“After weeks of confrontation over a controversial painting depicting President Jacob Zuma with genitals exposed, the South African leader and the gallery that had shown the work have settled their legal fight out of court, they announced Wednesday.”
Tag: 05.30.12
Playing Shakespeare’s Caesar As Idi Amin Or Mobutu
Gregory Doran, director of the RSC’s new Julius Caesar: “Then you look at African history over the past 50 years … The sequence frequently is of leaders coming to power on a wave of popularity, pulling power to themselves in a one-party state, feeling that they have to seize control. Then, that being followed by a military coup which is followed itself by a much worse dictator and then, possibly, civil war. That’s Julius Caesar:you’re describing.”
BBC Radio Host Held In Zimbabwe For Alleged Visa Violations
Petroc Trelawny, a presenter on BBC Radio 3, was arrested last week for allegedly working in Zimbabwe without an employment permit. (He was emceeing a music festival on a volunteer basis.) A judge dropped all charges on Monday, but immigration officials are refusing to return Trelawny’s passport and want to try him for violating the terms of his tourist visa.
This Really Has Been Britain’s Second Elizabethan Age
Yes, the reign of Elizabeth II has seen the loss of empire and great political and social tumult, but during her reign Britain has seen a truly extraordinary set of achievements in the arts, architecture and technology.
Big Questions About TV’s Obsession With Younger Viewers
“The adults 18-49 demographic has served as the industry’s primary sales barometer for so long, we take it for granted. Moreover, the one broadcaster that dared second-guess those criteria, CBS, is enjoying enough success relative to its competitors as to voice doubts regarding the status quo less consistently and forcefully.”
Protesters Disrupt Israeli National Theatre’s Performance At Shakespeare’s Globe
At the Habima Theatre’s London performances of The Merchant of Venice, “spectators were met with airport-style security, advance notices of ‘conditions of entry’ and a note by the box office informing patrons that missiles, among other items, would not be allowed into one of London’s most beloved theatrical addresses.” (Protesters managed to interrupt the show briefly nevertheless.)
Vandals Attack 1600-Year-Old Synagogue In Israel
“The fourth-century Hamat Tiberias Synagogue was desecrated Monday night by vandals who sprayed graffiti on the walls and tore up the mosaic floor. The Israel Antiquities Authority suspects extremist ultra-Orthodox Jews who say the authority damages ancient graves during excavations.”
Why Make A Reality TV Series About A Ballet Company?
“‘I had a couple of real obsessions with worlds I wanted to explore dramatically,’ Jane Tranter, the head of BBC Worldwide Productions, which is producing the show [titled Breaking Pointe], said recently. ‘One was ballet, the other was a convent.’ Each, Ms. Tranter said, offered ‘a world which is a hidden world: there’s what the public sees, and what happens underneath’.”