We really don't care about theatre do we?

13 at the National Theatre, a big ol' mess of bad philosophy, vague mysticism, fill-in-the-blanks zeitgeist, and pointlessly rehearsed old political arguments. I can't figure out what exactly what the message was, but the available options are either obviously stupid, stupidly insulting, or insultingly obvious.

Finally got on the Jerusalem bandwagon, fantastic. Amazing character and performance. Let down a little by my crappy restricted view seat. Wonder what A Farrell of this parish thought...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/jan/20/jacobean-tragedies-changeling-duchess-malfi

^sorta wanna see...

we're bringing back a musical we did two years ago to the local Fr!nge Festival. last time, it sold out all but one performance, got great press, and won the venue, but we knew there were weaknesses with the script, so we tasked out to make rewrites.

I was not one of the script writers (of which there were two), but I was asked to consult last time. I made a lot of suggestions that got used, and didn't really bitch about the non-writer credit as I was overwhelmed by the positive experience and got swept up in the teamwork of it all (we all really helped finish writing it together).

This time, though...i'm starting to wonder why I'm not at least getting a "with additional material by" credit. The original music director, who really gave one minor contribution, got this credit.

I actually supplied 13 of the lines, and wrote the entire conceit for the ending, which is the one thing that was holding the show up. kinda feel like I should demand an "additional material by" credit. I don't want a regular writer's credit because the script is still overwhelmingly the two main writers', but I gave more than just a few throwaway jokes.

*sigh*. dunno if it's worth pursuing, not like I'm getting money out of it anyway.

I would pursue it but if it looks like resulting in any kind of stress or bad feeling i'd probably advise you to forget about it.

kinda what I'm thinking

i'm more like a script doctor I guess anyway

pretty much just a dude that says NOT FUNNY when the writers get out of hand

a valuable service!

Was at a cast party for a show my friends did last night. Usually fun, but man, sometimes actors can get so sensitive about press that they wind up being out of character offensive.

Take my close friend, D, for example. He's a compassionate, family man with two kids, who occasionally lapses into childish territory, but no more than any other emotionally stunted actor. He was very friendly and supportive a few years ago when quite a few notable local theatre personalities tragically passed away.

So it was quite uncomfortable and disturbing to me when he got on the topic of this awful show we did together last year (that he wrote). It was one of the worst things I've done, and quietly, many of us involved have admitted as such after the fact. Except him and a few others. We got a bad review in the press by one of the local critics, and he was stung by it at the time.

However, six months later, she tragically died in her sleep. Many people in our circle knew her and were devastated by it...and D knew this. For whatever reason, though, he still hasn't made peace with the review, and starts whining about this woman and her lack of credentials last night. Which would have been somewhat harmless if he wasn't doing it in front of one of the late critic's friends, who I could tell was trying to get him to pump the brakes, before reluctantly tuning him out for two minutes until he got on another topic.

o_O. Awk...ward. Actors who can't see their own faults and hate critics confuse the everliving shit out of me.

(the 'she' that died being the critic)

Profile of Mike Nichols:
http://nymag.com/arts/theater/profiles/mike-nichols-2012-3/index2.html

He's using the original set and score for his Death of a Salesman revival. Hmm.

Just booked tickets to see Juliet Binoche in Miss Julie at the Barbican in September. PSYCHED!!!!!

Off to Other Desert Cities tonight (annual Broadway splurge); haven't seen Stockard Channing in awhile (2 Guare plays) and Stacy Keach never...

saw brimstone and treacle at the arcola in dalston (london) last night... very good though lots of changes from potter's original, and hackneyed use of punk music between acts to show changing britain or some similarly dumb overdone thing.

only saw the film with Shting

jesus just googled that, crazy! is it any good?

the original tv play is brilliant.

stage version last night did have the amusing cliffhanger at the end whereby nobody wanted to applaud too soon after the rape scene that ends it. long, long and awkward silence.

I remember it being good... probably the 3rd Potter I saw after the two versions of Pennies from Heaven.

Plug plug plug to New Yorkers:

A show I adapted and directed is going to run in NYC in August. Details here and here.

thx Eazy.

I'll be at all the shows--say hi if you make it there.

Tech-ed my show today. Love being next door to Mamoun's and the Comedy Cellar.

Showtimes:
http://www.nyc-arts.org/events/20291/fringenyc-an-interrogation-primer

hah, I was at Mamoun's at 6pm... I'll have to figure this out

Saw Sam Shepard's new play, Heartless, last night. As always with him, very hit or miss, but some moments that work are sticking with me. Truly weird, rather than the more naturalistic True West, et al. Back to his shapeshifting roots.

Really liked the Signature space a lot--acoustics were perfect. And all tickets are $25--perfect price for an inconsistent show that I'm very glad to have seen.

Gary Cole is actually terrific in this.

My show's getting a bunch of great reviews. Tix may sell out soon.

http://www.backstage.com/review/ny-theater/off-off-broadway/an-interrogation-primer-at-the-NY-Fringe-Festival/

great stuff Eazy. well done!

i had a great time watching 3 Tom Murphy plays today.

http://www.druid.ie/productions/druidmurphy-the-plays-of-tom-murphy

I'll be dere Saturday, Eazy.

Great great--I'll be there.

seeing this tomorrow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCkwqmYIlDc

it lasts four and a half hours.

Eaz, just look after the show for a guy who has a cane or appears to need one. (hoping I can get there, today is a bitch)

The theater (unfortunately) is up two flights of stairs, in case that makes a difference.

Been a good run, both with audiences and press. Hope to do more with it.

holy shit that was 4 hours of absolutely incredible stagecraft. i have NEVER seen an entire audience give a standing ovation for a full ten minutes but that's what happened.

just found out i won free tickets to see theatre de la ville-paris's staging of ionesco's 'rinocerose' tomorrow night!

btw I really liked the play Eazy directed, and not just cuz 40 mins is about the longest I can sit these days.

Hey, thanks. Didn't think you made it, between the two flights and the cane, and very glad you did.

I get these Theatermania discount emails that encourage you to "Go beyond Broadway..."
The first two shows offered in today's are Cougar the Musical and The Butt-cracker Suite.

I must've asked about the Steppenwolf VaWoolf? revival before , yeah? And has anyone seen Mies Julie in Brooklyn?

This I'd like to see:
http://www.thewrap.com/culture/article/fiona-shaw-returning-broadway-colm-toibins-testament-mary-72086

Haven't heard anything bad about VaWoolf all these years. Never was in the right place at the right time to see it.

This is funny:
http://www.broadway.com/buzz/166904/whos-virginia-woolf-watch-tracy-letts-and-amy-morton-endure-five-awkward-tv-questions/

^Saw it yesterday.

The state of Broadway audiences is such that the douse-your-phones announcement was made BEFORE EACH OF THE THREE ACTS. George's Who's Afraid monologue about the coming death of civilization via technology fulfilled.

Glad to hear it's worththe time and ticket (just saw the Albee thread). Did it feel like a good version of the same play you'd seen before, or new/fresh?

well since I'd never seen the full text performed, given the film cuts, yes it did seem fresh. I'm pretty sure the Act III scene where Martha tells Nick that George is the only man who's ever satisfied her was not in the movie?

I'm gonna look for that 4 x LP of the first staging now, tho I won't play it today...

I don't think I could watch that Fox interview, anymore than a snuff film.

Othello at the NT last night. It's not a play I've ever been really attached or close to, but was totally blasted by this production; nightmarish sense of plot both moving like clockwork and getting horribly out control; production as a real play of soldiery works; Lester and Kinnear brilliant, Kinnear especially, Iago w/ a kind of James Corden matiness. Wasn't sure he could pull it off - plays nice too well - but yes.

Glad I managed to score some tickets then. Going to some Punchdrunk thing tonight: a "promenade performance", there will be "areas of darkness and confined space", "haze and strobe effects", and "audiences will wear a mask for the duration of the performance". Ulp.

Apparently the standard line on Punchdrunk is "nice spectacle, shame about the narrative" - I somewhat concur but as a first timer I thought the spectacle (of "The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable") was fantastic, easily half a dozen genuine moments of wonder or surprise. On the level of individual performances it's closer to modern dance than theatre and the choreography was breathtaking, as were the performers. Apparently some reviewers wandered around in the dark struggling to find any action, I think they must have been idiots as there was almost always something going somewhere, we probably caught less than half of the action over the four floor venue and I'm seriously considering going back, even at £40 a ticket.

Woof otm, Othello really was all that. One of the best things I've seen at the NT. First time I've seen it, hard to imagine it done better (would like to see it done differently for comparison). Modern setting worked brilliantly. No sense of strained credulity from Iago's villainy or Othello's falling for it. Unexpected and genuine humour, loved Rodrigo's buffoonish turn as well as Iago's more darkly comic moments, and an utterly devastating climax.

keen to see that. apparently chimerica, now at the pinter, is really good.

also recently enjoyed public enemy at young vic and the night alive at the donmar.

Oh yeah, A Season in the Congo at the Young Vic was fantastic too. Definitely one of the better years for theatre - in my highly limited and doubtless unrepresentative experience.

I must check that out before it ends.