Michael Codron
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Sir Michael Codron CBE |
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|---|---|
| Born |
Michael Victor Codron 8 June 1930 London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Worcester College, Oxford, South East England |
| Occupation | film and theatre producer |
| Known for | Works by Harold Pinter, Christopher Hampton, David Hare, Simon Gray and Tom Stoppard |
| Awards | Tony, Drama Desk, Evening Standard, and Laurence Olivier Awards |
Sir Michael Victor Codron CBE (born 8 June 1930) is a British theatre producer, known for his productions of the early work of Harold Pinter, Christopher Hampton, David Hare, Simon Gray and Tom Stoppard. He has been honoured with a Laurence Olivier Award for Lifetime Achievement, and owns the Aldwych Theatre in the West End, London.
Codron was born in London, and studied at Worcester College, Oxford.
According to John Nathan, Codron is possibly "most famous for the risk he took on a then virtually unknown playwright called Harold Pinter, who had a play called The Birthday Party. Codron has said that it was his Jewishness that helped him recognise the play's and Pinter's worth."
The Birthday Party had its première at the Arts Theatre, in Cambridge, England, on 28 April 1958, where the play was "warmly received" on its pre-London tour, in Oxford and Wolverhampton, where it also met with a "positive reception" as "the most enthralling experience the Grand Theatre has given us in many months."
On 19 May 1958, the production moved to the Lyric Opera House, Hammersmith (now the Lyric Hammersmith), for its début in London, where it was a commercial and mostly critical failure, instigating "bewildered hysteria" and closing after only eight performances. The weekend after it had already closed, Harold Hobson's belated rave review, "The Screw Turns Again", appeared in The Sunday Times, rescuing its critical reputation and enabling it to become one of the classics of the modern stage.
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