Biographies
David Lyon | A C H Smith | Tom StoppardDavid Lyon
Photo: James Lyon
David studied at the Royal Academy of Music and Bristol University. Despite early (Hollywood-inspired) ambitions to write a hit musical, his career has taken him mostly into the concert music field. His numerous orchestral works are well represented on CD, and have been performed and broadcast many times worldwide. However, a (belated) encounter with the work of Stephen Sondheim re-awakened his interest in the possibilities of musical theatre, and a collaboration with playwright and novelist ACH Smith resulted in a musical adaptation of Tom Stoppard's Albert's Bridge (Shaftesbury Community Theatre 1999). They followed this up with a 'comic chamber opera' Doctor Love, adapted from Molière (Tobacco Factory, Bristol, 2008).
David has also written various semi-theatrical 'musical adventures' for children, as well as choral and chamber works. His music for Claire Luckham's Blackbird (Southwark Playhouse 2003) received considerable critical acclaim. Michael Billington in the Guardian wrote: 'The innovative use of David Lyon's songs.. transforms the play into a challenging piece of music theatre.. A beguiling chamber opera', and The Stage considered the music 'masterly'.
David's website: www.impulse-music.co.uk/lyon.htm
Top ⇑A C H Smith
Photo: Stephen Morris
A.C.H. Smith has had some 25 plays and music-theatre pieces staged or televised, including Albert's Bridge Extended (co-written with Tom Stoppard) at the Edinburgh Festival; God's Wonderful Railway, Bristol Old Vic; Pericles (reconstruction of Shakespeare), Emory Theatre, Atlanta, revived in Bristol by Show of Strength; Up the Feeder, Down the 'Mouth, B.O.V., revived in Prince's Wharf, Bristol; The Redcliffe Hermit, Bristol L Shed; and Doctor Love (see above). His theatre career began with ten years' literary work for the RSC, followed by the National Theatre. It includes the book Orghast at Persepolis, written when Peter Brook invited him to join the Brook/Ted Hughes project in Iran for three months. Other writing includes 12 novels, screenplays, poetry, journalism, and presenting an arts programme on HTV for 20 years. He has been writer in residence at universities in England and the USA, and directed the Cheltenham Festival of Literature.
See also A C H Smith's Wikipedia entry.
Top ⇑Tom Stoppard
Photo: Кондрашкин Б. Е.
via Wikimedia Commons
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Anyone who needs to know about Tom Stoppard can check Wikipedia, or read one of several books about him (none of which he has read himself).
We have been friends for 50 years. In 1970 he was commissioned to turn his radio play Albert's Bridge into a Hollywood screenplay.
He asked me to co-write it with him..
Read Back Story by ACH Smith »
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