Chicago-based playwright and theatre blogger Don Hall weighs in on the theatrical discourse debate, laying down his case for a rougher, more honest approach: “All of this boils down to two important yet diametrically opposed notions: most theater people just want affirmation and aren’t really interested in criticism, constructive or otherwise; we all claim to […]
Author: Ian Mackenzie
April round-up
A few selections from our April posts: Marshall McLuhan has a good idea What should we talk about now? 10 questions remixed: Anger Wallace Shawn finishes the play it took him 10 years to write “Vancouver has too many cheerleading critics . . .” Non-theatre-related blogs Mike Daisey on theatrical discourse Canada’s war on theatre […]
Modern Western theatre is dominated by realism
From the Wikipedia entry on theatre: “Theatre is the branch of the performing arts defined simply as what ‘occurs when one or more persons, isolated in time and/or space, present themselves to another or others.’ By this broad definition, theatre has existed since the dawn of man, as a result of human tendency for story […]
Mackintosh, MacIvor, Murphy . . .
. . . and one extremely annoying questionBy Alison BrovermanWhen Ian asked me to make a guest post on this smart and lovely blog, I was surprised and flattered. Doesn’t he read my blog? Doesn’t he know that my blogging consists mainly of ridiculous photos (often of a plastic shark), obscure references to David Hasselhoff […]
10 questions: Paul Braunstein
Paul Braunstein in Alias Godot. 1) What the fuck is going on?In my little world the play is going on and my girlfriend left to do a job in Saskatchewan, and Toronto sports teams all collectively suck. (That sounds depressing, I’m actually very happy.) 2) What’s your favourite thing about acting in Brendan Gall’s new […]
The importance of being burnished
More on theatrical discourseBy Scott Walters Recently, there’s been a buzz of international discussion on anonymity and criticism: in the US (Theatre Ideas Jumps the Pond and What Do You Think About Anonymous Reviews?), Canada (Mike Daisy on Theatrical Discourse), and England (Noises Off: Unnamed and Unashamed). The focus of these posts were on anonymous […]
Green theatre
A couple of great posts recently at American theatre artist Mike Lawler’s ecoTheatre blog: “The ecoTheater project is concerned with how as theater artists we can strive to create theater without sacrificing the environment and the long term health of our communities. I believe this can be done without making compromises in our process . […]
Free theatre Producer’s guide
Among the great publications available for download at Theatre Ontario’s website is a production manual called: Guide to producing in community theatre: “While this guide is written for community theatre companies, most of this text is appropriate for emerging theatre groups with professional aspirations . . .” The guide spends much of its 29 pages […]
Godot 2.0
A nice interview with Canadian playwright Brendan Gall in yesterday’s Toronto Star about the upcoming production of his play Alias Godot at the Tarragon Theatre. Says Gall of his play: “It started with a simple idea. What if, instead of being some sort of existential symbol, Godot was a guy who desperately wanted to be […]
Chris Wilkinson on theatrical discourse
The week got off to a heated start around here thanks in no small part to Mike Daisey’s provocative “Theatre discourse” quote. In case you missed it, Daisey has “a vested interest in lowering the politeness level in theatrical discourse.” Chris Wilkinson, at the Guardian UK, has more to say on this, and neatly synthesizes […]
Money for theatre
“Maybe you should pop on over to the website of your favorite theater company and make a small online donation? Why not?” – Matt Freeman How about one of these Toronto-based independent theatre companies: Alchemy Theatre Bluemouth Inc. Cart/Horse Theatre halfbreed productions MackenzieRo MooseGuts Theatre One Little Goat Oyster Productions Praxis Theatre Seventh Stage Theatre […]
Canada’s war on theatre
In last week’s Globe and Mail, national theatre critic J. Kelly Nestruck asks Where’s our war on our stages? – contrasting the relative abundance of Iraq war drama in Toronto against the dearth of Afghanistan-related productions: “Isn’t it about time Canadian playwrights, directors and actors started grappling with a war their fellow countrymen are actually […]
Mike Daisey on theatrical discourse
“I also have a vested interest in lowering the politeness level in theatrical discourse—which, I hasten to add, is not the same as throwing away civility. I’ve just seen far too many ‘discussions’ that should have been full-voiced arguments, too many passions squelched in the face of institutionalized hopelessness, and just too much damn silence, […]
10 questions: Christine Mangosing
1) What the fuck is going on? You’ll just have to see. Come see the show and find out! 2) How has the upcoming production of People Power at Theatre Passe Muraille developed since its workshop presentation at the 2006 SummerWorks festival? In addition to a few new characters being thrown in to the mix, […]
Non-theatre-related blogs
Many thanks to everyone who shared their favourite non-theatre- related blogs with us. Lots of great suggestions came up. Here’s the list: 37days By Ken Levine chromewaves Crooks and Liars Daily dose of imagery Daily Kos Etiquetteer Glenn Greenwald indexed In the sky & on the road Jezebel Nerd Fighters The New Optimist Orangette Phantasmaphile […]