It behooves arts journalists to integrate into the arts as conscientious equals and not “objective” observers. This means journalists must establish permanent vested interest in the social aspects of the arts. Arts journalists must stand with our fellow artists against violence. Remaining outside of the struggle toward safer spaces for victims and justice for the entire arts community sends the message that journalists stand with the abusers. We must take a stand against abuse publically, and also personally.
Category: theatre
Can This Playwright Make Snooker Into Compelling Theatre?
The question seems even more unlikely when one finds out that the play in question is titled The Nap. But the playwright is Richard Bean, who gave us One Man, Two Guvnors. As he tells Roslyn Sulcas, “[Snooker] is sociologically quite interesting, because it’s a working-class game. You read the autobiographies of the top players, the tropes are exactly the same: alcohol, gambling, fast cars, women trouble, dystopian families. That’s your raw material really. At the same time it’s unbelievably difficult, and it’s like playing first violin in the Philharmonic.”
In Two Years Acting In Lynn Nottage’s ‘Sweat’, Here’s What One Cast Member Has Learned
John Earl Jelks: “If you live in L.A. or New York or Chicago or one of these major cities, you don’t really think about these people, but 100 miles outside of any of these places, life is so different … How did we end up forgetting about these people? Because that’s what happened.”
Toronto’s Soulpepper Gets A New Executive Director
She is taking over an organization that recently experienced significant turmoil following allegations of sexual misconduct against founding artistic director Albert Schultz, and his departure from the organization in January along with executive director Leslie Lester. (Schultz recently settled with his four accusers out of court).
NY Times Critics Try To Make Peace With The Jukebox Musical
“Ben Brantley and Jesse Green, the Times‘s chief theater critics, joined the critic Elisabeth Vincentelli to answer the big questions: Why are the bad ones so bad? Why are the good ones better? And are there good ones? Scott Heller, the theater editor, played referee. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation, set to the music of Abba, the Go-Go’s, Donna Summer, Bob Dylan and more.”
How Caryl Churchill Has Transformed British Theatre
As Churchill turns 80, writer David Benedict – with contributions from such luminaries as Vicky Featherstone, Rufus Norris, Lucy Kirkwood, and Dominic Cooke – takes an extended look at the powerful effect her work has had and the way younger playwrights have been influenced by her.
New Club In London Specifically For Black Theatre Audience
Says Black Theatre Club founder Steven Kavuma, “It’s a safe space environment where black people can freely talk about a play that is either about the black experience or is a classical play that has black bodies in it. We don’t have safe spaces where black people can freely talk about a play. Black people don’t feel comfortable being at theatres, because theatres are white spaces.”
Warning: UK Theatre Audiences Are Becoming More Middle Class As School Visits Decline
“The danger, or the sad thing for me, is that the wonderful audiences that come [to children’s theatre] on the whole are quite middle-class – they are the type of parents who want their children to go to the theatre. What we all desperately want is children who are not automatically going to come to the theatre because their parents wouldn’t take them, and the schools are the ones that are going to bring them.”
Does activist Theatre Demand Active Criticism?
We are beyond having reviews that are summaries and opinions on aesthetics. We need context and attention to detail in criticism. And we must not turn a blind eye to a playwright’s activism.
Shaw Festival Tries Every Way It Can To Engage Audiences Outside The Theatre
“[Artistic director Tim Carroll] points to the nearly endless number of meet-up opportunities: the post-show talkbacks, the cocktail hours, the classes and clubs, the pop-up patios, the escape rooms, the speakeasy jazz nights, and garden tours, some of which are for friends and members only, many of which are open to all. ‘I think all of that is as much part of the Shaw experience as coming to the shows,’ Carroll said. ‘People sign up for the whole ticket.'”