Ann Jellicoe
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Ann Jellicoe (born 1927) is a British actor, theatre director and playwright.
Jellicoe was born in Middlesborough, Yorkshire in England in 1927 and from childhood showed interest and an aptitude for the theatre. She attended Pollam House School and Queen Margaret’s School in Yorkshire and studied performing arts at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Jellicoe would go on to spend some time applying what she had learnt in repertory and small theatre.
In 1949 she was commissioned to undertake an investigative study into the relationship between acting and theatre architecture, the finding of this study led her to the Open stage. Jellicoe established a Sunday Thatre Club (Cockpit Theatre Club) to explore the possibilities of this form of Open stage theatre.
After being involved in directing theatre Jellicoe took up writing plays. She used many of her plays to further explore her innovative ideas on theatre. In 1956 the Observer set-up a playwright’s competition to find new talent, Jellico submitted The Sport of My Mad Mother which won a prize in the competition. In writing this play Jellicoe applied many of the ideas she had learnt in her early years at Central School. The play was subsequently staged by the Royal Court Theatre and directed by George Devine and Jellicoe. But it was the Royal Court's production of Jellicoe’s “The Knack” that won her the most notoriety; the play was filmed and won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
Jellicoe was a principal pioneer of Community Theatre and discovered and developed principles of Community plays; she has also written theatre for Children.
- The Knack: A Comedy in Three Acts. London: Encore, 1962; New York: French, 1962.
- The Sport of My Mad Mother. Revised version. London: Faber, 1964; New York: Dell, 1964. Originally published in The Observer Plays, London: Faber & Faber, 1958.
- Shelley; or, The Idealist. London: Faber & Faber, 1966; New York: Grove Press, 1966.
- Some Unconscious Influences in the Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967. The Judith Wilson Lecture, 1967.
- The Giveaway: A Comedy. London: Faber & Faber, 1970.
- The Seagull, adapted by Jellicoe from Adriadne Nicolaeff’s translation of Anton Chekhov’s play. New York: Avon, 1975.
- Three Jelliplays. London: Faber & Faber, 1975. Contains You’ll Never Guess; Clever Elsie, Smiling John, Silent Peter, and A Good Thing or a Bad Thing.
- Devon, by Jellicoe and Roger Mayne London: Faber & Faber, 1975. A Shell Guide.
- Community Plays: How to Put Them On. London: Methuer, 1987.