Category: theatre

“More than 40 UK theatres, including the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Sheffield Theatres and the Royal Exchange, have signed a letter to The Guardian calling on it to reinstate Lyn Gardner’s theatre blogs. Gardner is currently contracted to write 150 blogs a year for The Guardian, however these will cease next month to cut costs.”

“The Stage Debut Awards will recognise actors, writers, directors, designers and composers making their professional theatre debuts in the UK. Nominees will be considered in nine categories, including best director, designer and composer as well as best actress and actor in a play and in a musical. A panel of industry experts will decide the winners in each category. There will also be the opportunity for the public to vote on the award for best West End debut.”

“Musical Theatre International selected [Cherry Hill High School East] ‘for its perseverance and dedication to the arts in the face of adversity,'” for facing down objections to the use of the n-word in Ragtime‘s script. “It was only the third time that the New York-based licensing agency has given the award since it was established in 2007.” There was plenty of praise for the production, too, with several professionals saying it was the best high school production they’d ever seen.

Lyn Gardner, whose blog has been featured many a time here on ArtsJournal, had a contract to provide 150 posts annually. That contract has been terminated, evidently for budgetary reasons, though Gardner says she’ll continue to contribute reviews and features.

Mark Shenton, even as he laments the disappearance of arts critics from news outlets all over, writes that “it’s not just that Gardner is one of the best, most vital theatrical commentators there is, constantly drawing attention to things away from the mainstream; she also has a keen appreciation of a wide theatrical landscape. She gets to more theatres around the UK than any other critic I know.”

“In our vision, there would be a version of a formal deep relationship with every significant nonprofit cultural institution in the Valley. If we really believed in this teaching-hospital model, every major institution would have appointments at the institute.”

He has ambitions for Theatre Calgary to be a destination theatre – for companies countrywide and worldwide, and for playwrights. “For it to be a place that authors will want to come to and try out their new works or develop their plays or their musicals and put it on a map on a global level. Because there is an energy and a pulse that is undeniable.”