At the Habima Theatre’s London performances of The Merchant of Venice, “spectators were met with airport-style security, advance notices of ‘conditions of entry’ and a note by the box office informing patrons that missiles, among other items, would not be allowed into one of London’s most beloved theatrical addresses.” (Protesters managed to interrupt the show briefly nevertheless.)
Author: Matthew Westphal
Vandals Attack 1600-Year-Old Synagogue In Israel
“The fourth-century Hamat Tiberias Synagogue was desecrated Monday night by vandals who sprayed graffiti on the walls and tore up the mosaic floor. The Israel Antiquities Authority suspects extremist ultra-Orthodox Jews who say the authority damages ancient graves during excavations.”
Why Make A Reality TV Series About A Ballet Company?
“‘I had a couple of real obsessions with worlds I wanted to explore dramatically,’ Jane Tranter, the head of BBC Worldwide Productions, which is producing the show [titled Breaking Pointe], said recently. ‘One was ballet, the other was a convent.’ Each, Ms. Tranter said, offered ‘a world which is a hidden world: there’s what the public sees, and what happens underneath’.”
Yet Another Record Box-Office Year On Broadway (Thanks To Higher Prices)
“Broadway musicals and plays had another record-setting season at the box office, grossing a total of $1.139 billion … Revenues increased at a faster rate than theater-going because several Broadway producers have raised the prices of so-called premium tickets.”
After 31 Years, Sol DeWitt Garden Design Planted In Philadelphia
In 1981, DeWitt was commissioned to design a horticultural installation for Fairmount Park. The plan he produced, titled Lines in Four Directions in Flowers, ended up going dormant (as it were) for three decades. Newly completed, Lines stretches out from just beyond the rear portico of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Is The Mariinsky’s New Boris Godunov Anti-Putin?
“At one point in [Graham Vick’s] new production of the Mussorgsky opera] the stage at the Saint Petersburg theatre is swarmed by riot police and protesters brandishing slogans, in a clear reference to the street demonstrtations against Vladimir Putin’s rule.”
In Defense Of Regieoper
The co-artistic director of Sydney’s Baroque opera company (!) argues in favor of the notorious phenomenon of stage directors updating and changing (sometimes in quite perverse ways) the settings and scenarios of classic operas.
Tracey Emin Talks About Menopause
“For women, it is the beginning of dying. … [For] me, [it] makes you feel slightly dead, so you have to start using the other things – using your mind more, read more, you have to be more enlightened, you have to take on new things, think of new ideas, discover new things, start looking at the stars, understand astronomy.”
Culture Wars Down Under: Magazine Fans Flames Of Sydney-vs-Melbourne Rivalry
Limelight, the Australian Broadcasting Corp.’s performing arts magazine, has cooked up a vicious, vicious video inviting us all to decide which city is Australia’s cultural capital. (The magazine has also done a serious study of the two cities’ offerings in seven categories, but only print subscribers are allowed to read it.)
Staging An Ant Ballet (Yes, With Real Ants)
“[Ollie] Palmer’s project, Ant Ballet, is an augmentation of ant societal behavior. By appealing to their most base instincts – hacking the pheromone signals that ants rely upon for communication – Palmer is able to manipulate ants, to choreograph their movements.”