Category: theatre

“At a time of year when feel-good carols and Sugar Plum Fairies rule the stage, Vancouver’s Blackbird Theatre Company has been creating a different kind of holiday tradition: hard-hitting, challenging plays.”

“For any British person under the age of 50, the idea of theatrical censorship is totally alien. … But it’s salutary to be reminded that, in Britain, it was only the Theatres Act of 1968 that finally put paid to a system of censorship that existed here for over 230 years. While we rejoice in our current freedom, we should be wary of a creeping caution that exists in the UK and other western democracies.”

“Buffalo has emerged as a major bellwether in commercial theater, which while centered on Broadway relies heavily on tours, which now gross more than $1 billion a year, or at least as much as Broadway itself.”

“The sketchiness of tradition today can’t be attributed to the assault of radical experimentation. Instead, it’s a consequence of the receding importance of theater in our general culture, the dominance of film and TV, and the disruption of the natural relationship between artists and local audiences through a skewed emphasis on commercial marketability.”

“To look back on the year of ‘Follies’ is to be reminded that it’s revivals, not new work, that make American theater go ’round these days.”

“Members of the public are being invited to apply for the chance to be on one of four judging panels for the 2013 Olivier Awards. The Society of London Theatre is looking for people to be judges on either the theatre, affiliate (which covers smaller theatres and non-West End venues), opera or dance panels.”

Actor Nick Asbury: “In the Green Room there is blood on the teaspoons. A bowl of intestines sits in the sink. Leeks are in the fridge. I’m on tour in Henry V with the Propeller theatre company, an all-male troupe … Which means that backstage it’s very smelly, the language is of the gutter, and the testosterone is off the charts.”

“A teenage juror, who interrupted a trial when he pretended to be ill so that he could go and see a London stage show, has been detained for 14 days.” The show that’s landing the young man on the cell block? Chicago, of course. (He had it coming.)

“The Weinstein Company, heavyweight producers in Hollywood, is moving ahead with development of its first stage musical, Finding Neverland, after staged readings of the script and score in London last week that executives deemed a success.”

“Dominic Cooke, 45, whose productions of Enron and Jerusalem transferred from the small Sloane Square venue to the West End and then Broadway, will step down as artistic director in 2013. The venue’s executive director Kate Horton is also departing to become deputy executive director of the National Theatre.”