“The director behind the National Theatre of Scotland’s biggest hit, Black Watch, has announced that he is to leave the company. John Tiffany, who was named best director at this year’s Tony awards for his production of the musical Once, has stepped down as associate director for the National Theatre of Scotland, having held the role since 2005.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
La Scala Ballet Strike: Dancers Back Down, But Chorus Forces Cancellation
The corps de ballet members who were demanding hazard pay for performing on a stage with a 10-degree rake withdrew their strike threat at the last minute, but the choristers – who insist on extra money for memorizing their music and moving in time (the way they do for opera) – continued their walkout, forcing cancellation of the ballet season’s opening night.
Why Were So Many People Upset About Philip Roth Retiring?
Morgan Meis suggests that famous artists at the top of their professions serve, in a secularized and educated society, as something like patron saints. And saints aren’t supposed to retire. “Imagine Mother Theresa suddenly announcing that she was done with her work and would spend the last few years of her life vacationing in the Caribbean.”
The Best Book Cover Designs Of 2012
“We asked people in and around the world of graphic design to name one of their favorite book covers from 2012 and briefly describe its appeal. The results follow.”
Strauss-Kahn-Vs.-Hotel-Maid Case Is Now A Play (A Flop, In Fact)
“The calamitous moments inside the New York hotel that cost Dominique Strauss-Kahn his career, his dignity and possibly even his wife have now been turned into theatre. Some say bad theatre.”
‘Anti-Englishness’ Debate Roils Scotland’s Arts Community
Author Alasdair Gray “triggered a huge row at the weekend when it emerged he had written a hard-hitting essay – entitled ‘Settlers and Colonists’ – … [in which he] expressed opposition to short-term colonists who come north of the border to advance their careers, then head back to England,” singling out certain arts leaders in particular.
How Hollywood Makes Last-Minute Changes In Response To Real-Life Massacres Like Newtown
Reviewing scheduled shows for scenes or jokes that are suddenly too sensitive. Revising or postponing promotions for new action films. And so on. There are now “established procedures for a quandary that has become all too common for Hollywood: how to react with compassion to horrific acts of violence while also protecting a business that often capitalizes on violent and crude entertainment.”
The WikiLeaks Movies Are Coming
The not-quite-finished documentary We Steal Secrets, starring (in effect) Pvt. Bradley Manning and Julian Assange, is the “first of several Hollywood films about the little-known people who grew larger than the most powerful of governments by using the Internet to broadcast their secrets.”
Mao Paintings Cut From Warhol Shows In China
“Andy Warhol’s famous images of Chairman Mao won’t be part of the biggest ever traveling exhibition of his works when they go to China next year, an organizer said.”
Meet The New Director Of The Royal Ballet
Kevin O’Hare, himself a longtime dancer and staffer at Covent Garden, talks about his own performing career and his switch to administration, the challenges of the job and his plans for the company.