Category: theatre

“A new play based on the Proposition 8 trial over same-sex marriage in California, written by the Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black (Milk), will be performed in a staged reading on Broadway in September and then produced at Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern, the University of Michigan, and elsewhere.”

Krystina Nellis: “[We] seem content to parade a few ‘success stories’ as examples of how all-inclusive the arts are … Surely the real goal should be supporting women to stay in the industry for longer than a few years, therefore at least partially addressing the frankly ludicrous turnover in the process?”

“England’s leading drama schools are to charge £9,000 as the standard annual fee for UK and EU students for their higher education courses from 2012.”

“What sets English actresses apart? Is it their dexterity with a turn of phrase, unerring literary poise, or could it be that enviable sang-froid, which comes off as sexy even well into middle age?”

“I’ve always been mystified why the Zagat restaurant rankings score décor on the same level as food. Does anyone really care about the wall sconces that illuminate their plates as much as the food that sits on them?”

“In a blow to St. Ann’s Warehouse, a widely admired theater in Brooklyn, a judge has issued a ruling that essentially nullifies a set of decisions by the federal, state and city governments over the last several years that led to approval of a new home for the theater.”

“Last month Ambassador Theatre Group, the UK’s biggest theatre operator, announced that it will be upgrading each and every one of its 49,000 seats, 11,000 of them in the West End.” The first of them are in place, and Matt Trueman is impressed.

“Your standup is the best in the world, but your improv scene is about 25 years behind us. In LA, you can’t meet a single writer or successful actor on a TV show who hasn’t at least taken a class … Every single writer on every show is an improviser. Over here – well, let’s just say you’ve got the talent. But you don’t have the direction.”

Some 58 UK buildings are on the trust’s 2011 “at risk” register, with the Brighton Astoria and London’s Cochrane Theatre among those facing demolition.

“Sarah Helm, like many, was opposed to the Iraq war. But, uniquely, her husband, Jonathan Powell, was Blair’s right-hand man at the time. Now she has written a ‘fictionalised memoir’ about her experience.”