Author: Matthew Westphal

The Mythification Of John Lennon

“Myths are for figures even greater than [legends]; gods. And John Lennon has indeed achieved a kind of deific immortality – thanks in part to the appropriation of his persona in works of fiction and drama. With portrayals of him that have cast him as everything from unemployed layabout to Labour Party leader, wise old fisherman to actual psychedelic godhead, Lennon’s life has been romanticised, rehashed and rewritten since his death, to the point where the myth is often more real than the man. … And the [process] began almost as soon as his life ended.” – BBC

What August Wilson’s 10-Play Pittsburgh Cycle Did For American Culture

“He introduced a frank, original view of the nation onto the stage. … His characters collide with the expectations of white America, but they also collide with one another, in itself radically humanizing — to have ordinary Black characters with different views and dispositions, as opposed to sharing a monolithic experience — in an era when few such stories found their way to Broadway. But Wilson also bestowed Black audiences with a different gift: a reconsideration of time, measured in and by the lives of the African-Americans living it.” – T — The New York Times Style Magazine

The Quarrie Awards, Celebrating The Best Of Quarantine Culture

“Vulture brings you … our first, and hopefully last, ad hoc awards for the culture that came out of our year in quarantine. … Some of it was absurd, some ingenious, some unintentionally amusing, some frankly reprehensible (and therefore unforgettable). And all of it kept us just on this side of sane, as we dragged our withered bodies through the longest nine months on record.” – Vulture

Dean Of South Korean Contemporary Art, Suh Se Ok, Dead At 91

“A student of calligraphy, Suh and his [avant-garde] compatriots were intent on forging an experimental, distinctly Korean form of ink painting, eschewing the Japanese techniques that had held sway during its colonial rule of the peninsula, which ended in 1945. They were in dialogue with American and European postwar abstract painting movements such as Art Informel, while spurning their tools, unlike many of their Korean contemporaries.” – ARTnews

What David Hallberg Really Loves About The Australian Ballet

Well, besides the fact that the company saved his mangled foot. “I can’t tell you how nice it is to come into an organisation that has positivity embedded in it. It is a trait I admire in Australia itself. I lived in Moscow for years; there isn’t much positivity roaming around Moscow or the Bolshoi Theatre for that matter. I mean [the Bolshoi] is a fabulous, world-class company to which I am very grateful for the experience, but the AB has this can-do belief in doing the best they possibly can do.” – Dance Australia

Saving England’s Christmas Pantomimes From COVID

In York, they’re taking the panto around to socially distanced audiences at community centres in every neighborhood. In Coventry, they’re streaming from a studio and using sound effects in place of audience responses. In Liverpool, they’re acting in cinemas with scenery projected on the screen. A South London actor shot a panto in his back garden. Several cities are hosting drive-in pantos, and the BBC has hired major stars for a broadcast. – BBC