Category: theatre

“[T]he Shakespeare Quartos Archive (www.quartos.org) is a free resource that will in time reproduce at least one copy of every edition of Shakespeare’s plays printed in quarto before the theatres were closed by the Puritan parliament in 1642.”

Nightingale, the chief drama critic of The Times of London, “is retiring after a monumental career, having spent 47 years writing theatre reviews.” Beginning June 1, his job will belong to Libby Purves, “a former Today programme presenter, Tatler editor and columnist for the paper since 1981.”

“After struggling in recent years, the ART has created a splash on the cultural scene this season. Under new artistic director Diane Paulus, the company’s first two productions – both immersive, interactive, unconventional takes on Shakespeare – are selling out and attracting many who rarely go to the theater.”

“Making poetry work as theatre is not without its difficulties, though. Theatre needs oxygenation: movement, energy, argument. It takes brilliance and effort to bring something as dramatically inert as monologue to life. And, of course, it needs to be visual, too.”

“The Broadway preview is traditionally a period of a few weeks before the official opening night, when audiences pay to see performances but critics keep silent, waiting for the show to open before releasing their reviews. Lately, this theater tradition has been bumping up against some 21st-century realities.”

The cheap ticket plan “has been credited with diversifying the National’s audiences and at the end of last year the National sold its millionth £10 ticket.”

“He won eight Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire and huge acclaim for such stylish films as Trainspotting, 28 Days Later and Sunshine. But now, … Boyle will make his National Theatre debut next winter, directing an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein.“

“I also wince at conceptual Shakespeare, but for another reason: most directorial concepts are far too timid. Shakespeare was a moderate, nonsectarian humanist? Nonsense. Why not assume that if the Bard were alive, he’d be a bug-eyed anarchist or an eco-terrorist (he did love nature imagery, after all). … [He] certainly wouldn’t be churning out well-behaved divertissements for conservative critics.”

Anyone who arrives late at the play “Madea’s Big Happy Family” should “be prepared for a scolding from Madea herself. During a recent performance at the Kodak, she singled out latecomers as they scurried to their seats. ‘Sit the hell down!’ she said. ‘People pay good money not to have you crawling all over them in the dark.'”

“As soon as you open the press release, you’re forming a view; open the programme and you’ll find a piece by the director. Resistance can start to feel futile. Then there’s the audience: sometimes, particularly on a West End first night, those in the auditorium seem to have been paid to persuade everyone present what a great night we’re all having.”