Category: theatre

Here’s a list of most-produced plays from each year. Yazmina Reza and John Patrick Shanley had a good decade…

“A group of theater artists in Los Angeles is calling for major changes in the city’s stage industry, saying that companies are relying on outdated modes of doing business and that union rules over artist compensation, especially at small venues, need revision.”

“The survey of 2,000 British theatregoers by Ebay-owned online ticket marketplace StubHub found that almost a third spent between £41 and £75 on their own ticket plus drinks to the last show they saw in the past year.”

“Gender equality organisation Tonic Theatre analysed productions staged on September 13. This found that of the 24 productions staged across the top 20 theatres in receipt of the most Arts Council England core funding, women accounted for just 8% of writers, 37% of performers and 38% of directors. Women made up 17% of sound designers, 22% of lighting designers and 57% of set designers.”

Exhibit B came under attack for its alleged racist portrayal of black African people, with campaigners demanding its withdrawal from the Barbican programme. The Barbican confirmed today that it had been forced to cancel the remaining performances due to “the extreme nature of the protest and the serious threat to the safety of performers, audiences and staff”.

“The two best justifications for the practice are a relative shortage of major roles for women and a desire to freshen up overfamiliar texts.” Yet, argues Mark Lawson, cross-casting sets carefully wrought father-daughter and mother-son relationships (Prospero and Miranda, Lear, Hamlet and Gertrude) awry, and “if the governing aim of a production is to make the play seem different, perhaps those involved ought to be doing a different play.”

“Affluent Indian urbanites – till now weaned on a censorship-prone diet of cinema and soap operas – are awakening to this new form of entertainment, fascinated by the prospect of non-stop laughs for an hour. And they’re willing to pay for it.” But comedians doing their usual skewering of taboos face more-than-usual risks.

“We’re creating an intern culture – it’s happening in journalism and politics as well – and we have to be very careful because the fight is not going to be there for people from more disadvantaged backgrounds.”

“That tally makes “Lion King” more successful than any single movie in history. The top film earner of all time is “Avatar,” weighing in at $2.8 billion.”

“[South Williamsport, Pennsylvania] school officials on Friday dismissed the show’s director after months of back-and-forth arguments – which drew unflattering media attention – over whether the [high school] principal canceled Spamalot because of the show’s gay content.”