Category: theatre

With No Theatre In Paris, A Critic Reviews The Last Show In Town — At Church

Laura Cappelle: “On paper, a Roman Catholic Mass and a stage performance aren’t all that different: Both events involve a cast of professionals addressing a seated, and now socially distanced, audience. The connections don’t stop there. … The ritualistic nature of the event, the dramatic buildup from scene to scene — even the slightly labored monologues — are all part and parcel of regular theater attendance.” – The New York Times

Grading On A Curve? How The Pandemic Has Changed Jesse Green As A Critic

“At a time when an anonymous newcomer can turn out theater faster than an institutional battleship can, it’s impossible not to feel grateful for even shaggy efforts to keep the art form alive…. As I learn to approach this new material with a new eye, I’ve slowly realized that as much as the pandemic has changed what it means to be a theater critic, it has also changed what I as a critic want and need from theater.” – The New York Times

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

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

How The Shutdown Virtual World Has Leveled Creativity

“What has happened, then, during this time without physical training spaces for artists? In the long months that have passed since isolation began, we have had to overcome the creative blocks related to the lack of spaces—theatres, practice rooms, street stages—and have been engaging in discussions about the new challenges, such as the control of our bodies produced by the confinement and public health policies, the rethinking of the staging of our works, and the reformulation of creative projects with the technological resources that we have.” – HowlRound