London’s National Theatre is about to report its first budget deficit since the mid-1980s. The National, which receives government subsidies of more than £1 million a month, has suffered in the past year from bad reviews and some delayed productions. “It is only a slight loss, at £160,000, but that is being seen as a worrying overspend. If the National Theatre is doing well, then everyone perceives that London theatre is doing well – so many would prefer that it was successful.” – BBC
Author: Douglas McLennan
THEATRE FOR THE RICH
“In an era in which national funding and patronage for the arts have been all but gutted by Bible-thumping senators, Kersnar has come up with a way to continue doing what he and his partners are good at, and still keep his family out of the poorhouse: Shaking the Tree – a company formed specifically to produce plays for the viewing pleasure, and instruction, of wealthy family audiences.” – Salon
SCARY STORY
Stephen King and John Mellencamp are collaborating on writing a musical together. Yes, it’s a ghost story. “Our goal is some day to end up on Broadway. We’re not going to take it straight to Broadway.” – Chicago Sun-Times (Billboard)
SAYING HIGH TO LOW
“Just last week, architect Daniel Libeskind suggested that contemporary museum designers could learn a lot from shopping malls. Contemporary experience is riddled with such categorical confusions. The commonplace becomes the aristocratic, an elite finds its values affirmed in the everyday. As much as debate on high and low culture seeks to affirm their difference, increasingly what emerges is a recognition of their equivalence.” – The Age (Melbourne) 10/23/00
LIVE HERE
A century ago in Paris, “when artists couldn’t find a place to live, they would look for an uninhabited building and claim their right, under French law, to squat.” The practice has been making a comeback, and today there are some 15 artist squats in Paris. “Some cater to visual art, others to music and still others to theatre.” – CBC 10/23/00
SAYING HIGH TO LOW
“Just last week, architect Daniel Libeskind suggested that contemporary museum designers could learn a lot from shopping malls. Contemporary experience is riddled with such categorical confusions. The commonplace becomes the aristocratic, an elite finds its values affirmed in the everyday. As much as debate on high and low culture seeks to affirm their difference, increasingly what emerges is a recognition of their equivalence.” – The Age (Melbourne)
A LOOK AT A NEWLY-DISCOVERED MICHELANGELO
One of Michelangelo’s early drawings, discovered recently, is being offered by Sotheby’s auction house for an estimated $8-11 million. “The drawing, dated to around 1505, lay entirely unknown to art historians since at least the mid-18th century. It is a striking work in ink, about 10 in. by 6 in., representing a draped figure in mourning. It has about it the solemn air of antiquity.” – Christian Science Monitor
CHILDS RETURNS
Lucinda Childs has been living the life of an exile these last six years in France, where the climate for funding dance is more hospitable than America. Now she’s back in New York, embracing much of what she formerly rejected. – New York Magazine
MOON OVER LONDON
“Before they even set foot on a stage, the dancers of the Universal Ballet are a remarkable lot. They come from South Korea, a country not noted for its ballet culture, and their salaries are paid for by one of the most controversial religious leaders in the world — Rev Sun Myung Moon.” Now they’re coming to Britain. – The Times (London)
WHO CARES ABOUT THE FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR?
“Among the merchants who had come together in Frankfurt, it was not possible to determine whether they were doing any business at all. Everything that was dismissed here in the name of the entire publishing business (“…did all that in New York before the fair”) found powerful confirmation elsewhere (“…after New York, there’s always something new”).” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung