Alexandra Coghlan: “We are, as we’re forever being reminded, the iPod generation – restless and easily bored, seeking our fulfilment in snack-size portions. By rights this should be the era of the short play, our theatres filled not with three-hour Shakespeare but with more immediate, quick-fix theatrical highs, and there are signs that things are changing.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Twyla Tharp On Her Latest Dance Move, The ‘Water Bug’
“[The dancers are] skittering, you know, like water bugs moving across a pond. Sure, it’s hard to remain standing with that much speed across the floor, it’s difficult. But that’s how it should be. You think it’s easy for a bug to walk on water? If they stop, they go down.”
This Museum Likes Having A Painting Alleged To Be Nazi Loot
“For many museums, the prospect of a United States attorney swooping in to seize a painting on loan from a foreign institution on suspicions that it had been looted by the Nazis would be a potential public relations and diplomatic nightmare. For the Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science in Tallahassee, Fla., it has been a fund-raising opportunity.”
Stage Version Of The King’s Speech Set To Tour Britain
“The play on which the Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech was based will receive its world premiere in the UK next year. David Seidler originally wrote [the script] as a play before he adapted it into a film starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter in 2010.”
Monty Python Star Says They’d Hesitate To Make Life Of Brian Today
“Monty Python star Terry Jones says even the comedy icons would ‘think twice’ about doing a religious satire like Life of Brian these days – and that a similar film about Muslims would ‘probably not’ be made.”
Top Dance Company In Adelaide Loses All Federal Funding
“The Adelaide-based Leigh Warren & Dancers company has had its triennial federal funding, worth almost $250,000 annually, discontinued following a meeting of the Australia Council’s dance board in August to assess the funding needs of the country’s small-to-medium dance sector.”
Sydney Ballet Teacher Sentenced For Assaulting Student During Class
When a student whom he had told to sit out and watch rehearsal because she was unprepared left the studio in a huff, Tibor Horvath followed her out, grabbed her arm and physically dragged her back. Horvath pled guilty to “assault occasioning actual bodily harm.”
Chinese Opera Houses Back Away From Sun Yat-Sen Opera
The Sept. 30 premiere of Huang Ruo’s Dr. Sun Yat-Sen at Beijing’s “Egg” arts center was cancelled; the center cited “logisitcal dificulties”, while commissioning company Opera Hong Kong was “told the opera was not politically serious enough.” Now some cast members are trying to back out, and co-producer Guangzhou Opera House has cancelled the piece as well.
Jagjit Singh, Indian Singing Star, Dead At 70
With his wife, Chitra, he led the contemporary revival and popularization of ghazals, a classic form of sung Persian poetry. “[He] performed to packed audiences in India, Pakistan and elsewhere in South Asia and released dozens of albums during his 40-year career.”
Netflix Cancels Spin-Off Of DVD Rental Service
“The New Coke experiment lasted less than three months. Qwikster did not even make it make it out of the bottle. In a swift reversal, Netflix said Monday that it had decided to keep its DVD-by-mail and online streaming services together under one name and one Web site, abandoning the breakup it had announced three weeks earlier.”