Tuesday 8 June 2010

News from the Four Corners of the Earth Tuesday 8/6/2010

Trouble is brewing at the Nigerian National Theatre at the moment regarding the potential privatisation of the venue and the previous General Manager Mallam Kabir Yusuf. The problem is getting so bad there have been peaceful protests and meetings. For more information on this situation please go to this page here.

CODYS productions winners of the NODA Northwest Award 2009 will get the chance to perform in Billy Elliot in the West End on July the 18th. They will also be producing their own production later that month in St Helens. For more info please visit this page.

In Chicago they recently held their Theatrical Non-Equity Jeff Awards, it means those who work professionally without the aid of the union, and the results have just been released. For the results please go here.

Steph Fearon a semi finalist of the BBCs 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' has just landed a role in Smokey Joes Cafe which opens at the Landor Theatre Clapham for 5 weeks commencing July the 13th. More info available here.

Review for the National Theatre of Scotlands Little Johnny's Big Gay Wedding, available here.

A robbery at the Chichester Festival Theatre left a 20 year old man in Hospital after the robbers stole several thousand pounds. For more information please go here.

Kenneth Branagh has lent his support to the Lyric Theatre of Belfast. The Lyric Theatre requires £17.5 million for its redevelopment, fundraising started in 2003 and they have nearly reached their target. For more information check out this webpage.

Jake Maskall and Liam Bergin (Danny Moon and Danny Mitchell from Eastenders) will be performing at the Victorian Park in Chester over the Summer Season in a variety of theatrical productions including Much Ado About Nothing and Hercules. For more info go here.

An American college trustee opposes funds for play depicting a homosexual Jesus. Please go here.

Political Theatre is alive and strong in Russia where a new production in Moscow based on the life of Sergei Magnitsky is running from the 5th of June. For more information look here.

Monday 7 June 2010

Fantastic Piece on BBC Website: Theatre goes underground

I love alternative venues and when they have money and passion behind them they can truly create and embrace new works that seem more intense than your standard play. An underground space is something that has been toyed with in many cities around the world and the latest it seems is The Old Vic Tunnels in London. Situated under Waterloo Station this venue is incredibly unique and imposing and the BBC has made a short video about the venue and the current works along with a very good article both of which could be found on this page here.

Theatre Programmes: The World Of Suzie Wong The Prince of Wales Theatre 1959


In 1959 following a successful Broadway production featuring William Shatner, the play The World of Suzie Wong opened at the Prince of Wales in London. Based on the novel by Richard Mason it later became a very successful film starring William Holden among others.





One of my favourite things about these old programmes is the adverts within them.


Improv Video of the Day: Another Weird Newscaster

News from the Four Corners of the Earth

News from Everywhere:

The 4th oldest working theatre in the UK, The Kenton Theatre in Henley-on-Thames, is currently raising money to keep itself open. The freehold is currently up for sale and the venue needs £220000 by the end of July to keep the venue open and has received support from locals in the form of a BBQ fundraiser this past Bank Holiday Monday raising £4000. For more information on this story please go here. For more information on the Kenton Theatre please go here.

Charlie Sheen may or may not be allowed to teach budding actors and help the non profit theatre Theatre Aspen in Colorado USA. This will be decided today 7/6/2010 by a judge due to Sheen's current legal woes. More information available here.

Romeo and Juliet is currently being shown at the Leicester Square Theatre but with a difference, set in 1930s fascist Italy this production brings a rawness to the text and a true violent undercurrent provided by the background story of a young Jew and daughter of a prominent Fascist leader falling in love. The review by Libby Purves of the Times Newspaper can be found here.

Catherine Zeta Jones may miss out on her chance of winning a Tony Award because of her current viral infection. Being unable to speak or sing she has had to miss several performances and right around now the Tony voters are going to see the shows and actors nominated, if they cannot see her perform then they won't be able to vote for her. Further information is available here.

A South Coast Theatre Group, the Oasis Youth Theatre from Southampton, won the All-England Theatre Festivals top prize and named the best theatre group in England. They will move onto the finals of the UKs top theatre group in Scotland. However they need to raise £7000 to get there, there is more information on the competition and their fundraising here.

The Telegraphs Rupert Christiansen covers the rebuilding work of both the Old Vic and National Theatre at this link here.

In Ottawa Canada the fringe festival is ready to go ahead with over 70 productions being shown. More information can be found here.

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Just A Small One: Teatrino


Included in the "Guinness Book of World Records" 1997 as the smallest historic theatre audience in the world of the theatre Vetriano measures only 71 square meters, but is full of all that is required to put on a theatrical production. Built in 1890, it features a trapeze and two tiers of balconies. In the 1980s fears over the structural integrity of the building forced it to close. Thanks to the FAI delegation of Lucca, the property was acquired by the Foundation and is committed to restoring the theatre and make it fit for use again.  It currently hosts events in collaboration with the Academy of TEATRO ALLA SCALA.

Released Soon: Routledge Drama Anthology and Sourcebook Maggie B Gale 04/08/2010



Covering 5 sections of the theatre this sourcebook will look at the evolution of the modern era of theatre beginning in the 19th Century. The 5 sections span; Naturalism and Symbolism, The Historical Avant-Garde, Early Political Theatre, The Performance of Ideology and Contemporary Performance. Featuring extracts from theoretical writings and reviews, parts of plays and introductions by the editors Maggie B Gale and John Deeney. Professor Maggie Gale is the chair of Drama at Manchester University and has had two books already printed on woman within theatre and contributed to several books on the history of theatre. John Deeney is the head of Drama at MMU, Manchester Metropolitan University, and has written books on Mark Ravenhill and is very well respected in his field. This book looks to be a must for many students as well as those interested in the history of the theatre. Perhaps this will be another essential textbook for anyone studying drama although there are plenty out there already, I believe that books like this which annotate and analyse other sources are a boon for any student but to a certain extent cannot match the freedom and experience of finding theories and techniques through reading as much material as possible. So yes its good there is another book that gives us this sort of information but don’t we need our theatre students to research more themselves? In closing I will say that my opinion above is not a knock on the editors or Routledge themselves just on the fact that these sorts of books should be the start of someones research and not the only source of research which ultimately has been my experience of many students work.
 
Out on the 4th of August it is available at amazon.co.uk in paperback here for the price of: £28.49 and FREE delivery

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