Category: theatre

Italian actor/playwright Dario Fo is being sued for his latest work. “A member of Silvio Berlusconi’s party, Forza Italia, is suing Dario Fo, the literature Nobel prizewinner, for defamation in his new play. Marcello Dell’Utri, a Forza Italia senator, is demanding €1m (£700,000) for damages caused by ‘unfounded, personal attacks’ made by Mr Fo in his satirical play The Two-headed Anomaly.”

A musical about the 1997 slaying of fashion designer Gianni Versace being planned by the La Jolla Playhouse in Californing, is drawing criticism.

The Royal Shakespeare Company still doesn’t have a London home. “The Arts Council has been too polite to issue any precise threats. Nicola Thorold, director of theatre, defers steadily to Michael Boyd and reports that the Arts Council is ‘extremely encouraged’ by the company’s success in cutting its deficit by a million pounds this year. But the implication is understood by all: the RSC’s annual grant from the Arts Council of £13m must, this year, extend to include the capital. For from London’s point of view, a whole year – described as ‘transitional’ and ‘cost-saving’ – has been written off with the Arts Council’s blessing. A period of grace on the brink of disgrace.”

Paul Tetreault, a veteran manager of regional theater companies, was named the new producing director at Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC yesterday, succeeding the late Frankie Hewitt, who held the post for 30 years.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses was a hit in London back in the 80s. This time around though, the show closed in the West End after dismal reviews and only a few weeks. “The critics said the star delivered his lines like the speaking clock, the cast seemed to have been picked because of their more famous relatives and the theatre was half full. Looking back, it seems no surprise that Les Liaisons Dangereuses was cancelled after three weeks.”

The development of UK drama is broken, say many critics. Young playwrights have a catalog of complaints: “The trouble is, there is no middle-ground development. The theatre writer lives an indigent life of development hell that often shows little regard for experience and critical success. It is dependency with an independent tag, so nobody is accountable for the writer but the writer. An in-depth process that includes accountability will provide progress.”

“Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has been named the most influential man in UK theatre for the fourth year in a row by industry newspaper The Stage. The 55-year-old has recently enjoyed success with Tell Me On A Sunday, as well as the lavish musical Bombay Dreams… Lloyd-Webber is also the biggest theatre owner in London’s West End thanks to his Really Useful Group, which owns and manages 13 venues.”

An Australian government report declares that more than half of the country’s mid-size theatres are in financial difficulty. “The report warns of “a coming crisis, unless action is taken” to prevent a negative spiral of declining quality, audiences and sponsorship.”

Broadway had a particularly tough autumn. But “as the New York theatre world welcomed in 2004, it seemed to have popped a couple of hits of Viagra, putting a temporary spring in its step from big Christmas and New Year’s weeks, supported by last-minute rushes for tickets to shows closing out their long runs. Cabaret and Take Me Out shuttered on Sunday, and Urinetown will follow on Jan. 18.”

“John Arden was at the forefront of innovative drama in the ’60s yet has made little money from his work. Said to be the heir of the English literary dissident tradition of Blake and Shelley, he fell out with the UK theatrical establishment and moved to Ireland with his wife and artistic collaborator Margaretta D’Arcy. There he continues to write challenging plays and novels.”