Several outfits in New York are trying it, and Jesse David Fox checked one out. “Comedy clubs are agreed-upon spaces where we allow comedians to say whatever they want. But now we have, as [Sean] Patton called it, ‘filthy hoo-ha talk’ floating into the air for anyone to hear. … Also, you don’t think about how important ceilings are until there aren’t any. Comedy benefits from trapping the laughs in, allowing one joke to ride off the momentum of the previous one. When that’s not possible, laughs float away into the air.” – New York Magazine
Category: theatre
How You Translate The Madcap Edinburgh Fringe Online
The festival’s cancellation has been a big blow to long-term fans — and to the 30,000 performers who travel to the Scottish city each August to show their work. To fill the gap, some artists have gone online to try to capture the anarchic, diverse and somewhat overwhelming experience of being at the Fringe. – The New York Times
In The 2016 ‘Much Ado’ On PBS, Shakespeare Conveys How Much Black Lives Matter
This is a good time for some required quarantine viewing, no? And it’s always a good time to check out how good directors, dramaturgs, and designers (not to mention actors) can turn Shakespeare’s plays into a living, breathing commentary on contemporary life. – LitHub
Will Britain’s First Live Show To Return Actually Make It Back To The Stage?
Actors rehearsing for the musical Sleepless get test results within 45 minutes on an app. One of the actors says, “It does actually feel amazing to just be hearing people sing again. It’s made me realize the escapism of theatre and how much people will love to see it again.” (Especially if the audience can also get those speedy tests?) – BBC
The Theatre Of Giving Convention Speeches When There’s No In-Person Audience
The impresarios of the Democratic and Republican national conventions are facing the same theatrical problem that playwrights, stand-up comics and concert singers have been grappling with since the pandemic darkened our stages: how to simulate the look, sound and feel of live performance. – Los Angeles Times
How The Young Vic Was Born, 50 Years Ago
The idea came from Joan Plowright and her husband, Laurence Olivier, who was then running the National Theatre at the Old Vic. They and colleagues wanted an additional theatre that would target audiences aged 16 to 24 and give young actors a place to develop. Here’s how they made it happen. – The Stage
Massachusetts Orders Two Live Plays In Berkshires To Reduce Audience Sizes
The first two theater productions in the U.S. since lockdown to be approved by Actors’ Equity for performing before an in-person audience, Godspell at Berkshire Theater Group and Harry Clarke at Barrington Stage Company, “will each allow only 50 people to be present — down from 100 — after the state of Massachusetts rolled back its reopening protocols in an effort to slow the spread of the disease.” – The New York Times
If COVID Means Audiences Can’t Sit Through These Shows, Then They Can Walk Through Them
“Now several companies are attempting variations on what is sometimes called promenade theater — outdoor productions in which audiences move as they follow the action. The form — a cousin to street theater — has a long tradition, particularly in Europe, but has new appeal in the United States this summer because of the relative ease of keeping patrons apart outdoors.” – The New York Times
Five Months Into The Pandemic, How Are The National Theatres In England, Scotland, And Wales Holding Up?
Some better than others. The big, building-based, high-overhead companies in England, the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Co., are “haemorrhaging money,” while their smaller counterparts in Wales and Scotland, without theatre buildings to maintain, are doing surprisingly well. Lyn Gardner reports. – The Stage
In Malawi Theatre Artists Debate: Low Ticket Prices Or Making A Living…
On one side of the debate, there were those who said the low prices were a way of coping with the prevailing circumstances in our economy. On the other were those who want art to claim its value and who feel like arts students should know better the value of art. They believe low prices undercut the theatre groups that charge a higher, more professional rate. – Howlround