Tag: 08.29.06

A Smattering Of Intelligence

Frank Kermode is England’s foremost literary critic. “I don’t at all think that the time we spent on Theory was wasted. One of the great benefits of seriously reading English is you’re forced to read a lot of other things. You may not have a very deep acquaintance with Hegel but you need to know something about Hegel. Or Hobbes, or Aristotle, or Roland Barthes. We’re all smatterers in a way, I suppose. But a certain amount of civilisation depends on intelligent smattering”.

Americans Stay Home; Shaw, Stratford Struggle

“U.S. tourism to Canada fell by 5 per cent in 2005 and will have dropped another 1.6 per cent by the end of this year, the Conference Board of Canada predicts. That leaves the Shaw and Stratford festivals struggling to balance budgets in which as much as 40 per cent of box-office dollars come from across the border, and weighing the economic and political reasons that Americans still aren’t travelling.”

How Oregon’s Acting Scene Can Trump New York’s

“Ashland, Ore., the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, is a small town with a population of around 20,000. The theaters are full, and the audiences — the majority of whom are from California, Oregon, and Washington — enthusiastic. But Ashland is definitely off the radar of New York casting agents. Working here isn’t like doing a stint at the Williamstown or Berkshire Theatre Festivals, where well-known New York actors regularly do shows in the summer. What Ashland offers, however, is significant: a warm, supportive community, a chance to play an unusual variety of roles, and, not least, a degree of job security almost unknown in the theater world.”

Art Critic As Katrina Reporter

When Katrina hit New Orleans, Times-Picayune art critic Doug MacCash jumped into reporting. “Who knew the 49-year-old art critic could tackle the hardest of hard news stories in history? Who would have guessed he’d even be there — and as a volunteer? A couple days later, nearing the breaking point and struggling to focus, MacCash would find himself interviewing Mayor Ray Nagin on a helicopter ride over the city.”

The Victorians: An Arts-District Success Story

“There is a widespread belief in what might be called cultural healing. We have faith that cities can be lightened and ventilated by a couple of museums and galleries, a theatre, an opera house. It can be done, I think – if you emulate the Victorians. Anyone who has visited London with children this summer will probably have experienced what is, surely, the most inspiring example anywhere of a museum and arts quarter that enriches city life: South Kensington.”

Moscow Development Threatens Pushkin Square

“For more than 120 years Alexander Pushkin has seen off every threat. Joseph Stalin deported him (if only 100 metres), McDonald’s first outlet in Russia opened nearby and Chechen militants allegedly detonated a bomb not far from his left foot. All along, the statue of Russia’s most famous poet preserved a bubble of calm in the centre of Moscow. Now, finally, it seems the killer blow is at hand. If the city government gets its way, a four-storey shopping mall and traffic tunnel will soon be built on the square where Pushkin stands on his pedestal.”