“It’s not as if actors can only work in respectful silence.”
Category: theatre
An Audience Member Tried To Charge His Cellphone On The Set Of A Broadway Show
“Upon receiving his phone back, he asked the usher, ‘Well, where *can* I charge it?'”
If You Think Most Theatre Is Overrated, Perhaps You’re … Right
“The truth is that with any art form you have to wade through a lot of less good stuff to find the gems, and there is a purpose in the less good stuff because that’s how artists, novelists, film-makers and theatre-makers learn. And for the reader or the audience there is a real pleasure in going on a journey with an author or a theatre-maker and seeing them develop over a period of time. If everything was astonishing it would be very dull.”
Can A Theatre Critic Be A Good Playwright?
“Does writing regularly about theatre make you a stronger playwright? I feel I’ve benefited from soaking up others’ work for years; I’m in a constant state of inspiration. (Sometimes I have to tell my own characters to pipe down so I can focus on the show.) My defense has always been that I was an artist—acting and directing Off-Off Broadway—before I became a critic. But there has to be some level of talent to nurture in the first place. If you have an ear for dialogue, an eye for structure, a feel for storytelling, reviewing can sharpen those gifts.”
Most Expensive West End Theatre Ticket Tops £200 (A Complete List Of Ticket Prices)
“Top price seats for The Book of Mormon have reached a record-high of £202.25. This is an increase of a third on last year’s most expensive seat in the survey, which came in at £152.25 and was also The Book of Mormon.”
Canadian Government Okays Sale Of Cirque Du Soleil To US, Chinese Investors
“Industry Minister James Moore said Tuesday the application to acquire the famed circus troupe was deemed an overall economic benefit for Canada. The buyers have committed to maintain the Cirque’s strategic decision-making and creative and artistic development at its Montreal headquarters.”
A New Shakespeare Play?! Computer Algorithm Says Yep
“The play does have all the hallmarks of a legitimate Shakespeare and Fletcher collaboration.”
The Worst Act Of All Time – Perhaps By Design
The Cherry Sisters’ “variety act included original music, bass drum thumping, poetry, mouth harp playing, inspirational recitations, essay reading, fake hypnosis and other artistic expressions. And the audience responded to the whole shebang by hurling vegetables, shouting interjections and behaving rudely.”
Why Theatre Basically Sucks (Except When An Actor Entirely Forgets The Lines)
“The vast majority of plays are distinctly average. They are fairly well written, fairly well acted and fairly well staged. But they do not reflect how people actually speak because dialogue in most modern plays is generally produced to show how clever the writer is or how gifted the actor delivering it is. The tickets are expensive. The seats are uncomfortable. The audiences are pretentious and pleased with themselves, laughing loudly to show they get obscure jokes and cultural references.”
Asian Americans, Playing Roles Well Beyond Maid, Nurse Or Grocer
“When the actress Mia Katigbak was a student at Barnard College in the 1970s, she was the only Asian-American studying theater and mostly got to play ‘maids and hookers,’ she said. One day the department head asked her to join a Molière comedy. She would play the harpsichord from behind a screen, Ms. Katigbak recalls his saying, ‘because there were no Asians in France at that time.'”