Category: theatre

“Every so often you come upon an actor’s bio that lists training at a school outside the United States. What makes a performer decide to study abroad and what are the benefits? Six actors who’ve done it” – in Russia, England, Denmark and Italy – “let us know.”

“It may have taken a bit longer than it did in the U.S., but the legit industry in Canada has begun to show signs of vulnerability to the current economic downturn. Theaters have begun canceling shows, reducing seating capacities and slashing prices in an attempt to survive a situation whose full extent probably hasn’t yet been felt.”

“Shakespeare a la Carte originally ran at Pizza Express in Brighton last May, offering audiences the chance to order extracts from Shakespeare plays and watch them performed by actors masquerading as waiters. BBC Radio 4’s version of the show will be recorded live before customers at a restaurant in Brighton next month.”

“‘I have a simple programming principle,’ said the Theatre Society director Paul Tetreault. ‘I try to imagine what Lincoln would have enjoyed seeing.’ This spring brings, somewhat amusingly, ‘The Civil War,’ a musical.”

“Edinburgh Festival Theatre’s £2 million extension scheme has been given the green light by the local authority. Edinburgh City Council has agreed to guarantee a loan of £250,000, to help make up a shortfall in funds.”

“Judi Dench and Leonardo DiCaprio are in, David Tennant and Peggy Ashcroft are provoking furious argument, and Helen Mirren didn’t even make the shortlist for the Shakespeare champions of all time – 13 names to fill a new hall of fame in the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s visitor centre at Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire.” The Guardian is taking an online poll to choose the 13th name from the shortlist.

“An independent report into the box office fiasco at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe has found ‘fundamental flaws’ in the way it was run. The world’s largest arts festival was plunged into chaos last summer when its new box office system malfunctioned. Thousands of people were left without tickets and many performers claimed their shows were undersold.”

“The University of the South, which owns the intellectual property rights for [Tennessee] Williams’s ‘Streetcar Named Desire,’ has threatened legal action to stop performances of the one-man show ‘Blanche Survives Katrina in a FEMA Trailer Named Desire,’ which is scheduled to run through March 15 at SoHo Playhouse.” The play is about “a modern-day Blanche weathering Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Superdome and a subsequent job placement as a cashier at Popeye’s.”

“Neil Munro is stepping down as associate director of the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., for health reasons, the festival announced Wednesday… Munro suffered an infection in 2008 and had to step aside last March from directing An Inspector Calls.“

“After previously saying it would complete its 2009 season before splintering into two new stage companies, the Orange County group, which launched in 1997, will call it a day after its next round of two concurrently running plays.”