“Leading actors, writers and directors – including Reginald Perrin creator David Nobbs and playwright Tim Fountain – are working with production company Made in Manchester to develop a new range of audio dramas that can be downloaded online in order to bypass the ‘closed shop’ of the radio commissioning process.”
Tag: 10.20.09
Flutist/Composer Robert Aitken Wins Canada’s Carsen Prize
The $50,000 (Can) prize “celebrates the artistic excellence and distinguished career achievement by a Canadian performing artist in the realm of theatre, dance or music.”
Why Should An Artist Copy Used Books When There Are So Many Real Ones Lying Around?
“[T]he painter and sculptor Steve Wolfe has taken his bibliophilia to unrivaled extremes. With extraordinary skill and ingenuity, he creates copies of used books [and vinyl records] that are so true to their subjects that it’s hard to believe that they’re not the real thing.”
Our Romance With The Tortured Romantic Poet
“Poets need to be insane to write great things, the theory goes, and poets’ visionary writings are the only cure for our larger human derangement. This theory almost never works out very well in practice, though.” Consider the cases of Edgar Allan Poe (the arch-typical despairing, drunken poet) and Dylan Thomas.
At Frankfurt, Chinese Books Found Eager Foreign Buyers
“China’s delegation to this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair are starting to trickle back home after the event closed Sunday and they are bringing with them news of a world that is waking up to the charms of their nation’s long literary traditions.”
Sorry, Ancient Greeks: Character Isn’t Immutable After All
“[A] century’s worth of experiments suggests that people’s actual behavior is not driven by permanent traits that apply from one context to another. … Behavior does not exhibit what the psychologists call ‘cross-situational stability.'”
When Playwrights Turn Reporter, Neglecting Alchemy
“For some reason theatre folk seem to find the often tedious process of journalism more fascinating than it really is. Why else would they be so determined to put it on stage?”
The Sacrifices PA Ballet Is, And Isn’t, Willing To Make
To survive in a tight economy, Pennsylvania Ballet “has chosen pay freezes and furloughs. The non-artistic staff has shrunk by five from its 22 positions through attrition, and those jobs are going unfilled.” But tomorrow night the ballet opens its season “with its full roster of about 40 dancers, and its orchestra.”
How Big A Role Do Concert Hall Acoustics Play?
“It’s a science, it’s an art, it’s impossible to pin down, and it always seems to be open to debate. Is the Kennedy Center Concert Hall really that bad?” And can the National Symphony Orchestra blame its performance troubles on it?
Shepard Fairey’s Lie Reveals A Truth About Him
“The cover-up demonstrates his shameless disregard for artistic endeavors that aren’t his own. If he had any respect for the photographer or the scores of other artists whose work he has ‘referenced,’ he would give them credit.”