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James Fenton

JAMES FENTON

  (1949 - )
Nationality:    British
email:    n/a     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    United Agents  represented by Rose Cobbe

James Martin Fenton FRSL FRSA (born 25 April 1949, Lincoln) is an English poet, journalist and literary critic. James Fenton was educated at the Durham Choristers' School, Repton and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he won the Newdigate Prize for Poetry. He has worked as a political and literary journalist on the New Statesman; was a freelance reporter in Indo-China; spent a year in Germany working for the Guardian; was Theatre critic for the Sunday Times for five years; chief book reviewer for the Times from 1984 to 1986; South east Asian correspondent for the Independent from 1986 to 1988 and a columnist for them until 1995. He is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books. James Fenton was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1983 and he was Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1994 to 1999. He is currently writing a play for the Royal Shakespeare Company, has just edited the Faber Book of Love Poetry and his new book, SCHOOL OF GENIUS: a HISTORY OF the ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS has just been published. (photo by Gerrit Serne)

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below is a list of James Fenton's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Don Quixote         Fall Of Jersulam, The         Haroun and the Sea of Stories         Love Bomb         Orphan Of Zhao, The         Pictures From An Exhibition         Tamar's Revenge

Don Quixote

Synopsis:
After a lifetime of reading books on chivalry, Don Quixote decides to embark on a quest of his own. Taking up a lance and sword, he sets out to become a wandering knight, defending the helpless and vanquishing the wicked. Hopelessly unprepared and increasingly losing his grip on reality, he travels across Spain accompanied by his faithful and equally ill-suited squire. With each calamitous adventure they experience, the romantic ideal of Quixote's books seems further away than ever. Cervantes' comic novel is widely regarded as one of the foundation stones of modern fiction.

Notes:
adapted by James Fenton from the novel by Miguel de Cervantes with songs by James Fenton and Grant Olding

1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Fall Of Jersulam, The

Fall Of Jersulam, The
events leading up to Masada

Notes:
Music by Dominic Muldowney. Based on the writings of Josephus

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Contained in: "Love Bomb" published by Faber and Faber 2003   978-0571211470

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play with music

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Haroun and the Sea of Stories
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Notes:
Music by Charles Wuorinen. Based on the book "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" by Salman Rushdie

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Love Bomb" published by Faber and Faber 2003   978-0571211470

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Opera

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Love Bomb

Love Bomb
A suicide cult

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Love Bomb" published by Faber and Faber 2003   978-0571211470

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Orphan Of Zhao, The

Orphan Of Zhao, The
In the aftermath of a violent coup, an epic story of self-sacrifice and revenge plays out as a young orphan discovers the shattering truth behind his childhood. Sometimes referred to as the Chinese Hamlet, and tracing its origins to the 4th century BC, the Orphan of Zhao was the first Chinese play to be translated in the West, and was adapted by Voltaire.

Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  14            Female:  4            Other:  musicians

Further Reference:
-

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Pictures From An Exhibition

Synopsis:
biography of the short and turbulent life of Modest Mussorgsky the Russian composer who drank himself to death at the age of 42.

Notes:
Based on the music suite by Modest Mussorgsky, Script by James Fenton

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Young Vic/Sadlers Wells

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Piece

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Tamar's Revenge

Synopsis:
revolves round amnon, son of the Old Testament King David, who took to raping his sister Tammar andd is eventually slaughtered at supper in this biblical tragedy.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Tirso de Molina

1st Produced:
Stratford, Swan     2004

Organisations:

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  10            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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