“With many circuses sustained by performers and backstage crew from outside the UK, Brexit is a cause for concern. But as the UK’s leading circus directors tell Douglas McPherson, it is also a chance for them to make their mark.” Why? “Circuses thrive in a recession.” – The Stage
Category: theatre
‘Enormous Upsurge’ In Complaints Of Racist Behavior To UK Equity
“‘In a period of time [during the lockdown] when nothing was happening, we were receiving dozens of complaints from groups and artists, and we’re still receiving them now,’ said [union general secretary Paul] Fleming. ‘There has been a huge amount of dignity issues around hair and makeup through to reports of casual racism in dressing rooms and racist language in casting processes when people are at their most vulnerable.'” – The Guardian
What Virtual Theatre Is Lacking
“When I tune into a play or a devised theater piece, I’m not looking to be dazzled by computer graphics. Clever Zoom backdrops don’t seize my imagination. I want what I always want from the stage: a confrontation with what it means to be human.” – Los Angeles Times
Musical Theatre Competition Criticized For All-White Semifinals; Organizers Cancel It, Candidates Allege Gaslighting
The Rob Guest Endowment is Australia’s most prestigious musical theatre prize, offering $50,000 (Aus) offers in scholarship money for professional development. In August, a field of 30 semifinalists was announced, and an outcry arose — supported by the candidates themselves — because none of the 30 were BIPOC. Now the Endowment, claiming concern for the semifinalists’ mental health because some have been “targeted and intimidated,” has suspended the award until 2022; the competitors themselves say that they had been about to withdraw en masse. – Limelight (Australia)
Online Theatre Has Become Very Creative. But Can A Model To Support It Evolve?
The best of them have come in the shape of theatrical activism, especially amid the Black Lives Matter movement, made cheaply and with a speed that a live theatrical production could never match. These have included a YouTube series about racism experienced by British East Asians as a result of Covid-19, the Bush theatre’s The Protest after the killing of George Floyd, and Roy Williams’s 846, all of which combined the arts, politics and activism. There has also been the Almeida’s Shifting Tides series, which focused on climate activism in audio plays made by their young actors. – The Guardian
Playing The Lead In America’s First Musical Staged Since COVID (Nah, No Pressure)
Nicholas Edwards, who took the role of Jesus in the Berkshire Theater Group’s socially distanced staging of Godspell this past summer: “Every day you feel like the whole world is watching you. … Usually the stage is a safe place where we feel most at home and normal, but it became a place where I was anxious all the time.” – The New York Times
From A Lightning Quick Ascent On Broadway To A Big Zoom Role
Kara Young’s story has a few twists and turns, but right now she’s enjoying the chance to rehearse again – even if it’s on Zoom. “I love rehearsal — it’s my favorite thing in the world. … It’s an actual playground for me: I’m available to play with people. You don’t call it that, but it’s magic.” – The New York Times
The Future Of Theatre
There are many ideas. Many hopes. Stephanie Ybarra of Baltimore’s Center Stage: “We will rely less on the stuff of the stage and more on the physical bodies of the performers and the words they speak or sing and the movement of those bodies.” – NPR
A New Wave Of BIPOC Leaders Takes Charge At U.S. Theater Companies
Peter Marks: “The hires and promotions mark what may be a turning point for a field coming to grips with a challenge from Black, Latinx, Asian American and other racial and ethnic groups: to examine its White bias and bring more diversity into its leadership ranks.” – The Washington Post
Could Ancient Theatres Provide A Model For COVID-Safe Venues Today?
“In the relationship between ancient theater architecture and nature, one can discern in the Greco-Roman school of thought a particular interest in creating the conditions for a salubrious experience of drama. … As an extant example of a remote, outdoor theater flushed with fresh air, Epidaurus has become something of a touch point for theater producers, designers and historians looking to the past to find a way forward.” – T — The New York Times Style Magazine