“National Theatre Wales’s first musical, The Village Social, is a dark-comic cocktail of The Bacchae and The Vicar of Dibley.” A reporter rides along on the rural tour.
Tag: 10.24.11
Seoul’s Top Orchestra Sees Open Revolt Against Conductor
“Musicians in crucial chairs of the KBS Symphony Orchestra have either walked out or been dismissed … Others are donning protest T-shirts and offering subpar work during practices and even some performances.” The players insist that conductor Hahm Shinik is incompetent, unable to identify different instruments or out-of-tune playing.
BBC Launches New Radio Drama Awards
“The BBC Audio Drama Awards will be held in January next year, and will feature categories including best audio drama, best actor and actress in an audio drama, and best scripted comedy drama. There will also be awards for best online only audio drama, best supporting actor or actress in an audio drama and best adaptation, as well as one for best use of sound in an audio drama.”
NPR-Occupy DC Flap: Host Keeps Gig, NPR Drops Show
“NPR will no longer distribute the member station-produced program World of Opera to about 60 stations across the country” after host Lisa Simeone became involved with the Occupy DC protest. Instead, the North Carolina station that produces the show will keep Simeone on and distribute the program itself.
Taipei Museum Sticks It To Beijing Over Ai Weiwei
“‘Ai Weiwei Absent’ will open in the municipal Taipei Fine Arts Museum in the island’s capital on October 29 for three months, featuring his installation pieces, photography, sculpture, and videos.” Said a city spokesman, “It’s a pity that Ai himself cannot come to Taipei.”
Joss Whedon’s Surprise Shakespeare Movie
“Joss Whedon has directed, adapted, cast and filmed an entire movie – an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing – in secret.” He shot the entire script over 12 days just after finishing Marvel’s big-budget feature The Avengers.
Construction Of Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Put On Hold
“Construction of the vast, 24,000 sq. m Guggenheim museum planned for Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi has been put on hold after the emirate decided not to award the contract to do the work. The museum, designed by the US architect Frank Gehry, is one of four new institutions planned for a cultural district on the island.”
David Hockney, Smoker (And Loud Defender Of It)
“We’re living in too morbid an age, growing grotesquely morbid. I’m fed up with it as a smoker, utterly fed up with what’s been going on about it. What was I saying just a minute ago? ‘Birth, copulation, death/When you get down to brass tacks, that’s all the facts.”
“Family-Friendly” TV Shows Are Becoming Rare
“The scarcity largely reflects societal and pop culture shifts over the past decades, but critics decry the conspicious absence of scripted family shows, especially in a seemingly boundless programming universe.”
Audiences Walking Out Of Shocking Royal Shakespeare Show
Some of the more shocking scenes include a gang rape and a character being tortured with a Taser. Audience members interviewed on the RSC’s own website described the production as “warped”, “disturbing” and “shocking”.