Category: theatre

“By 1993, when he ended his thirteen years as the chief drama critic for the New York Times, Frank Rich had come to be known as ‘the Butcher of Broadway,’ but the Frank Rich that emerges in the pages of his new memoir is far more Dalmatian than Cruella De Vil.” – New York Magazine

“Despite the work of Pinter, Arnold Wesker and Deborah Levy, Jewish writing is a neglected presence in British theatre. If you want to see an overtly Jewish character on the British stage, you usually have to wait for the ambivalent hero-villains in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice or Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta, both written at a time when Jews were officially banished from the country.” – New Statesman

Singapore’s Public Entertainment Licensing Unit has turned down a permit to stage a play. “Written by Indian playwright Elangovan, the play is about an Indian-Muslim woman’s experiences of marital violence and rape. Staged three times in Tamil in 1998 and last year, it had triggered strong protests from some members of the Indian-Muslim community who thought it blasphemous and some religious groups wanted it banned.” – The Straits Times (Singapore)

London’s National Theatre has been hit by a fresh crisis after the director of a new production of Peer Gynt, due to open next month, returned home to Ireland on medical advice. But his departure was marked by reports of mounting friction between him and the cast at the Olivier Theatre. He was alleged to have been asked to leave the theatre last weekend after shouting abusively at the cast during a preview performance. – The Independent (UK)

“‘The Full Monty’, the hearty singing adaptation of the popular English film about a motley male troupe of amateur strippers, opened last night in a blaze of pure mass appeal. The show calculatedly pushes as many buttons as an elevator operator, but it mercifully doesn’t hammer at them.” – New York Times

Broadway’s Tony Awards are in disarray – low ratings, infighting and intrigue. Now a veteran producer is negotiating to come in to try and restore order. – New York Post

“Why have so many small and midsize Portland theaters gone belly-up in recent years? Why don’t the city’s hip trendsetters have the kind of yen for drama that keeps the Seattle theater scene hopping, from our spiffy professional houses to our fringe cubbyholes?” – Seattle Times

• A major Toronto theatre producer is attempting to do away with minimum requirement for the number of musicians it must pay for its productions. Musicians are protesting. “The technology is around the corner for all of it to be automated and to bury us. Right now [the minimum] is all we have, and we don’t want to let it go.” The Globe and Mail (Canada)

Twenty-five years after its first Chicago performances in a church basement, Steppenwolf Theatre Company is one of the most revered actors’ troupes in the world. “No important American theater ensemble has survived for even close to 25 years with the same core of performers. The troupe has expanded from its original 9 members to 33, but every one of the original members is still active. There is no such thing as a former member.” – New York Times

London’s National Theatre is about to report its first budget deficit since the mid-1980s. The National, which receives government subsidies of more than £1 million a month, has suffered in the past year from bad reviews and some delayed productions. “It is only a slight loss, at £160,000, but that is being seen as a worrying overspend. If the National Theatre is doing well, then everyone perceives that London theatre is doing well – so many would prefer that it was successful.” – BBC