Category: theatre

“[S]urely a large number of people who bring theatre to Edinburgh come with the dream of being discovered and getting their show spotted by a promoter and booked for a tour too. Why pretend otherwise? It’s about money and opportunity and developing your company as much as it is about art.”

“The full seriousness of the failure of a new box-office system at last year’s Edinburgh fringe festival has been revealed with the publication of new accounts.At the Festival Fringe Society’s AGM in Edinburgh yesterday, the board said the failure contributed to losses of £882,407, leaving the organisation in danger of collapse.”

“Transferring productions, especially plays, from London to New York is becoming more common, with the incentives increasingly abundant at a time when creating a Broadway production from scratch is growing more expensive.”

“For 30 years beginning in 1955, this community of 50,000 and its theater were central to the production of Shakespeare in America. But today, the legacy of what the theater once was is running headlong into the reality of what it should become.”

“No one could argue that this three-stage theatrical behemoth with an annual operating budget of more than $24 million isn’t gleaming with renewed purpose. But a two-day splurge of theater… exposed an area of weakness that OSF will need to address to advance its place in the hierarchy of major nonprofit theaters — a midlevel acting company that could use a substantial overhaul.”

“With more than 2,000 companies and almost 35,000 performances, many feel it needs to change radically.”

“Commanding the room is Dixie Longate herself. She is quite a creation: a 6ft, Titian-haired, trailer-trash drag queen in crotch-grazing gingham, peacock-blue eyeshadow and white stilettos. … Dixie may be the alter ego of American actor Kris Andersson, but is also a bona fide Tupperware salesperson. The catalogue I’m holding contains an order form and a UK sales contact. If I want to order those collapsible salad bowls, I can.”

“Want to buy four famous, well-trafficked theaters in the heart of Lincoln Park? They’re yours for just $1.3 million. Owner financing available. There’s just one catch: You have to continue operating them as theaters for at least the next two decades. … It may not be a historic building in architectural terms, but it is in theatrical terms.”

“From the 17th century onwards, an essential secularity seems to have been established in theatre, both in terms of content and architecture. … Yet, in our contemporary world, a certain amount of ecclesiastical atmosphere has been reintroduced into the theatre. Directors make more of the echoing silences of large spaces, while contemplation and awe are encouraged … Meanwhile, much of what’s left of contemporary Christianity seems to have forsaken the same sense of awe and reverence in favour of light-filled modern halls, with barely a nod to traditional religious architecture.”

“Archaeological excavators were stunned to find the original foundations [and walls] of the former Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin’s Temple Bar intact yesterday. They have been excavating the site … for the past three weeks as part of an €7.2m project to reinstate the theatre on its original site, known as Smoke Alley when it was built in 1662.”