The young cast members of “Jerusalem” and “Enron,” in the West End, “do a particular, and quite peculiar, job: they are child actors who perform in a wholly adult environment, in shows their parents would never take them to see.”
Tag: 05.05.10
The Problems With Plunder And Restitution
Until a couple of centuries ago, if “you managed to overrun a people, you got to take their stuff. It was straightforward. What else was war for? … In modern warfare, however, plunder is very taboo.” But undoing the plunder of earlier generations is complicated: “Who owns these things to begin with? The state? Can the current Italian government lay claim to a Roman statue that left the country decades ago under the watch of a much less conscientious leader?”
Explaining Les Ballets C de la B
The Belgian troupe was “founded for a dare in 1984, but Les Ballets C de la B’s mix of surrealism, slapstick and semiotics has made them one of the world’s most influential dance theatre companies.”
Hey, Kids! Maybe TV Isn’t The Idiot Box After All
“New research … finds that the amount of television watched has little discernible impact on young children’s (age 5-10) academic achievement.”
The Letdown That Is Britain’s Shanghai Expo Pavilion
“After queuing for up to five hours in the blazing heat, all expectant Chinese visitors have discovered inside the prickly pavilion is … well, nothing. No enticing British exhibits, no music, no welcome drinks and snacks, not even a film, much less a presentation showing the best of British design and innovation, or all the zillions of things the British buy from the Chinese.”
William Styron Is Tweeting. No Matter That He’s Dead.
“Last week at the Wharton School’s Future of Publishing conference in Manhattan, Brendan Cahill, VP and publisher of Open Road, mentioned that the e-book publisher has set up a Twitter account for William Styron. The author of ‘Sophie’s Choice’ and ‘Lie Down in Darkness’ has been tweeting (and re-tweeting) for more than a week.”
How The Critic Vs. Cleveland Orchestra Battle Got So Ugly
“The Plain Dealer and the Musical Arts Association — the group that manages the Cleveland Orchestra — are ensnared in a civil lawsuit brought by [music critic Donald] Rosenberg seemingly because an internationally renowned conductor couldn’t stomach a steady diet of criticism throughout his eight-year tenure here.” Well, also because Rosenberg’s editor didn’t back him.
Since When Do Bestsellers Have A Price Tag Of Zero?
“To find a bestselling Kindle e-book that costs more than $0.00, you have to look to No. 14, Steig Larsson’s ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ — a book that’s spent more than 18 months in the top 100, and has the fairly low e-book price of $5.50.” Every title ranked higher than that on the list costs nothing to download.
Getty Foundation To Help Restore Ghent Altarpiece
“The altarpiece, by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, is showing its age, and on Wednesday officials from Belgium and the Getty Foundation are scheduled to announce in Ghent the beginning of an extensive restoration project, which will take place while the work remains on public view at its home, the St. Bavo Cathedral.”
‘That Sikh Play’ (The One That Caused The Riots) Sneaks Back Onstage
“Last Friday, British theatre took a small step in the direction of free speech. At the Soho Theatre, in the heart of London’s west end, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s Behzti was performed in the UK for the first time since it was controversially cancelled in 2004. Let us be clear: this was no great stride for freedom, more an anxious shuffle.”