BBC To Revive Upstairs, Downstairs

“BBC Television [has] announced … it is reviving the series, which originally ran on rival network ITV, along with one of its creators and stars, Jean Marsh. Eileen Atkins, who created the series with Marsh, will be hired for the new show. The public broadcaster said the drama will be relaunched with two 90-minute films in 2010 and will be set in 1936. A series may follow in 2011 but that has not been decided yet.”

VW Tests Its ‘Fun Theory’ In A Swedish Subway Station

Volkswagen’s idea (fleshed out at thefuntheory.com) is that if you make something that’s good for people – like taking the stairs instead of the escalator – fun, people will actually do it. Their latest demonstration project is turning the stairs in a Stockholm subway station into a giant piano keyboard; step on a key and get a note. And it’s working.

Historic Shakespeare Volumes, Including Fourth Folio, Headed To UCLA

“UCLA’s Clark Library is to receive a collection of 72 books related to Shakespeare that includes a 1685 fourth folio of his works, two histories that formed the basis of his plays and a 1603 book by Montaigne that introduced the playwright to the words ‘adulterous,’ ‘miraculous,’ ‘depraved’ and ‘scandalous’.”

Iraq National Theatre Reopens After Six Dark Years

“The theatre at Fatah Square in Karrada is protected by blast walls while police are deployed in large numbers in surrounding streets during and after performances. … [T]heatre-goers are not exempt from the vehicle searches and security checks that pervade daily life in Baghdad, [but] the fact that the city is hosting evening shows at all is progress….”