Kendrew Lascelles
| Kendrew Lascelles | |
|---|---|
| Born |
20 September 1935 Gatley, England |
| Occupation |
|
| Notable work |
The Box (poem) Wait a Minim! (revue) |
| Website | dryeyeinthehouse |
Kendrew Lascelles (pronounced Lassels); born 20 September 1935) is an English-born actor, performer and writer from South Africa. His works are known for raising the profile of issues of major social conscience, particularly Apartheid and the Vietnam War.
Some of his most notable works include "Wait a Minim!", an anti-apartheid revue that he co-wrote and performed; and, "The Box", an iconic poem first recited by him on The Smothers Brothers Summer show on the ABC TV network in the summer of 1971, and was later performed by John Denver on his 1971 album Poems, Prayers & Promises. Wait a Minim! brought the Anti-Apartheid Movement to Broadway and the rest of the Western world. The Smothers Brothers Show received four millions contacts and one million letters from fans after The Box was performed by Lascelles on the show.
Lascelles has written four novels, seventeen plays, two produced screenplays, four musicals, a television mini-series, and four anthologies of poems. His performance background is in comedy, revue, drama, and dance. Lascelles' writing style entertains and informs, bringing irreverence and humor from his comedy for revue and television. He has a background in classical Cecchetti Dance and performance. His plays have been published and produced, along with his work being recorded by various musical artists and broadcast on networks that include the BBC and networks in the United States.
Lascelles was born in Gatley, England near Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom on 20 September 1935. He moved to South Africa with his family when he was three-years-old, finally settling in KwaZulu-Natal in his late teens. He gravitated to a theatrical career with his first professional role when he was 17 years old. After studying in London, gaining a diploma in Checchetti, he returned to South Africa in 1956 and worked with the National Theatre's "Seven against the Sun" and with the Frank Staff 's South African Ballet Company.
His first paid performance was in 1953 replacing the Principal Dancer, injured two hours before opening night, of a visiting Italian opera company in the dance sequence in their production Faust, starring Giuseppe Di Stefano. Lascelles began working with various ballet companies in Durban, Johannesburg, and Cape Town, with one of his most notable roles being the Wolf in Frank Staff's Peter and the Wolf. He met Leon Gluckman in 1953 during Elizabeth Sneddon's Natal University production of King Lear in which Gluckman played the title role.
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