Category: theatre

“While many established theater companies are struggling to rebuild audiences after the recession, several semiprofessional suburban companies are coping by staging blood-spattered spoofs of old shows.”

“As Cirque has transformed from an arty alternative to traditional big-top circus into what it is today, some suggest it has become emotionally cold and risk-averse. … The problem is that audiences have come to expect a certain scale from Cirque, and when they don’t get it” – as with Banana Shpeel, the company’s only real flop – “they may be disappointed.” It’s a danger Cirque founder and head Guy Laliberté is well aware of.

“While many established theater companies are struggling to rebuild audiences after the recession, several semiprofessional suburban companies are coping by staging blood-spattered spoofs of old shows.” For example, A Very Brady Murder and Gilligan’s Island … Of Death.

The disused factory where this admired presenter of experimental theater has been housed is being converted into condos; the plans for St. Ann’s to move into the ruined warehouse across the street have been overturned by a group seeking to keep that warehouse as is.

Yes, it’s an actual participatory board game created by producer Ken Davenport “that tests players’ knowledge of theater and their tolerance for self-abasement. There was singing. There was dancing. There was emoting. There were, thankfully, no injuries, except to pride and reputations.”

“The share of attendances for plays last year was 26.2% – up 0.7% from 2009, the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) said. It was already up 4.3% from 2008. The share for musicals was 59.5% – down 1.2% from 2009. It fell 4.4% from 2008 to 2009. Total attendances topped 14m.”

“I know the version of this play you recognise and miss. That version was great for its time but – and this is important – it might not be right for now. The job of director and actor is to test these plays against now; if they lose charm in some critics’ eyes, then maybe the world has changed.”

Michael Billington: “But, surely, a lot depends on the nature of the play and how you pitch it. … [Sheridan] was writing a social comedy rooted in 18th-century manners and delighting in verbal precision. To place it, as Warner does, in a world that’s part 18th century and part punk fashion and hard rock is simply to sow confusion.”

Howard Sherman: “I don’t mean that there is too much produced. Rather, I believe that … going to the theater four or five times a week, week in and week out isn’t good for you, and indeed, I think it hampers your ability to be a good theatergoer, contradictory as that sounds.”

“[T]heatre is a tremendous platform for journalists, a medium that offers more space, more words, and more scope than newspapers and TV and radio news bulletins. … Twenty-five thousand words have more impact than 250; and they become stronger still when actors are speaking them on a stage before a live audience.”