England is a country awash in culture, with a particularly rich theatre history. Given that fact, you would think it would be difficult to single out one play that best defines the experience of being English throughout history. Not so, says Michael Billington: the two plays that make up William Shakespeare’s epic Henry IV contain everything you will ever need to know about being English.
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All Hail Tate Modern!
Perhaps no museum has done so much for the popularity of contemporary art as London’s Tate Modern. Open for only five years, the museum has racked up an astonishing 22 million visitors, far outdistancing its peers on the international art scene. “Of course, not charging for admission helps, but it has offered more than sensational architecture. And as a result, the Tate has changed the way that Britain sees art, and the way the world sees Britain.”
Seattle Thieves Hold “Repo” Show To Return Stolen Art
Beginning last summer a group of thieves began stealing art off the walls of Seattle galleries. The group thinks it’s making some sort of “statement” about art, though what that is is anyone’s guess. Friday the group gathered the art up at a gallery, and calling it the “Repo” Show, invited artists to retrieve their work.
Police Look In To Stolen Art “Show”
Seattle Police show up at an event held to return stolen art to local artists. The art had been stolen out of galleries over the past year. “To add to the confusion, the Philistine Group deliberately mislabeled all the art on the outer wrapping.”
Dark Days For Children’s Theatre (Not Necessarily A Bad Thing)
Children’s theatre is booming in the UK. But all is not sweetness and light, as the new crop of plays and musicals has traded traditional treacle for an increasingly dark and foreboding view of the world, along with “a suspicion of all those who wield power, which for children of course means grown-ups.” The kids are, of course, eating it up, but their grown-up chaperones may find more disturbing subtext than they are ready to handle.
Do Art Auctions Sell Women Short?
It’s an unpleasant fact that artwork by women consistently sells for less money than the work of men, particularly at contemporary art auctions. So are the auctions and those who participate in them biased? The truth is far more complicated, but not terribly comforting…
Did Hollywood Steal The Crusades?
Author James Reston is considering legal action against director Ridley Scott and movie studio 20th Century Fox after concluding that Scott’s latest epic, Kingdom of Heaven, is based directly on Reston’s 2001 book, Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade. The book was pitched to Scott as a film idea in late 2001, but Scott turned it down, and claims never to have read the book.
The Discount-Airline Of Publishing
The book publisher MacMillan has launched a new discount series. The deal is spartan for writers: “If it decides to accept a novel for the list, terms are unnegotiable; no advance will be paid, though writers will receive 20% of royalties from sales. Macmillan will copy edit books, but if manuscripts need more detailed work, it will suggest that writers employ freelance editors. According to notes sent to authors, such editors “will charge realistic fees and this will not in itself guarantee publication”.
Scotland’s Next Great Composer?
Composing is an art that usually requires great practice and refinement before a practitioner can be judged to have reached the upper echelons. But among Scotland’s crop of hot young composers is a 28-year-old who is already being compared to composing’s elder statesmen. Stuart MacRae is not a relentless self-promoter, but as official composer of the BBC Scottish Symphony, his work is becoming known throughout the UK and beyond.
The Art-Collecting Sheikh Lands In Jail
Sheikh Saud Al-Thani of Qatar went on an eight-year shopping spree that made the 38-year-old the biggest art buyer in the world. He bought more than $1 billion worth of art before he was done. But now? He’s under arrest, accused of mis-spending public money…