Donmar Warehouse

The Donmar Warehouse is a 251-seat, not-for-profit theatre in Covent Garden, London, England. It first opened on 18 July 1977.

About

Sam Mendes, Michael Grandage and now Josie Rourke have all served as artistic director. The theatre has a diverse artistic policy that includes new writing, contemporary reappraisals of European classics, British and American drama and small-scale musical theatre.

As well as presenting at least six productions a year at its home in Covent Garden, every year the Donmar tours one in-house production in the UK.

History

Theatrical producer Donald Albery formed Donmar Productions around 1953, with the name derived from the first three letters of his name and the first three letters of his wife's middle name, Margaret. In 1961, he bought the warehouse, a building that in the 1870s had been a vat room and hops warehouse for the local brewery in Covent Garden, and in the 1920s had been used as a film studio and then the Covent Garden Market banana-ripening depot. His son Ian Albery, a producer and theatre design consultant, converted the warehouse into a private rehearsal studio.

Warehouse

A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities, towns and villages.

They usually have loading docks to load and unload goods from trucks. Sometimes warehouses are designed for the loading and unloading of goods directly from railways, airports, or seaports. They often have cranes and forklifts for moving goods, which are usually placed on ISO standard pallets loaded into pallet racks. Stored goods can include any raw materials, packing materials, spare parts, components, or finished goods associated with agriculture, manufacturing and production. In Indian English a warehouse may be referred to as a godown.

History

Warehouses have been found at Ostia. They were an essential tool for trading nations. Medieval examples art part of Europes cultural heritage. During the industrial revolution their function evolved and became more specialised, and architecturally significant. Always a building of function, they have adapted to mechanisation and changes in the supply chain.

Tom Hiddleston

Thomas William Hiddleston (born 9 February 1981) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in Thor (2011), The Avengers (2012), and Thor: The Dark World (2013). He has also appeared in Steven Spielberg's War Horse (2011), The Deep Blue Sea (2011), Woody Allen's romantic comedy Midnight in Paris (2011), the 2012 BBC series Henry IV, Henry V, and the romantic vampire film Only Lovers Left Alive (2013). In theatre, he has been in the productions of Cymbeline (2007) and Ivanov (2008). In December 2013 he starred as the title character in the Donmar Warehouse production of Coriolanus which played until February 2014.

He won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Play for his role in Cymbeline while also being nominated for the same award the same year for his role as Cassio in Othello. In 2011 he won the Empire Award for Best Male Newcomer and was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award for his role in Thor. He won the MTV Movie Award for Best Fight and Best Villain in 2013 for his role in The Avengers. For his role in the 2013 play Coriolanus, he won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor.

1996

1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (dominical letter GF) of the Gregorian calendar, the 1996th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 996th year of the 2nd millennium, the 96th year of the 20th century, and the 7th year of the 1990s decade.

1996 was designated as:

Events

January

Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Joshua Sondheim (/ˈsɒnd.haɪm/), born March 22, 1930, is an American composer and lyricist known for more than a half-century of contributions to musical theatre. Sondheim has received an Academy Award; eight Tony Awards (more than any other composer, including a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre); eight Grammy Awards; a Pulitzer Prize, the Laurence Olivier Award, and a 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom. Described by Frank Rich of The New York Times as "now the greatest and perhaps best-known artist in the American musical theater." His best-known works as composer and lyricist include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods. He wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy.

Sondheim has also written film music, contributing "Goodbye for Now" to Warren Beatty's 1981 Reds. He wrote five songs for 1990's Dick Tracy, including "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)" by Madonna, which won the Academy Award for Best Song.