiss Me, Kate....
as director.
Codron's next project, in association with the Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...
, was the play Losing Louis
Losing Louis
Simon Mendes da Costa's play, Losing Louis, is a black comedy, first premiered at Hampstead Theatre on the 26th January 2005 and later transferred to Trafalgar Studios...
, which he produced in the West End at the Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...
(and later Trafalgar Studios
Trafalgar Studios
Trafalgar Studios, formerly The Whitehall Theatre until 2004, is a West End theatre in Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, in the City of Westminster, London....
) in January 2006, before opening on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre
Biltmore Theatre
The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 261 West 47th Street in midtown-Manhattan.-History:...
in September 2006. It was directed by Jerry Zaks
Jerry Zaks
Jerry Zaks is a German-born American stage and television director, and actor. He won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play and Drama Desk Award for directing The House of Blue Leaves, Lend Me A Tenor, and Six Degrees of Separation and the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical and Drama...
and written by Simon Mendes da Costa
Simon Mendes da Costa
Simon Mendes da Costa is a playwright.He trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School between 1989 and 1991. His first play, Table for One, opened at the Hen and Chickens Theatre on 6 November 2001...
.
At the 2010 Laurence Olivier Awards
2010 Laurence Olivier Awards
The 2010 Olivier Awards were held on 21 March 2010 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.-Award winners and nominees:*Best Actress**Rachel Weisz, A Streetcar Named Desire - Donmar Warehouse**Gillian Anderson, A Doll's House - Donmar Warehouse...
ceremony, held on 21 March 2010 at the Grosvenor House Hotel
Grosvenor House Hotel
Grosvenor House is a large and luxurious hotel. The iconic Mayfair, London hotel is owned by the Sahara Group. The name has also been licensed to a property in Dubai....
, Codron was the recipient of the award for Outstanding Achievement, for being "one of the West End’s most influential producers" and "discovering Harold Pinter."
Current and past positions
From 1983 to 1996, Codron and partner David SuttonDavid Sutton
David Sutton is the current editor of the Fortean Times magazine. Sutton was educated at the University of East Anglia, University College London, Birkbeck College and the British Film Institute...
owned the Vaudeville Theatre
Vaudeville Theatre
The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on The Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each new building retained elements of the previous...
in Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
, London. He is an Esquire
Esquire
Esquire is a term of West European origin . Depending on the country, the term has different meanings...
and was appointed to the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in August 1989. From 1992 to 1993, Codron was a Cameron Mackintosh
Cameron Mackintosh
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York...
Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University.
He currently serves on the board of trustees for Oxford School of Drama
Oxford School of Drama
The Oxford School of Drama is one of the most prestigious drama schools in the United Kingdom, and the only professional drama school in Oxfordshire...
, and on the Oxford University Dramatic Society
Oxford University Dramatic Society
The Oxford University Dramatic Society is the principal funding body and provider of theatrical services to the many independent student productions put on by students in Oxford, England...
, funding productions in Oxford, England. Codron served as the director of the Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...
and Theatre Mutual Insurance Co., and currently owns the Aldwych Theatre
Aldwych Theatre
The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...
in the West End theatre
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. 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...
district.
Filmography
He produced the film ClockwiseClockwise (film)
Clockwise is a 1986 British comedy film starring John Cleese. It was directed by Christopher Morahan, written by Michael Frayn and produced by Michael Codron. The film was co-produced by Moment Films and Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment...
(1986) and was the Associate Producer for Re:Joyce! - A Celebration of the Work of Joyce Grenfell
Joyce Grenfell
Joyce Irene Grenfell, OBE was an English actress, comedienne, diseuse and singer-songwriter.-Early life:...
in 1991.
Personal life
His parents were Isaac "Haco" Codron and Lily Morgenstern, who regularly attended out-of-town tryouts of Codron's plays in BrightonBrighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
. "They became part of the dreaded Brighton opinion that we all used to worry about," says Codron. "They would go every week to see a play at the Theatre Royal and ring me the following day with their views. My father always thought the plays were too far-fetched."
In his autobiography, Putting it On, written with help from Alan Strachan, Codron confirmed that he is homosexual. His early partner
Significant other
Significant other is colloquially used as a gender-blind term for a person's partner in an intimate relationship without disclosing or presuming anything about marital status, relationship status, or sexual orientation, as it is vague enough to avoid offense by using a term that an individual...
in the 1950s was music critic Andrew Porter
Andrew Porter (music critic)
Andrew Porter, born 26 August 1928, in Cape Town, South Africa, is a British music critic, scholar, organist, and opera director. He studied organ at University College, Oxford University, in the late nineteen-forties, then began writing music criticism for various London newspapers, including The...
. Codron was also romantically linked to Peter Hulstrom and later David Hicks in the 1960s. For twenty-five years, his partner was David Sutton
David Sutton
David Sutton is the current editor of the Fortean Times magazine. Sutton was educated at the University of East Anglia, University College London, Birkbeck College and the British Film Institute...
.
Codron has stated that his "single flash of anger" is aimed at critics and bloggers who review productions during previews
Preview (theatre)
Previews are a set of public performances of a theatrical presentation that precede its official opening. The purpose of previews is to allow the director and crew to identify problems and opportunities for improvement that weren't found during rehearsals and to make adjustments before critics are...
. "It's almost invariably reactionary responses. They're the modern equivalent of the lot that used to boo the plays in the 50s and 60s. I think they're ghastly." He has also expressed his dislike of musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
("Musicals weren't really my thing"), turning down a request to produce Blood Brothers.