Lyn Gardner: “Maybe – and I am just saying maybe – as people communicate differently and engage differently with the world around them, theatre may have to adapt, and not just fall back on conventions.” Exhibit A: the Edinburgh Fringe.
Category: theatre
Here’s Why It Isn’t Fair To Review Cumberbatch’s Hamlet While It’s In Previews
“It’s not unusual for a journalist to completely redraft an article or review, so why should it be strange to do the same to a play? Theatre is a living organism. You only know if your show is working when you see it with an audience. You can also tell when it isn’t working – it’s horrible and you desperately try to figure out how to make it connect.”
Where They’re Turning Old Railroad Tunnels Into A Permanent Performance Space
“Railway tunnels in Bristol that date back 175 years are to be transformed into a new performance space. The underground venue, which will be called the Lo-co Klub, is located in the arches beneath Bristol’s Temple Meads station, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in the 1840s.”
Honoring Community Theatre
“We are living in an age when we get to choose our communities. I could be a sports fan, or a gamer, or build houses for Habitat for Humanity, or a zillion other things. But my real friends, my chosen family, my loved ones, they almost all do theatre. Many of them get paid. Many of them don’t. The ones that don’t make theatre are board members, boosters, donors, and most importantly, an audience.”
Benedict Cumberbatch Pleads With His Fans To Stop Filming ‘Hamlet’
“The Sherlock actor made his debut as Hamlet at the Barbican last week but found the distraction of red lights in the audience so ‘mortifying’ that he stepped outside the stage door after the show to ask the waiting throng for their help.”
Dramatists Guild Blasts Minnesota Theatre Fest For Disrespect Of Scripts
“In a letter to Daved Driscoll, artistic director of Words Players Theatre, Doug Wright, president of the Dramatists Guild, took issue with guidelines that said the theatre’s directors and casts reserved the right to change submitted playscripts in any way they chose, while offering the playwrights no money for the use of their plays.”
No Disrespect Intended: How A Play-reading Event Grew Into A Big Misunderstanding
“Our intention was almost the opposite of what it has been perceived to be. It was out of our respect for
playwrights that we wanted to be clear about what we were and were not undertaking. Obviously, that attempt at clarity was a dismal and embarrassing failure. Disrespect was not remotely intended.”
Two London Papers Review First Preview Of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet, And The Theatre Community Is Not Happy
The culprits were The Daily Mail and The Times, whose critic called it “Hamlet for kids raised on Moulin Rouge” – prompting theatre folk to suggest that the public should be able to read and judge the first drafts of her reviews.
What To Do With Your Theatre App? Take People Backstage
“National Theatre Backstage officially launches next week and will curate media from existing outlets that the NT uses, such as YouTube and Soundcloud, alongside specially commissioned content. It will also include articles from the theatre’s archives. The app will enable audiences to buy digital programmes of the theatre’s plays.”
How “Hamilton” Transcends Theatre To Become Great Theatre
The show breaks every rule of Broadway success. “There are no movie stars and it’s not a revival. It’s storytelling and an original piece of theater that has inspired all this excitement.”