Category: theatre

There are a few US schools and universities that offer formalized training, but many puppetmasters are still apprenticed or even self-taught. There’s far more to learn than civilians realize.

Wicked has been seen by more than 36 million people around the world. The West End production is booking until April 26, 2014

The first preview performance of Colm Tóibín’s stage play, a monologue starring Fiona Shaw as the Blessed Virgin in old age, was protested by members of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, a not-for-profit organization “concerned about the moral crisis shaking the remnants of Christian civilization.”

“Ask Tom Morris, artistic director of Bristol Old Vic, about his theatre or the city of Bristol, and he is all joie de vivre and enthusiasm. But if the conversation turns to the arts cuts or the future of regional theatre, though, his concerns are obvious.”

“With a new play, audiences never quite know what they’re getting, but early ticket-buyers for Anthony Neilson’s latest piece at the Royal Court were taking an exceptionally wild shot in the dark. Originally advertised several months ago as ‘Untitled New Play by Anthony Neilson’, it was only revealed to be called Narrative on 15 March, three weeks before opening.”

“Many of us … suffer truly bad theater in polite silence, simultaneously angry that we were subjected to it and ashamed that it got to us so.”

“Audiences have become less impressed by the grandiose and are more at home with the intimate, informal and pop-up. There’s a new sort of energy you get at festivals and other events which theatre needs to tap into.”

“A positive reception in the outside world is not the be-all or end-all for a D.C.-bred play; in fact, some actors and others who have focused their careers on District stages shrug scornfully at the notion of out-of-town validation. Yet there is added psychic capital to be tallied.”

It’s not a new idea in the U.S., but in Honduras, a theatre/dance troupe is giving it a try.

Living Room Theatre’s Judith Malina: “I’m in the theater because I’m a revolutionary and I want to make a revolution. I want to make the beautiful non-violent, anarchist revolution.”