“Following its premiere at the York Theatre Royal in June, Nick Bagnall’s touring production will stop of at the four battle sites of the period: Tewkesbury, St Albans, Barnet and Towton.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
The Worst Thing About Birth Of A Nation? It’s Effective Filmmaking
Richard Brody: “It’s hard to understand why Griffith’s film merits anything but a place in the dustbin of history … [Yet it] wasn’t just a seminal commercial spectacle but also a decisively original work of art – in effect, the founding work of cinematic realism, albeit a work that was developed to pass lies off as reality.”
Mongolia’s Top Poet Fights Uphill Battle To Preserve Nomadic Culture
Gombojavyn Mend-Ooyo, “considered the country’s poet laureate, and an important figure in the fight to retain its traditional culture. As its fast-growing economy puts its modernization into overdrive and draws its population away from its nomadic roots, he has his work cut out for him.”
Syrian Artists Respond To Civil War’s Devastation
“Founded in Damascus in 2006 by two cousins,” the Ayyam Gallery, which now has offices in Beirut, the Gulf, and London, has become “a haven for Syrian artists and has now become a conduit for Syrian artists to express their responses to the devastation of their country.” Some of those responses have received a huge response online.
The Ikea Effect (A Lesson For Arts Professionals?)
“Imagine that, you know, you built a table. Maybe it came out a little bit crooked. Probably your wife or your neighbor would see it for what it is, you know? A shoddy piece of workmanship. But to you that table might seem really great, because you’re the one who created it. It’s the fruit of your labor. And that is really the idea behind the Ikea Effect.”
Where You Need An Armed Convoy To Shoot A Movie
The director of War Witch, Canada’s nominee for the best foreign-language film Oscar, talks about the experience of filming in the Congo.
Even The Dead Compete To Make The Oscars’ A-List
“Since March 21, 1994, when the first regular obituary segment was dropped into an Academy Awards show, a spot on the yearly scroll of recently deceased movie luminaries has become one of the evening’s most hotly contested honors. And as in most Oscar races it is the focus of sometimes ferocious campaigning.”
Speaking Texas German (Yes, There Is Such A Thing)
“A century ago, more than 100,000 people in a large swathe of south central Texas spoke the dialect. To the uninitiated, it sounds like a strange mishmash of English and German. Today, perhaps 8,000 people can speak it, the youngest of whom are in their 60s.”
Sulfuric Acid Was Not Enough: New Internet Attack On Sergei Filin
“The campaign against the Bolshoi Theatre’s artistic director Sergei Filin, who recently suffered an acid attack, is showing no signs of slowing. As Filin undergoes a series of operations in Germany to save his eyesight, a bogus statement in his name surfaced today on the internet.”
Bolshoi’s Boss Publicly Blames Dancer For Poisonous Atmosphere At Ballet
The theater’s general manager, Anatoly Iksanov, “told Snob magazine the [acid] attack [on ballet chief Sergei Filin] was the ‘natural consequence’ of a chaotic situation created by dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze. He also accused Tsiskaridze of helping to bring down former ballet director Gennady Yanin in 2011.”