Christian Bale starred in a film based on a play by what playwright?
Christian Bale filmography British actor Christian Bale has starred in various films, as well as advertisements and a video game. He made his acting debut in 1986, on the television film "". The following year, he made his film debut starring alongside John Malkovich and Miranda Richardson in the war film "Empire of the Sun". Bale's role of a young boy, interned in China by the Japanese, received praise from most film critics. Two years later, Bale had a minor role in "Henry V", a drama film based on William Shakespeare's play "The Life of Henry the Fifth". It has been considered one of the best Shakespeare film adaptations ever made. In 1992, Bale starred as Jack Kelly in the Walt Disney musical drama "Newsies", which was a critical and commercial failure; however, it gained a cult following. He received a role in the 1994 drama "Little Women", which garnered positive reviews. Bale lent his voice for the Disney animated film "Pocahontas" in 1995, although it received a mixed reception and attained box office success. He starred as British journalist Arthur Stuart in the Todd Haynes-directed drama "Velvet Goldmine" (1998). Although critics were divided on the film, Bale's role was "eagerly anticipated". Bale portrayed Demetrius in the critically praised 1999 film "A Midsummer Night's Dream", an adaptation of Shakespeare's play of the same name, directed by Michael Hoffman. The same year, he portrayed Jesus of Nazareth in the television movie "Mary, Mother of Jesus".
Brian Stewart (playwright) Brian Stewart is a British playwright. He is best known for his play "Castro's Beard" that was first produced by the Deptford players, off-broadway in 2001. The New York Times described it as a 'Mordant, irreverent Comedy that was timely and thought-provoking'." It was subsequently produced by the Barrington Stage Company in Massachusetts in 2002 and then at the Stages Repertory Theatre, Houston in 2004. Following a rehearsed reading at the Arts centre in London in 2005 - with a cast that included David Soul and Timothy West - the play was produced by the Theatre Royal Haymarket, in association with Richard Jordan Productions and the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, and embarked on a number one tour of the UK in 2006 when the name was changed to "Killing Castro". The cast included: Edward Hardwicke (Torphy), Clive Mantle (Brawner), Michael Praed (Madison) and Martin Shaw's son, Joe Shaw, as Drake. The play which centres on the true plots by the CIA to assassinate Fidel Castro in the 1960s received mixed reviews in the UK. It was described by the "Birmingham Mail" as an "acclaimed comedy" which "chronicles the more bizarre of America's attempts to kill the Cuban leader Fidel Castro - including filling his shoes with poison and inventing an exploding cigar." The "Daily Telegraph" said "The British dramatist Brian Stewart appears to have got lucky with this intermittently entertaining but rather trite little play about the CIA's plots to bump off Fidel Castro.". Although, Michael Billington of the Guardian was much more complimentary: 'Stewart's weapon is comedy. But his argument, that America will stop at nothing in its defiance of international law, is no different from that of Pinter in his Nobel speech.'. The play was published by Josef Weinberger in 2009. In 2013, the play was translated into Polish by Karolina Mackiewicz and performed in repertory by the Teatr Polski Szczecin as "Operacja Castro"; the director was Bartłomiej Wysozomirski.