The Royal Shakespeare Festival is producing a festival of new works, its first serious new work at Stratford since 2001. “The recommitment to new writing signals a return to the RSC’s traditional values, widely seen as having been dismantled by Boyd’s predecessor, Adrian Noble, who moved the company out of its London base at the Barbican, and threatened to bulldoze the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) in Stratford.”
Month: April 2004
How Can West End Theatres Justify Ticket Prices?
“To many, the West End feels like the airline industry in the days before Easyjet and Ryanair arrived: prices always rise faster than inflation, but the product never really improves. Sure, some of the stuff on stage is superb, but the customer service is terrible. The seats are generally cramped, the toilets are tiny and the bars are usually worse.”
BBC Assailed For Lack Of Creativity
The BBC has been criticzed in a report that says viewers think the originality and creativity of TV has slipped. “The BBC was singled out by Ofcom yesterday and told to stop chasing ratings and making copycat television shows as the media regulator claimed current affairs, the arts and religious programmes were being pushed out of peak viewing hours on terrestrial channels.”
Arts Programming Ranks Last With BBC Viewers
What programs do BBC viewers most value? “High quality news topped the list of ‘public service’ programming – 70 percent of respondents said it was important for society and to them personally. Then came sport, drama and, perhaps surprisingly, soaps. Viewers said they valued them because they dealt with current social and health issues in an engaging way. Right at the bottom came arts and religious programmes – fewer than 10 percent thought these were of particular value to society.”
Protests Over Philly Arts Cuts
Philadelphia cultural leaders are protesting the mayor’s plans to cut $4.4 million of cultural funding. “The city now spends just 12 cents per $100 on the city’s arts and cultural sector, which in turn supports 11,000 jobs, generates more than $560 million in regional spending and returns $6.5 million in city tax revenue, according to a 1998 Pennsylvania Economy League study.”
The Top-Grossing Canadian Movie Of All Time? (You Won’t Believe It)
There’s talk of a remake of the 1980’s teen gross-out comedy “Porky’s. But that isn’t the news. The real news is that “Porky’s” is the Canadian movie box-office champ of all-time. “The hard things to remake are the ones that were good. But this one was terrible.”
FCC Chairman Weighs In On Indecency
FCC chairman Michael Powell says he doesn’t support a bill in Congress that would penalize broadcasters over “indecent” conent. “I don’t believe the First Amendment should change channels when it goes from seven to 107. I don’t want to defend that distinction because I don’t believe in it. I think the government should be exceedingly conservative about any regulation of content for anyone.”
The Uneven Martha Graham
Robert Gottlieb writes that one of the most interesting things about the rejuvenated Martha Graham Company is that it shows the unevenness of her work. “Since this reconstituted company emerged two years ago, after the resolution of the legal struggles that had bedeviled Graham loyalists for so long, emphasis has been placed on disinterring Graham relics from the 30’s. This has proved a mixed blessing. Although these pieces all have historical interest, without her animating presence they tend to remain curiosities—foreshadowings of the greatness to come rather than great in themselves.”
The Netflix Connection
In a world of human connections frequently reduced to brotherhoods of similar technological interests, the cult of Netflix is emerging as the new dorky connection point of the high-minded film buff. The online movie-rental service, which offers a nearly unfathomable catalog of foreign and independent films, is the hottest thing in movie rental, but can it be sustained in an industry so bent on constant reinvention?
Vettriano Prices Don’t Indicate Quality
The sale of Jack Vettriano’s painting at a major-league price doesn’t mean its great work. “They are not connected to any enduring artistic value, only to current commercial success and that is a very different thing. Remember when, at the Millennium, the greatest musician of all time was chosen by popular vote? It turned out to be Robbie Williams. He left Mozart, Beethoven and all the rest standing. You can’t compare Vettriano to the great Scottish painters just because of his fancy prices any more than you can compare Williams to Mozart.”