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Peter Ustinov

PETER USTINOV

  (1921 - 2004)
Nationality:    British
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    William Morris Agency (UK) Ltd  

Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov, CBE (16 April 1921 - 28 March 2004) was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author,screenwriter, comedian, humorist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter. A noted wit and raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits for much of his career. He was also a respected intellectual and diplomat who, in addition to his various academic posts, served as a Goodwill Ambassadorfor UNICEF and President of the World Federalist Movement. Ustinov was the winner of numerous awards over his life, including two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor,Emmy Awards, Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards for acting, a Grammy Award for best recording for children, as well as the recipient of governmental honours from, amongst others, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. He displayed a unique cultural versatility that has frequently earned him the accolade of a Renaissance man. Miklos Rozsa, composer of the music for Quo Vadis and of numerous concert works, dedicated his String Quartet No. 1, Op. 22 (1950) to Ustinov. In 2003 Durham University changed the name of its Graduate Society to Ustinov College in honour of the significant contributions Ustinov had made as chancellor of the university from 1992 until his death. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Ustinov

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

         Banbury Nose, The         Beethoven's Tenth         Beyond         Bishop of Limpopoland, The         Blow Your Own Trumpet         Diversion         Diversion 2         Empty Chair, The         Evening With Peter Ustinov, An         Fishing for Shadows         Frenzy         Halfway Up the Tree         High Balcony         House Of Regrets         Indifferent Shepherd, The         Life in My Hands, The         Love of Four Colonels, The         Man in the Raincoat, The         Marriage, The         Moment Of Truth, The         No Sign of the Dove         Overheard         Paris Not So Gay         Photo Finish: An Adventure In Biography         R Loves J         Romanoff and Juliet         Swinging the Gate         Tragedy of Good Intentions, The         Unknown Soldier and his Wife, The: Two Acts Of War Separated By a Truce For Refreshment         Who's Who in Hell

Banbury Nose, The

Banbury Nose, The
tracing a great military family through three generations in reverse order

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London    1944

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Cape, London, 1945   -

Music:
-

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Beethoven's Tenth

Synopsis:
about an acidic music critic who is writing a book about what Beethoven's tenth symphony might have been like

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Paris    1982

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, NY,    -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  3            Other:  -

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Beyond

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London    1943

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
English Theatre Group, London, 1944   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

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Bishop of Limpopoland, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London    1939

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Sketch

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Blow Your Own Trumpet

Synopsis:
a fantasy set in an Italian restaurant.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Liverpool    1943

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Plays About People, Cape, London, 1950   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  10            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Diversion

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London    1940

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Sketches in Sketch

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Diversion 2

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London    1941

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Sketches in Sketch

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Empty Chair, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Bristol    1956

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Evening With Peter Ustinov, An

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theatre Royal Haymarket, London    1990

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Solo Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

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Fishing for Shadows

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
from play by Jean Sarment

1st Produced:
London    1940

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Frenzy

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
play by Ingmar Bergman

1st Produced:
London    1948

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Halfway Up the Tree

Halfway Up the Tree
the General returns home to subvert expectations on domestic crisis and live up a tree.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
On Tour, Germany    1967

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Random House, New York, 1968   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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High Balcony

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London    1952

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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House Of Regrets

House Of Regrets
story of Russian emigres living in genteel poverty in wartime London.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London    1942

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Cape, London, 1943   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
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Parts:
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Indifferent Shepherd, The

Synopsis:
centres around a clergyman's crisis of conscience and his closest approach to a conventional well made West End play.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London    1948

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Plays About People, Cape, London, 1950   -

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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Life in My Hands, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Nottingham    1964

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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  10            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Love of Four Colonels, The

Love of Four Colonels, The
In the conference room of a four-power zone in Germany, four Colo-nels, representing their respective countries, the United States, England, France, and Russia, are apparently getting nowhere with their negotiations except deeper into a mess of red tape. A man-called the Wicked Fairy-drops in on them and invites them to accompany him to a nearby castle, which they do. Soon joined by the Good Fairy, at the castle they discover the Sleeping Beauty. Each of the Colonels sees her as his own particular ideal-the Frenchman as an eighteenth-century lass of the boulevards, the Russian as a flaxed-haired figure out of Chekhov, the Englishman as something virginally Elizabethan, and the American as a moll in an all-night dive. the Colonels each get a chance to waken and claim her, but they all fail, surrendering the illusion that they had long cherished. the American and the Frenchman, however, decide to stay at the castle for the next hundred years and take another chance at making their dreams come true.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
English Theatre Group, London, 1951   -

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

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Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Man in the Raincoat, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Edoinburgh    1949

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
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Marriage, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
from An opera libretto by Gogol, music by Mussorgsky

1st Produced:
Milan    1981

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Moment Of Truth, The

Synopsis:
political Drama

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Nottingham    1951

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
English Theatre Group, London, 1953   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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No Sign of the Dove

Synopsis:
reworking of the Noah legend

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Leeds    1953

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Five Plays, Heinemann, London & Little Brown, Boston, 1965   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Overheard

Synopsis:
a lachrymose comedy of diplomatic life

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Billingham, County Durham, Uk    1981

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

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Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Paris Not So Gay

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Oxford    1958

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Photo Finish: An Adventure In Biography

Synopsis:
At the age of 80 Sam is the victim of a shrewish wife, Stella, who he has quarreled with for 60 years. One night he receives a strange visitor, an immaculately dressed man of 60, who opens a drawer to which only Sam has the key and withdraws a valuable necklace, which Sam gave to a lady of easy virtue (but expensive access) 20 years earlier. No sooner do Sam and the mysterious stranger discover that they are the same man, than another interloper appears, Sam at 40, followed by Sam at 20. Valiantly the octogenarian tries to keep the others from making the mistakes he has made, but his efforts are futile. Each Sam proceeds to make the identical missteps; marrying StElla at 20, not leaving her at 40, becoming hopelessly infatuated with another woman at 60. To join this foursome comes their father, an irascible Victorian with a lecherous leaning toward a secretary who looks suspiciously like the lady of the necklace. In the end there is still another Sam, A newborn babe whom Old Sam holds for an instant, then hastily rejects.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Dublin    1962

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Heinemann, London, 1962   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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R Loves J

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
music by Alexander Faris, book by Peter ustinov, lyrics by Julian More

1st Produced:

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

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Genre:
Revue

Parts:
Male:  9+            Female:  9+            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Romanoff and Juliet

Romanoff and Juliet
As told by Chapman in the NY Daily News: "Ustinov, with a beard, rimmed nose-glasses and padded waistline, is the president of the smallest of all mythical countries. It is so small that it has a standing army of two-and the army doesn't even stand, but slouches. This country lies smack between the East and the West, so each of these world divisions seeks to make Ustinov an ally. Russia sends an ambassador-a Romanoff, no less. the U.S. dispatches one of its typical business diplomats. One of several high points of this delightful comedy is the scene in which Ustinov shuttles between the rival embassies, listening to their blandishments and threats. This is a hilarious cartoon of diplomacy. Why the title, ROMANOFF AND JULIET? the Russian has a son, and the American has a daughter named Juliet and these twain fall in love. And love has its sway. National rivalries vanish as the parents are reconciled after a wedding which is remarkable for its lunacy."

Notes:
revised version As R Loves J, music by Alexander Faris, Lyrics by Julian More, Produced Chichester, 1973

1st Produced:
Manchester    1956

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
English Theatre Guild, London, 1957
Josef Weinberger 2002   978-0856760549

Music:
-

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Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Swinging the Gate

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London    1940

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

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Genre:
Sketches in Sketch

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Tragedy of Good Intentions, The

Synopsis:
a chronicle play about the CrUSAdes

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Liverpool    1945

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Plays About People, Cape, London, 1950   -

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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  14            Female:  1            Other:  1g extras

Further Reference:
-

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Unknown Soldier and his Wife, The: Two Acts Of War Separated By a Truce For Refreshment

Synopsis:
It sweeps from ancient Rome to edieval England to modern times, with links provided by recurring characters who emerge whenever war comes and who controls its course

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York    1967

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Random House, New York, 1967   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  11            Female:  2            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

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Who's Who in Hell

Synopsis:
set in an anteroom of hell where the ultimate destination of new arrivals, including the US president and the Russin premier is decided.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York    1974

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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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