“After almost a year of being just about to settle on a new London home, the Royal Shakespeare Company may have finally found one: the Albery in St Martin’s Lane.”
Tag: 07.01.04
Hollywood’s New Archetypal Leading Man
A generational change in Hollywood’s leading men is producing a different figure from the macho Rambos of the previous generation. “They are always looking for the macho man, but they are pulling from this other group, who are strong but more overtly sensitive and more emotionally available, because that’s what there is right now.”
The Secret Of London’s Success (Hear That US?)
London has become one of the great world cities just a decade or so after pundits were predicting her decline. What’s the evidence? “An amalgam of the world language, an open culture, two of the world’s top 10 universities and a vibrant cultural and intellectual life. Example: Britain now publishes more book titles than any other country. Further example: there are more Chinese students in the UK than in any other country, again more than the US. Of course, this is a UK phenomenon but it is one that is skewed disproportionately to the South-east.”
Is London’s Success Harming The Rest Of UK?
Yes, London has become a powerhouse. But is it to the detriment of the rest of England? “In the last decade, the island of Britain has become split effectively into two provinces: the megalopolis of London, and everywhere else. The seeds of this north-south divide go a long way back, but the final transformation of the British Isles into an appendage of Greater London has really taken place since the start of the 1990s.”
Mourning The Rosenberg Plan
Pamela Rosenberg was building a new model of an American opera company at San Francisco Opera. Taking some adverturous artistic risks, she had transformed the company in her short time running it, writes Anthony Tommasini. But she was hobbled by the company’s financial woes, and so she’s leaving, in search of a more financially stable situation. American opera is the poorer for that…
Checking Out Diana’s Fountain
The new memorial fountain to Diana, Princess of Wales, is about to be christened in London’s Hyde Park. “The memorial fountain is like this: a surprising, yet ultimately gentle drawing together of unlikely family, friends and supporters of the late princess, and design professionals. It is a very English compromise, one that will neither frighten the horses plodding around Hyde Park, nor offend any of the millions of people who will pass this way to dip a toe, as it were, into Diana’s memory.”
Brazil’s Billion-Dollar Pirates
Music piracy is a billion-dollar business in Brazil, says a new report. “Of CD’s alone, six out of every 10 music discs sold in Brazil are pirate copies. “The report concluded that piracy in Brazil was heavily controlled by organised crime.”