Category: theatre

“The RSC today publishes a learning manifesto arguing for children to start Shakespeare as early as possible, to see it live and to learn it through drama and practical workshops.”

“We have a revivified RSC, a National prepared to take extraordinary and bold risks, a fitfully intelligent raft of musicals and a collection of new companies, including Kneehigh and the scintillating Punchdrunk, prepared to reinvent what they think theatre should be capable of with each new show. So, why is it that a trip to the theatre these days so often leaves the feeling of a meal half eaten, of being served an appetiser rather than a main course?”

Boston’s American Repertory Theater “is at a critical juncture in its decades-long history as a Harvard affiliate,” and one critic says that the company is in sore need of direction. “Harvard, like any canny investor, isn’t going to pony up the big bucks unless it foresees a reasonable return on its investment. That return may not have to come in the form of cold cash; intellectual richness, international cachet, and free-flowing creativity are all valuable assets for a university.”

Berkeley Repertory Theater must be one of the most influential small companies in America, and lately, a surprising number of big-time New York productions have roots at Berkeley Rep. “The company continues to pride itself on producing provocative, often overtly political theater, the kind that generates loud and clamorous debate.”

Michael Billington’s The State of the Nation and a new biography based on the life of Rudolf Nureyev are among the six finalists shortlisted for this year’s Theatre Book Prize by the Society for Theatre Research.

“In the past month, CanStage has been caught up in a whirlwind of negative publicity” including high-profile resignations, firings, and financial crises. Now, the company has unveiled a new plan to collaborate with three other Toronto theatre companies in what is being called the Berkeley Street Project.

“At least 13 Broadway producers – a cynical lot who’d rather have Tony Awards where their hearts should be – are chasing the rights to a stage version of what the BBC recently called the most romantic movie of all time.” The adaptation of Noel Coward’s “Brief Encounter” is currently running in London to great acclaim.

“King, who has written numerous best-selling novels, has written the script for ‘Ghost Brothers of Darkland County,’ with music by John Mellencamp. The play will open at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre in April 2009, with the object of getting it ready for a Broadway run.”

“It used to be the case that actors would be formed into companies and would take on new roles as the plays, but not the companies, rotated.” That system went away, but lately, rep companies are making a comeback. “Of course, what with commitments to film and TV such companies cannot be set in stone, but there is something enjoyably comforting about returning to the National and recognising familiar faces being given the opportunity to tackle radically different roles.”

Broadway is awash in plays. But “the embarrassment of riches seems likely to have upped competish for the playgoing aud, generally understood to be much smaller than the tourist-fueled tuner demo. Presidents’ Day weekend brought major increases in musical sales — but plays rose in much lesser proportion.”