Category: theatre

Broadway has an unlikely new hit – a play depicting the fabled meeting between physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. In 1941, the German Heisenberg was eagerly pursuing a workable atomic bomb for his country and the Danish Bohr was researching quantum physics in Copenhagen. Its success bodes well for a developing genre: science-based theater. – Wired

A British Council-sponsored season of English plays being produced in Paris has been shaking up intellectual French audiences who aren’t quite sure what to make of the “crude language” and campy acting. “To French audiences, the British season has often been disorientating. Should, for instance, they take seriously the camp acting in the Kaos Company’s “Importance of Being Earnest”? Or learn to laugh at Oscar Wilde, an author popular in France as a symbol of resistance to tyrannical British officialdom?” – The Times (UK)

British director Sam Mendes accepted his Oscar for “American Beauty” Sunday and immediately pledged to use his success to draw attention and financial backing to his first love, British theater. Mendes is the artistic director of London’s Donmar Warehouse, where he said his award “will provide power and funds.” – The Age (Melbourne)

In a star turn reminiscent of Nicole Kidman’s striptease in “The Blue Room” last season, Kathleen Turner is causing quite a stir in London for her (equally revealing) portrayal of Mrs. Robinson in the new stage adaptation of “The Graduate.” – The Times (UK)

• As the Humana Festival for New American Plays – the foremost festival of new theater in this country – gets under way in Louisville, Kentucky, theories are rampant about the true identity of playwright Jane Martin. Martin’s plays (including “Keely and Du”) have enjoyed many productions at Humana, yet no one has ever met her. There is much speculation that she is actually Humana founder Jon Jory, who is stepping down as the festival’s director this year. – NPR [Real audio file] 

A great many successful Canadian plays started out as projects for CBC radio. “Requiring only some actors, a sound effects technician and a microphone, it has always been a cheap and easy place to make a start or take some risks.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

It’s not like business is terrible – there are still hits aplenty in London’s West End theaters. It’s just that many of the theaters are having a hard time making a go of it. Are there too many theaters to go around? – The Observer (UK)

A dreadful year for new musicals last year, and this year’s theater awards confirm. Studio Theatre’s “Indian Ink” and Signature Theatre’s “Sweeney Todd” lead the pack. The awards will be presented May 8 at the Kennedy Center. – Washington Post

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has come out with its annual report on anti-Catholicism; the arts section lists 18 plays that contain “anti-Catholic motifs,” including one work by Nobel prize-winning author Dario Fo. The league objected to Fo’s play, which depicts “Pope John Paul II as endorsing birth control and drug legalization after ‘being confronted with thousands of third world orphans.’ Fo’s pope also suffers from paranoia, and is under the care of a witch doctor.” – Backstage

Has it gotten to the point on Broadway that theater people are just grateful that a star like Elton John would sit down and write for the stage, no matter what the project looks – or sounds – like? – New York Times