Category: theatre

Tricycle Theatre is staging ‘Called to Account,’ which “uses the real words of real people. But in this case, the theater organized the hearing that is the play’s source material, naming two British lawyers, Philippe Sands and Julian Knowles, as prosecutor and defense counsel, respectively, and inviting 15 witnesses with direct experience of the run-up to the Iraq war to provide evidence behind closed doors. Some 30 hours of testimony were then edited down to a 130-minute play.”

Was the student group that walked out in the middle of monologuist Mike Daisey’s performance at American Repertory Theatre the other night told that the show had some strong language? The students say no; the theatre says they were. Meanwhile, the YouTube video of the incident has been viewed 90,000 times…

“Something strange is happening in London theatre: a form of theatrical cross-dressing on which no one has yet commented. If you want to see cutting-edge experimentalism, the National Theatre is currently the place to go. Meanwhile, if you want to explore the English classic tradition, you have to visit the fringe.”

“In the western world, middle-aged women are the chief supporters of the arts,” and yet the inexplicable international hit, “Menopause the Musical,” is one of the few theatre pieces that’s ostensibly about them. Germaine Greer muses, “I’m thinking of a moneyspinner called Prostate Pandemonium…. Wouldn’t it be empowering to see ageing men living their urinary chaos out loud, being upfront and honest about their humiliations, dressing in purple, high-kicking and wetting themselves?”

“Do what you have to do to make a living, but figure out if you’re going to be a hack or your own person” is one sampling from Edward Albee’s unambiguous advice for high schoolers in the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts’ YoungArts program. Here’s another: “Read junk. It’s enormously encouraging to tell yourself, ‘I can do better than that.’ “

“Celebrated storyteller Mike Daisey had barely begun his 90-minute monologue at the American Repertory Theatre when much of the audience suddenly stood up and walked out. One of the put-upon patrons even picked up a glass of water used as an on-stage prop and poured it over Daisey’s papers. The problem? The posse, 87 students and staff visiting Thursday from Norco High School in Southern California, objected to Daisey’s dirty language.”

In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, a Yale administrator decided that she didn’t want any weapons used or portrayed during theatrical productions…

Mike Daisey was performing a monologue at American Repertory Theatre when a large part of the audience walked out: “I am performing the show to a packed house, when suddenly the lights start coming up in the house as a flood of people start walking down the aisles-they looked like a flock of birds who’d been startled, the way they all moved so quickly, and at the same moment…it was shocking, to see them surging down the aisles. The show halted as they fled, and at this moment a member of their group strode up to the table, stood looking down on me and poured water all over the outline, drenching everything in a kind of anti-baptism.”

Aubrey Dan is launching an ambitious big new theatre in Toronto. “Dancap Production Inc. will launch with a packed theatre season for 2007-08 that includes My Fair Lady, Avenue Q, Jersey Boys, 3 Mo’ Divas and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. He is also producer of the current Broadway musical The Pirate Queen and the North American touring production of Marion J. Caffey’s 3 Mo’ Divas.”

“The Star has learned that the Shaw Festival’s advance sales for its all-important mainstage theatre are currently running a frightening 15 per cent behind last year at this point. Shaw went through devastating seasons in 2003 and 2004, leaving it with a $6.5 million deficit, which has been brought down to $3.3 million today, thanks to increased sales in 2005 and 2006, as well as improved fundraising revenue.”