Category: theatre

Broadway’s new season is about to open. “Unlike in previous years, there’s no potential blockbuster in the wings, no “Hairspray,” “Wicked” or “The Producers” that has the town buzzing with anticipation and hope. One could say that so far it appears it may be a rather ho-hum season, but it’s still early, and over the next few months some shows will drop off, some will be deferred and, more important, others will emerge and be added to the menu.”

Many people find film easier to relate to than theatre. Theatre, for many, is too unrealistic, too tied up in its unnatural conventions. But what about a film that takes theatre at its core?

At the recent Playwrights Showcase of the Western Region at the Arvada Center in Denver, Steven Fendrich took issue with the kinds of plays considered for young people. “At the showcase, which included four new works for young audiences, Fendrich championed age 6 as the baseline for material to be considered publishable. He admonished several authors for using sophisticated language and references to historic figures children ‘could not possibly be expected to understand’.”

Was there really such a thing as a Golden Age of Broadway? A filmmaker goes in search of the answer.

“Perhaps there are no earth-shattering revelations in the recently released summer edition of the 2004 Zagat Survey New York City Theater Guide, covering 62 Broadway and Off-Broadway productions as reviewed by 15,760 theatregoers. Still, the public opinion poll, conceived as a consumer guide to theatre, does offer some interesting insights about the habits of audience members besides their ratings of plays and musicals.”

More than a year ago, New York City passed a law banning cell phone use in theatres. Many thought the ban was unenforceable. “Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway house managers asking audience members to turn off their cell phones before a performance begins is now a completely common practice. But has there been 100% compliance? (Anyone who attends the theatre today might suspect otherwise.) Has anyone paid the fine? Has anyone been physically removed for defying the law?”

“Sydney’s independent theatre scene is thriving. Whether or not it’s a by-product of the lack of work available, it’s a sign that certain practitioners aren’t content to leave their unemployed fate in the hands of others. Actors, directors, writers and designers are joining forces to produce their own stories, show their work and hone their craft.”

More than 1,000 people bought tickets for “Le Soulier de Satin,” an 11-hour-long French play that has been promoted as a dramatic highlight of the Edinburgh International Festival. Actually making it through the performance, however, was another matter.

A new play about Hadrian’s Wll is being performed… along Hadrian’s Wall. “They will step out along 84 miles of the Hadrian’s Wall path, a national trail opened last year, while the lucky stage manager will ride the route in comfort with the baggage in the company van. The day after each show in communities along the wall, the six actors plus the playwright will don boots and waterproofs and give another kind of blistering performance, striding 10 miles to the next venue.”

Guardian journalist Paul MacInes figured he’d seen enough bad stand-up comedians do their thing. So he decided to give it a try himself at the Edinburgh Fringe. “As it turns out, few of them are as rubbish as me. Fired into the bearpit of Edinburgh’s most notorious stand-up spot, I was to leave clawed, gouged and with a tenderised groin. I wasn’t expecting the mauling I got. Indeed, I may never get over it.”