Category: theatre

“The pro-gay marriage American Foundation for Equal Rights and partner Broadway Impact are sponsoring dozens of productions of Dustin Lance Black’s play starring local actors across the country this election year. It’ll be shown in states where marriage battles loom, including Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire and North Carolina.”

“There is certainly a place for video projection in theatre and it has expanded theatre’s vocabulary in all sorts of ways. One thing it can’t do, however, is create credible settings for onstage action. Using video technology for settings is nothing but the 21st-century equivalent of the painted backdrop, only with none of the humility about its limitations.”

“Cast members from the 1985 production of Les Miserables will continue to receive royalties from the original London cast recording of the musical, after Equity settled a dispute which began when the payments were stopped.”

“The fight between Julie Taymor and the producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is getting uglier. On Tuesday, producers said they have filed a countersuit in federal court against the director, accusing her of failing to fulfill her contractual obligations on the Broadway musical.”

“Employees at the Comédie-Française have voted overwhelmingly today to return to work after threatening an indefinite strike over parity of pay and protests that technicians and junior performers receive a far lower share of profit-related bonuses than leading actors.”

The theatre company Propeller has made its name by following the Elizabethan convention of using only male actors. One modern (female) commentator has suggested that reviving that practice is discriminatory and perhaps immoral – robbing actresses of most of the few great classic roles they have. To what extent is she truly right?

An exercise in misogyny, consciousness-raising “theatre of cruelty,” or the tale of a spirited courtship that ends up liberating both partners? The Guardian asks directors and actresses who have worked on the play to give their takes.

“f I can’t be a scientist myself–a member of the only group that can authoritatively claim to be moving the sum total of human knowledge forward, inch by inch, while the rest of us argue over football stats and share recipes for bananas foster–I want to at least lend those folks a hand. I will be proud to have at least tried.”

“The company is due to perform The Merchant of Venice in Hebrew during the international festival at the Bankside venue in May. It will mark the company’s first visit to the UK. However, campaign group Boycott from Within has written an open letter to the theatre challenging Habima’s inclusion in the programme.”

“Some agents ‘won’t let their favourite young clients go and do shows in the regions,’ because they prefer instead to wait for potential television work that could pay more.”