Ann Jellicoe
Ann Jellicoe was a prominent British playwright born in 1927 in Middlesbrough, England. Her career took off with the successful 1958 production of her first play, *The Sport of My Mad Mother*, which explored the lives of a London street gang through experimental narrative techniques and authentic dialogue. Jellicoe was instrumental in advocating for community theater, publishing a guide in 1987 titled *Community Plays: How to Put Them On*. Her work often emphasizes emotional impact over intellectual rigor, showcasing the complexities of everyday life through non-linear storytelling and character dialogue that may be inconsistent with on-stage action.
Among her most notable works is *The Knack*, a play focusing on a group of roommates navigating their romantic entanglements, considered her most successful piece. Jellicoe also ventured into historical drama with plays like *Shelley: Or, The Idealist*, and explored various themes in her children's theater works, aiming to foster ethical discussions and acceptance of differences among young audiences. Throughout her life, Jellicoe balanced her roles as a playwright, actor, and director, earning recognition for her contributions to the theatrical arts. After relocating to Dorset in 1975, she continued her creative endeavors until her passing on August 31, 2017.
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Ann Jellicoe
- Born: July 15, 1927
- Birthplace: Middlesborough, Yorkshire, England
- Died: August 31, 2017
Biography
Born in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, England, in 1927, Ann Jellicoe was thirty-one when her career as playwright was launched auspiciously by the well-received production of her first play, The Sport of My Mad Mother, a highly experimental piece about a London street gang that was precisely right for its time. Trained in acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama, Jellicoe became associated with the English Stage Company, which produced The Sport of My Mad Mother in 1958. She was one of the first playwrights to promote community theater, and wrote a book on the subject, Community Plays: How to Put Them On (1987).
The success of her first play, in which she captured effectively the authentic speech patterns of street kids, quickly established her as an important figure in British drama. Jellicoe has called the play anti-intellectual. It is designed for its emotional rather than intellectual impact and, in its use of drums to build the tension that will heighten the play’s emotional effect on audiences, is reminiscent of Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones (1920). The Sport of My Mad Mother does not proceed through orderly time sequences nor does it strive to be consistent. In fact, the dialogue often is totally at odds with what is happening on stage. Such calculated inconsistencies and contradictions emphasize the inconsistencies in the lives of the play’s major characters; typically, the daily lives of kids in street gangs are neither orderly nor consistent.
Her next play, The Knack, focuses on a group of lusty roommates whose sexual conquests are impressive. This is generally considered Jellicoe’s most successful play. In it, the author continues to experiment with some of the inventions that made The Sport of My Mad Mother a success. In her next play, Shelley: Or, The Idealist, about the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, Jellicoe moves into historical drama, a genre that had interested her for some time. She also treated historical topics in The Reckoning, The Western Women, and Changing Places. The Giveaway is an amusing farce about a woman who has the good (or ill) fortune to win a ten-year supply of corn flakes and is placed in a compromising position when fortune smiles upon her.
An actor and director, Jellicoe had an excellent sense of what would succeed on stage. Her direction of plays brought her many commendations. She also wrote adaptations of plays by Henrik Ibsen and Anton Chekhov, both of whom she greatly admired. Jellicoe’s success in writing plays for children was also substantial. Her children’s play A Good Thing or a Bad Thing poses ethical questions for children to ponder. Her Clever Elsie, Smiling John, Silent Peter deals with personality types and helps children to understand and accept individual differences.
Jellicoe moved from London to Dorset with her husband and two children in 1975, and remained there for the rest of her life. She died on August 31, 2017.
Bibliography
Coveney, Michael, and David Edgar. "Ann Jellicoe Obituary." The Guardian, 1 Sept. 2017, www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/sep/01/ann-jellicoe-obituary. Accessed 29 Mar. 2018.
Jellicoe, Ann. Interview by Kate Dorney. Theatre Archive Project, 21 May 2005, sounds.bl.uk/related-content/TRANSCRIPTS/024T-1CDR0032956X-0100A0.pdf. Accessed 29 Mar. 2018.
Snyder, Laura. "Learn to Play the Game: Learning and Teaching Strategies in Ann Jellicoe's The Knack." Modern Drama, vol. 27, no. 3, 1994, pp. 451–60.