Kenneth Branagh directing his theatre company in Hamlet with Tom Hiddleston in the title role. Reporter Nick Clark has the details.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Buenos Aires Herald, South America’s Only English Daily, Closes After 140 Years
Launched by a Scottish immigrant to Argentina in 1876, the paper became famous for its coverage of the “Dirty War” (1976-83), which the city’s Spanish newspapers wouldn’t touch. Less than a year ago, the Herald had switched to a weekly schedule and laid off most of its employees.
They Just Started Building Manchester’s New Arts Hub, And Already It Needs $2M In Design Changes
“The £110m Factory arts centre is set to be built on the site of the old Granada Studios in Manchester city centre … But now it needs approval for a second time after designers realised the glazed exterior would play havoc with the centre’s acoustics. They have also discovered that the theatre design was too complex and the orchestra pit too small.” The architects are OMA, Rem Koolhaas’s firm.
Finland, Land Of Bizarre Sports
The wife-carrying race is only the beginning: there’s swamp soccer, competitive hobby horse, cell-phone tossing, and the Mosquito Killing World Championship. Among others. Why? “Finns offer various deep-seated factors, including an enthusiastically outdoorsy populace (that goes slightly stir-crazy during the region’s oppressively dark winter months), widespread public access to recreational spaces, and a continuing relaxation of the traditionally reserved national character. (Also, alcohol.)”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 08.01.17
Bard SummerScape’s latest operatic resurrection: Dvorák’s long, bloody Dmitrij
Dmitrij is an opera that keeps growing before your very ears. And growing. And growing, until you have some of the most dramatically apt music Dvorák ever wrote for the stage. … read more
AJBlog: Condemned to Music Published 2017-08-01
Memo to Berkshire Museum: Homeless National Academy Suspends Its School, Slashes Price for Its Posh Digs
The Berkshire Museum’s self-proclaimed deaccession-or-die desperation measure has triggered traumatic flashbacks to the National Academy’s failed attempt to secure its future by selling off important works by Frederic Edwin Church and Sanford Robinson Gifford … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-08-01
Take it from an old friend, Bob, you just gotta see this
Girl from the North Country, which has just opened at the Old Vic, is not easy to describe. Other theatrical events have had strange origins – for example, most of Peter Sellar’s oeuvre, … read more
AJBlog: Plain English Published 2017-08-01
The NYC Influence
Over time, various cities emerge as strongholds of finance: Venice, Zurich, Edinburgh, Singapore, Hong Kong. These cities, though they have many other characteristics, have been known for taking a leadership role at some point in … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2017-07-31
Kurt Weill in 2017
“Wherever I found decency and humanity in the world, it reminded me of America.” That this observation – recorded by Kurt Weill in 1947 – rings hollow in 2017 does not diminish the fascination … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2017-07-30
American English Is Swallowing Up Britain, As The British Shrug And Say ‘Whatever’
“As we approach 2020, the American words the British invited into their homes are in danger of taking over. It has become possible to imagine a time – 2120 would seem a plausible and arithmetically neat guesstimate – when American English absorbs the British version completely. The child will have eaten its mother, but only because the mother insisted.” Peter Preston blames the telly TV and Netflix.
It Is A Truth Universally Acknowledged, That Jane Austen’s Most Famous Sentence Is Perfect For Riffing On
Geoff Nunberg: “If you’re looking to add a literary touch to your article on pension schemes or emergency contraceptives, you’re not going to get very far with ‘Call me Ishmael.’ But ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged’ is always available as an elegant replacement for ‘As everybody knows’ when you want to introduce some banal truism.”
Want To Stay Psychologically Healthy? Don’t Fight The Dark Stuff
“In a cultural age that’s decidedly pro-positivity, the pressure to suppress or camouflage negative feelings is real. However, psychological studies have shown that acceptance of those negative emotions is the more reliable route to regaining and maintaining peace of mind. … Acceptance of one’s dark emotions is now backed by a body of evidence connecting the habit to better emotional resilience, and fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety.”
‘In Search Of Fear’ – Philippe Petit On Being A High-Wire Artist
“I am never afraid on the wire. I am too busy. But … sometimes the sky grows dark around the wire, the wind rises, the cable gets cold, the audience becomes worried. At those moments I hear fear screaming at me. To imagine that one evening I will have to give up the wire, that I will have to say, ‘I was afraid, I met Holy Fear, it invaded me and sucked my blood’ – I, the fragile walker of wires, the tiniest of men, will turn away to hide my tears – and yes, how afraid I am.”
The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women (Since 1964)
“This list, of the greatest albums made by women between 1964 and the present, is an intervention, a remedy, a correction of the historical record and hopefully the start of a new conversation. Compiled by nearly 50 women from across NPR and the public radio system and produced in partnership with Lincoln Center, it rethinks popular music to put women at the center.”