Category: theatre

The Equity actors’ union takes a poll of 408 of its members and finds that the majority of actors (72 percent) earn less than £10,000 a year from their profession. “Performers felt they were seen either as glamorous, arrogant, overpaid slackers or laughable luvvies and that acting is not a proper job”. – BBC

The Guardian’s theatre critic wrote that Stephen Jeffreys’s new play would have been better if he was black. The playwright disagrees: “One of the basic requirements for being a playwright is to be able to inhabit other people’s skins. But why, when no one has ever questioned my right to create roles for women, old people and gays, am I supposed to baulk at the barrier of race?” – The Guardian

Cirque du Soleil, the Canadian troupe that reinvented circuses a decade-and-a-half ago, says it plans to reinvent the entertainment center idea. Announcing an ambitious new project for the bank of the Thames, Cirque says it will also develop “multifaceted entertainment centres in New York, Hong Kong, Las Vegas and London over the next decade.” – The Globe & Mail (Canada)

Chicago’s new $46 million Goodman Theatre promises to play an enlightened role in the ongoing drama of downtown Chicago. “And that is good news for those seeking to breathe life into the city’s moribund theater district.Yet this is Chicago, where no good design deed goes unpunished by meddling from City Hall or its allies, so there’s a catch.” – Chicago Tribune

David Blaine’s recent death-defying ice stunt looks an awful lot like the performance art of the ‘70s. The difference? Now it’s televised and nobody’s shocked. “What used to be some of the more extreme or esoteric forms of performance are suddenly crossing over into the mainstream. It brings up a familiar question: Is it possible to be adversarial anymore?” – Village Voice

Some are bemoaning the rise of what one newspaper has called “popcorn theatre” in London’s West End. “That scenario frets about serious fare being shunted aside as London becomes a playground for famous names wanting to refuel their careers. Or, as The Guardian’s Michael Billington called it in a cautionary turn of phrase, “box-office bait for unwary tourists.” – Sydney Morning Herald (AP)

Cirque du Soleil is expected to announce an ambitious plan today for a 2,000-seat circus theatre and a “revolutionary entertainment hotel” as part of a £500-million redevelopment of London’s historic Battersea Power Station. The plan is to create “an international entertainment village” along the Thames River. – The Globe & Mail (Canada)

Melbourne’s commercial theatre owners are complaining – about the cost of producing, about “subsidised operations at the Arts Centre, gaming-supported shows at Crown casino and the looming distractions of the $400 million Federation Square.” – The Age (Melbourne)

Manhattan Theatre Club is the latest nonprofit producer to venture into Broadway’s commercial turf, with plans to transfer three shows and a takeover of a commercial house in the works. “The debate over what is the proper province of the nonprofit theater vs. the commercial theater long ago was drowned out by the irresistible din of the Broadway box office. It may have been a shotgun wedding between dysfunctional families, but the marriage is a keeper.” – New York Magazine

When the cleanup of Times Square was begun ten years ago, the street’s dilapidated theatres were seen as a liability. But in fact they became the key to the project. “Restoration of the theaters would be tied to construction of new buildings; every time a new tower went up, another theater would be saved. – New York Times