“If your movie features a Chinese villain, change his nationality. If your plot omits a scene in China, insert one – preferably with gleaming skyscrapers. … If Beijing’s censors dislike certain scenes, cut them. Kow-towing to China has become a reflex for actors, writers, producers, directors and studio executives in pursuit of the world’s second-biggest box office.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Forty Years After Their First China Tour, Philadelphia Orchestra Sees Massive Change
Nine musicians on the Philadelphians’ current tour were also there for the band’s visit to the People’s Republic in 1973, the first by any U.S. symphonic ensemble. They tell David Patrick Stearns their memories of a China without skyscrapers, Madame Mao ordering a last-minute change in the program, and the Chairman’s fly-swatting quota.
British Actors Entitled To Minimum Wage Even For Fringe Shows, Rules Judge
“Five actors have won an employment tribunal that ruled they should be paid the national minimum wage for a fringe theatre show, despite the engagement having been advertised as profit share.”
What Birds Can Teach Us About Human Language Learning
Researcher Gary Marcus explains how birds pick up the grammar of songs.
Edinburgh Fringe 2013 Will Be Largest Ever (Though With Less Comedy)
“The Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme has grown again, with a 6.5% increase in shows in this year’s event compared to the previous one. … However, for the first time in years, the percentage of shows classed as comedy has reduced from 36% to 33%, with a corresponding growth in spoken word and cabaret shows.”
The New Arrested Development Isn’t Even A Series Anymore
Christopher Orr: “The new season of Arrested Development isn’t a season in any conventional understanding of the word, and the episodes aren’t really episodes … but rather a single, eight-hour work of dada televisual art.”
Cairo Opera House Staff On Strike Following Firing Of CEO
“The Cairo Opera House witnessed unprecedented protests on Tuesday, following the sacking of opera house head Ines Abdel-Dayem by the [Islamist government’s] new culture minister.”
Franca Rame, 84, Actress, Playwright, And Partner To Dario Fo
“Over six decades of personal, professional and political partnership, [the couple] wrote a series of well-known plays credited to them jointly. … But by all accounts, their collaboration was so close, and so seamless, that in most cases even pieces credited exclusively to one or the other … bear the stamp of both.”
Stella Adler’s Notes On Acting Tennessee Williams
Slate’s The Vault turns up the great acting instructor’s teaching notes on Blanche DuBois and Amanda Wingfield.
Struggling Iraq Puts Together Pavilion At Venice Biennale
“The first challenge was finding artists in a country where making paintings or sculpture might seem at best a secondary concern compared with keeping body and soul together. But [Tamara] Chalabi, one of the figures behind the Ruya Foundation for Contemporary Culture in Iraq, was determined to dent the mainstream western ‘Newsnight version’ of the country.”