New Scottish National Theatre Scores High In Awards

Scotland’s new National Theatre picks up 11 nominations in the annual Scottish Critics Awards. “The first few months of the National Theatre of Scotland has proved to be both a popular and critical success. It is in line with its innovative model that all its nominations are the result of partnerships and co-productions with the existing talent pool.”

A Fight To Get gays On The Curriculum

A bill in the California state legislature would “forbid the teaching of any material that reflects adversely on persons due to sexual orientation. ‘One of the things that contribute to a safe or unsafe environment for kids are the teaching materials. If you have teaching material that didn’t say anything at all about gay and lesbian people, it is assumed that they never did anything at all. But if it said anything about gay and lesbian people, the whole atmosphere of the school was safer for gay and lesbian kids, or those thought to be gay and lesbian’.”

Da Vinci Code – The Movie No One’s Seen

“Sony’s strategy with the film has been unusual in that so far, no outsiders have seen Ron Howard’s two-and-a-half-hour opus. Sony has forgone the usual advance press screenings and a splashy stateside premiere, forfeiting some coverage in the interest of keeping the picture under wraps. The studio will unveil The Da Vinci Code at the Cannes Film Festival next week.”

Small Screen Dancing…

“There is clearly a growing market for dance films and videos, the latest technological delivery system being the DVD. Walk into any store with a healthy selection of performing-arts DVD’s, and those on dance seem to burst from the shelves (or the virtual shelves, if you’re looking online).”

What Happened To Classical Music’s Political Fire?

“The retreat to the purely aesthetic in the past 30 years has led to a depressing lowering of the emotional and intellectual temperature of new music. We hear so many safe, high-gloss pieces that seem to have no urgent reason for existing. However, the good news is that the radical spirit hasn’t gone. It’s just that, as in pop music, you find it in people who might be old in years, but are marvellously young in spirit.”