Category: theatre

“Ancient grudge or new mutiny? Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes has been criticised by Shakespeare’s Globe for suggesting that the playwright’s work is inaccessible without ‘a kind of Shakespearean scholarship’.”

“When I came on to the board of directors, my first question was, ‘Why don’t more nonprofits work together?’ and I got strange looks.”

The creator of “Downton Abbey” and adapter of the script for a new “Romeo and Juliet” recently claimed Shakespeare was too dang hard for the average person without a Cambridge degree. The theatre world begs to disagree.

“One of the concerns is where the next generation of artists will come from. What’s talked about less often is how to nurture the next generation of audiences. It’s all very well creating a funding culture that supports theatremakers, but it starts to look far less sensible if there is no one to see their work.”

So what are the challenges ahead for whoever takes over the top job?

“The Securities and Exchange Commission has decided not to pursue any action against the Broadway producers of Rebecca, the Gothic musical that was derailed last fall before performances began because of a fraud scheme involving phantom investors.”

ATG “has revealed that it is looking into selling the naming rights to some of its historic London and regional venues. The move comes as part of a push from the UK’s largest theatre operator to secure sponsorship deals with commercial brands.”

“The specific challenges range from the practical – in her cartoons, [Alison] Bechdel can depict her parents and brothers at many different points in their lives, while the musical has less flexibility with its flesh-and-blood actors – to the literary: The book’s storytelling is very recursive.”

“Sir Nicholas … said he will often start to watch a play, thinking ‘I haven’t the faintest idea what they’re talking about”. He added: ‘I’m the director of the National Theatre, so I don’t know how everybody else is coping.”

“Staging Kipling in 2013 isn’t the same task as it was in 1962 when Disney first tackled it, or in 1942 when the Korda brothers filmed their resonant version. … New Jungle Book adapters can’t claim the same obliviousness; they must contend with the legacy of British colonialism, American racism, and contemporary identity politics against the backdrop of a multimillion dollar brand.” Mary Zimmerman seems to have met the challenge.