FN+PC

Draft text and proposed graphics for the Playgoer's Companion for //Frost / Nixon//
Dusty Green

-Peter Morgan was born on 10th April 1963, in Wimbledon, London, UK. His family fled Germany during the Second World War, his father was a German Jew and his mother was Polish. Morgan lost his father at the age of 9 and was sent to a Roman Catholic boarding school. He studied English and Fine Arts at Leeds University and began writing scripts for plays that were performed at the Edinburgh Fringe festival. Morgan began writing for a number of television series including //The Deal// and //The Jury.// After his work on the film //The Queen,// he was awarded a Golden Globe from the Hollywood Foreign Press in 2006. Also in 2006, Morgan's theatrical version of //Frost/Nixon// was first performed in London. He has worked on a number of films in recent years, including: //The Last King of Scotland, The Other Boleyn Girl,// and //Hereafter.// In 2007, Morgan received the Kanbar Award for Excellence in Screenwriting, from the San Francisco International Film Festival. Peter now lives in Vienna where he continues to write for television and film.



-The Watergate Scandal was one of the first major public embarrassments of a president that the American public could follow on the daily news. The scandal was a result of a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, the Watergate office, in Washington, D.C. In July of 1972, five men were arrested for breaking and entering into the Watergate complex. The FBI investigation linked the men to the 'Committee to Re-elect the President', with the aid of illegitimately collected money, or a 'slush fund'. The investigation revealed that President Nixon was involved in trying to cover up the breaking and entering. The result of the Watergate Scandal was the eventual resignation of Nixon. The scandal remained with the American people for years to come, and shortly after the president's resignation, the Frost/Nixon interviews began.

-Richard Milhous Nixon was born January 9th, 1913 and died April 22nd, 1994. Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, and the only President to resign from the position, and be elected twice. He graduated from the Duke University School of Law in 1937, and served in the United States Navy. Some of his major achievements include: negotiating a ceasefire with North Vietnam, opening diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, and working to create the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union.



-//Frost Nixon// originally premiered in 2006 at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in London, and was directed by Michael Grandage. The cast included Michael Sheen as David Frost, and Frank Langella as former president Nixon. The play was received with enthusiastic reviews from the British press. In 2007 the play moved to Broadway where it would be performed 137 times. The cast remained the same, with Sheen and Langella playing Frost and Nixon, and the reception was phenomenal, the New York Times heralded the play, calling it 'briskly entertaining'

(Cathy Doucette)

Sir David Paradine Frost was born Aprith 7th, 1939 and is a British comedian, writer, and media personality. Known primarily as one of the fathers of political satire on television, he has been on television since the early 1960's, hosting a long list of television programmes such as "The Frost Programme", "Frost on Friday", "A Degree of Frost", "Not So Much A Programme", and the current "Frost All Over The World". "The Frost Programme" was the first current affairs programme to use a participating audience. Frost had the opportunity to interview such people as The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Orson Welles, and Prince Charles. Frost is mainly known for creating the commonly used catchphrase, "Hello, Good evening, and Welcome!", and for his eventual interviews with the then resigned president Richard Nixon in 1977. Those interviews helped Frost establish his American fanbase

Synopsis:

The interviews between David Frost and Richard Nixon drew one of the largest television audiences ever for a news program. The world was wondering whether Richard Nixon would be able to evade the questions that were on everyone’s minds. Viewers tuned in daily, hoping for a confession, or an apology from Nixon. The play, written by Peter Morgan, follows the drama and the aftermath surrounding the 1977 television interviews. Morgan’s play shows how closely related the world of politics can be related to the world of business media, as each man has their reason for doing the interviews. Parallels are drawn between the two men in their reasons for taking part in the interviews, as Frost attempts to revamp a dwindling television career, and Nixon attempts to turn his misfortune around. These interviews include questions regarding the infamous Watergate scandal, which presents risks to both partakers.

comment

Tyler

The only comment i have is that in the presentation you said that some aspects of the play like the movie are suspect, or somewhat based on rumor, for instance the drunken phone call were nixon talked about cheese burgers. It might be good to just put in a quick sentence mentioning it, so that people don't walk away form it thinking that it was a 100% factual interpritation.

Ang Moore

The only thing that I see that would add to this would be some review quotes to fill it out. The information seems to be pretty good. Did we find out how American audience responded to the interviews, did it change the way that they viewed Nixon or confirmed what they thought of him? Hard info to find out, I think that is why the reviews might give indication as to reactions to this popular event. I also think trivia like what Tyler suggested is also interesting to read about in the above comment.