Alexis Soloski, who wrote a dissertation on the subject, reminds us that playwrights from Sophocles through Shaw to Kushner and Kramer have grappled with the subject. “It’s only a matter of time before the first COVID-19 plays emerge, and we can … be nudged toward compassion for the afflicted, be constituted as a community of support. Because that’s what theater can do: It can ask us to think and feel beyond the confines of our own experience and find fellow-feeling, immediately and intimately, with those around us.” – The New York Times
Category: theatre
All Major UK Theatres Are Now Dark
“The Society of London Theatre (Solt) and UK Theatre, the industry body that represents nearly every British theatre, announced that, as of Monday night, all its members would close their doors [due to the COVID-19 epidemic]. The groups represent about 50 London theatres and almost 250 others throughout the UK.” – The Guardian
How Shakespeare Became An American Gold Standard
The 17th-century puritans who founded the first English settler colonies were “rabidly anti-theatrical”, and colonial insurrectionists rejecting the motherland in the 18th century would not necessarily have embraced the quintessential English playwright. “How Shakespeare won over America in the early 19th century is something of a mystery.” – New Statesman
Actors’ Equity Mounts A Letter-Writing Campaign For Laid-Off Workers
Here’s part of the letter (note: not a lot of actors are “middle-class” either) for the campaign as shared in tweets on Sunday: “Now is the time for Congress and local governments to put workers first to ensure that everyone who works in the arts and entertainment sector has access to emergency paid leave, health care and unemployment benefits. Payroll tax cuts won’t help those whose theaters are now dark. For every middle-class actor you see onstage, there are dozens more working behind the scenes and in an administrative capacity.” – Los Angeles Times
Some Theatres Have Hired Film Crews Quickly So ‘All That Work Wouldn’t Be Lost’ To The Shutdown
At Signature Theatre in Arlington, Va., the staff hired a crew to film a new play whose run was supposed to last until March 29 – and the theatre is shut until March 30. The idea is not 100 percent figured out yet, and there are definitely Equity and other union issues to discuss, but … “The theater decided it might be able to show the play to patrons still holding tickets by giving them special access to the film online. … Many companies, like Signature, are asking people to donate the cost of those unused tickets to help defray expenses at an uncertain juncture.” – The Washington Post
Canada’s Stratford Festival Has Canceled All Performances Through April
It’s not a surprise, considering that everything else is canceling, but it’s a massive blow. “Gaffney said the decision will have a ‘multi-million-dollar impact on our organization and the surrounding tourism economy.'” (The Oregon Shakespeare Festival and its area are facing a very similar economic disaster.) – CBC
All Nine Members Of British Equity’s Minority Committee Resign
First came the comments from actor Lawrence Fox; then came the tweets labeling him “a disgrace” after his appearance on the show Question Time; then came Equity’s official apology for the tweets and removal of the tweets; and then came the mass resignations. Former chair Daniel York Loh: “It’s always felt more like a box-ticking exercise than anything else and our committee is there to look good in photos without really raising any serious or difficult issues (though of course we have, time and time again). Now Equity does not have a minority ethnic members or race equality committee.” – The Stage (UK)
The Best (So Far) In Streaming Theatre
No, nothing can replace live theatre, but since we can’t (or shouldn’t) be at the theatre together, at least we can stream a lot of live performances that were recorded for posterity. – Lou Harry
One Critic Asks The West End To Close Now
Lyn Gardner: “I think theatre is wonderful, but I don’t think it is worth dying for.” – The Stage (UK)
In Which ‘The Atlantic’ Argues That Theatre Shutdowns Could Be Good For Plays
Shakespeare apparently wrote King Lear while the Globe was shuttered because of the bubonic plague (a trope that echoed heavily on Twitter over the weekend). Then there’s the economic opportunity: “Given that the bubonic plague particularly decimated young populations, it may also have wiped out Shakespeare’s theatrical rivals—companies of boy actors who dominated the early-17th-century stage, and could often get away with more satiric, politically dicey productions than their older competitors. Shakespeare’s company took over the indoor Blackfriars Theatre in 1608 after the leading boy company collapsed, and started doing darker, edgier productions, capitalizing on a market share that was newly available.” – The Atlantic