Category Archives: Film

TIM CURRY (1946-2026) · Aug 27th

(Michael Coveney’s obituary appeared in the Guardian, 8/27/26)

Actor and singer best known for his roles in The Rocky Horror Show and the 1990 Stephen King TV miniseries It

In June 1973, I went to the Royal Court to see one of Edward Bond’s best plays, The Sea. On my way out, I met a colleague who said he had a spare ticket for something called The Rocky Horror Show in the Court’s studio space, the Theatre Upstairs, starting at around 10.30pm.

We had no idea what this was going to be about. There was a gantry rigged above us and, astonishingly, suddenly, crawling along it was a frizzy haired chap in fishnet stockings, suspender belt and lurid makeup. This was Tim Curry, as the deranged scientist and debauched sex magnet Dr Frank-N-Furter, introducing himself in song as “just a sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania”.

Thus was launched Richard O’Brien’s hilarious, addictive glam rock musical that went on to become a cult classic, after moving, with Curry, along the King’s Road to a former cinema, then crossing to Broadway in 1975, and later being performed in productions all around the world.

It was adapted for the screen in 1975 as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, directed by Jim Sharman, with Curry reprising his role, and O’Brien appearing as Riff Raff, the scientist’s butler, along with Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick as the young couple who seek shelter in Dr Frank-N-Furter’s castle after their car breaks down.

The film arguably lacked the stage show’s element of subversive innovation and unbridled glee, but it became a huge cult hit with audiences, with both movie and theatre-goers dressing up in glam costumes, and joining in with the dance moves of Time Warp, the show-stopping song led by O’Brien.

Curry, who has died aged 80, became a big star on both sides of the Atlantic in film and on stage. He went on to prove himself a class act in stylish comedy and hit musicals, including a rocked-up version of The Pirates of Penzance in 1982 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and Stephen Fry’s smart version of Me and My Girl, doing the Lambeth Walk as Bill Snibson on a 1987 US national tour, and as King Arthur in Monty Python’s Spamalot (2005-07), directed by Mike Nichols on Broadway and in London.

His celebrity was certainly matched by his talent, and his innate charm was equally matched by his louche lifestyle which, for a period, involved party-going with David Bowie – a huge fan of his – and cocaine-fuelled benders with Truman Capote.

Cruelly, he was struck down by a severe stroke in 2012 and was a wheelchair-user for the rest of his life. He summarised that life in a beautifully written and generously expressed, almost self-deprecating, memoir, Vagabond, in 2025.

(Read more)

HOW HARRY POTTER HELPED A UKRAINIAN POW SURVIVE 4 YEARS IN RUSSIAN CAPTIVITY o · Aug 26th

(Yulia Zhukova’s report appeared on Radio Liberty/ Radio Free Europe 8/25/26.)

For four years in Russian captivity, Ukrainian marine Oleksandr Ivanov retold the entire Harry Potter series from memory to his fellow prisoners. The defender of Mariupol says the stories gave them something to look forward to. After his release in a prisoner exchange, Ivanov received a letter from the author of the books, J.K. Rowling. But, he says, he wishes he had never had a reason to receive it.

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY PRESENTS “TAKING IT TO THE STREETS,” AN ARCHIVAL EXHIBIT OF ITS FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF STREET THEATER HISTORY · Aug 25th

(via Jonathan Slaff and Briana Bartenieff)

Theater for the New City (TNC), the historic Off-Broadway Venue that has produced new and avant-garde theater since 1971, is hosting a special exhibit to celebrate 55 years of its Summer Street Theater, an annual production of a new musical with book and lyrics by TNC Co-Founder and Executive Artistic Director Crystal Field. The composers of TNC’s Street Theater over the years are David Tice, Mark Hardwick, Joseph Vernon Banks and Peter Dizozza. The exhibit will feature photos, recordings, posters, print materials, costumes, props, and other memorabilia, highlighting the people, productions and cultural impact of the Summer Street Theater throughout the decades. The opening is set for Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 6:00 PM in TNC’s gallery located at 155 1st Ave, New York, NY, 10003.

 As part of the exhibit, there will be presentations of video recordings of selected Street Theater performances from every decade from the 1970’s through present day on every Sunday from September 20 to October 25 at 7:00 PM. 

The exhibit is curated by TNC’s Director of Marketing and Development Briana Bartenieff. To do so, Bartenieff went through thousands of photos, and digitized VHS’s and video tapes going back to 1972. She writes, “It is so important to preserve these performances, to be able to make theater history accessible to all. It has been a wonderful experience to give these shows a new life, and to remember those we have lost. I am looking forward to seeing the hundreds of company members that Street Theater has impacted throughout the years!” 

A hit with audiences all over the city since its inception in 1971, the annual Summer Street Theater has made it its mission to bring new, accessible theater to people all over the city. The tours are presented annually every weekend from early August until mid-September, visiting all five boroughs, free of charge. The performances always attract a mixture of established fans and new audience members, especially families with kids. Productions always feature timely messages and stories centering on the people of New York City and their needs. Previous years’ productions have focused on subjects like social work, public transit, global warming and the ups and downs of U.S. politics. This year’s iteration, titled “The Root of It All: A Dentist’s Tale,” will be playing through September 13.

This archival exhibit is open to all, free of charge. It can be viewed in TNC’s gallery from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM seven days a week from September 16 through October 18, 2026. In addition, there will be free Sunday screenings of performances at 7:00 PM on the following schedule:

9/20 — “Sky Salesman” / “Minding the Store” (1972, 1hr) & “Mama Liberty’s Bicentennial Party” (1975, 1hr)

9/27 — “Hit the Road” w/ documentary about TNC moving from 2nd Ave to 1st Ave (1987, 90 min)

10/4 — “Pirates!” (1997, 1hr)

10/11 — “The Patients Are Running the Asylum” w/ documentary (2001, 2hrs)

10/18 — “99% Reduced Fat or You can Bank on Us!” (2012, 1:15)

10/25 — “Socialization of a Social Worker or Justice in a Time of Need” (2024, 1hr)

 

OVER 200 ACTS SET FOR TNC’S 30th LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS MAY 22-24, 2026 (LES) · May 4th

(via Jonathan Slaff)

 

LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS — Members of the LES Committee for 2026: (L-R) JC Augustin, Didi Champagne, David F. Slone Esq., Lissa Moira, Richard West, Melanie Goodreaux, Jimmy Walker, Crystal Field. Photo by Jonathan Slaff.

Artistic output of this fabled neighborhood will be showcased in three days of free showings for live audiences.

 

WHERE AND WHEN

May 22 to 24, 2026

In and around Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. (at E. 10th Street)

Free (donations accepted)

Info: www.theaterforthenewcity.net, (212) 254-1109

Lineup of performances (available after May 19): http://www.jsnyc.com/season/LES-2026.htm

 

NEW YORK — As of May 2, with the roster still building, Theater for the New City has currently scheduled over 200 performing arts organizations, independent artists, poets, puppeteers and film makers for its 30th annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, which will be mounted May 22 to 24 in and around Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. (at E. 10th Street). Admission is free but donations will be gratefully accepted.

 

The festival has been presented annually since 1996, with a cohort of theater, dance, performance, music, film, literary and visual artists participating on all three days. This year, the festival is mounted with the theme “Courage Through the Arts: A Vote Against Tyranny.” The subject will be addressed in some of the playlets and acts written for the festival.

 

Multidisciplinary indoor performances will take stage from 6:00 PM to midnight each evening, utilizing two of TNC’s four theaters. From 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Saturday, vendors and food sellers, including booths from nearby restaurants, will line the closed-off block of East Tenth Street between First and Second Avenues. On Saturday afternoon inside in the Johnson Theater, there will be performances by and for children, curated by T. Scott Lilly, Danielle Hauser and Miguel Loyola, emceed by John Grimaldi. A fine art show, curated by Carolyn Ratcliffe, will be displayed throughout the fest in the theater’s lobby gallery. A film program will be presented Saturday from noon to 10:00 PM in the Cabaret Theater, featuring works by auteurs from the Lower East Side/East Village along with works that reflect the essence of the neighborhood. Over 20 films curated by Burak Tatar will be screened, accompanied by talkbacks with a number of the film makers. On Saturday from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM, an Outdoor Stage adjoining the theater will offer music and multi-discipline performances curated by Richard West, assisted by Didi Champagne. On Sunday from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM in TNC’s Community Theater, there will be a “Poetry Jam with Prose on the Side” curated by Lissa Moira and emceed by Richard West and Didi Champagne.

 

The performers’ roster includes such luminary performers as David Amram and Penny Arcade. Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and NY City Council Member Gale A. Brewer (6th District) will address the gathering on Saturday, May 23 at 8:00 PM.

 

Performing ensembles participating will include Bond Street Theater, Chinese Theatre Works, Cobu, The Drilling Company, Folksbiene National Yiddish Theater, Kinding Sindaw, New Yiddish Rep, Textile Theater Collective, Wise Guise, and many more.

 

There will be original writings (many penned exclusively for the festival) by Anne Lucas, Barbara Kahn, Douglas Lackey, Elizabeth Ruf, Larry Littany Litt, Miguel Loyola, Toby Armour, Tom Diriwachter, Stefan Diethelm, Briana Bartenieff and Victor Vauban Jr.

 

Excerpts of plays performed will include “Tortas Y Tacones” by JC Augustin (an excerpt of his “Detonation Rat Cabaret”), “Dana II” by Jasmine Hyman, projects of Mary Tierney’s TNC Theater Workshop, “Decay of a Rose” by Victor Vauban, and songs from TNC’s 2025 Street Theater production, “Home Sweet Home, or a Life In New York.”

 

Individual performers appearing will include Glitter Kitty (Emily Vetch and Jeff Davis), John Grimaldi, Stan Baker, Terry Lee King (Amazin’ Grace), Tym Moss, Zero Boy, David F. Slone Esq. and Ed Malin.

 

Dance performances will include works by Ashley Liang Dance Company, Carol Tandava, Rastro Dance Company (Julieta Valero), Rod Rodgers Dance Company, Thunderbird American Indian Dancers and aerial dance by Constellation Moving Co.

 

Musical performers appearing will include Alessandra Belloni, Art Lillard Quartet, David Amram, Joe Bendik, Louisa Bradshaw, Michael A Green, Mimi Block, Mister Pablo, Noam Fainegold’s Burning City Orchestra, Peter Dizozza, Richard West, Robert Gonzales Jr. and Yip Harburg Rainbow Troupe.

 

Comedy performers will include Joan Reinmuth, Fei Lin Yang and others TBA.

 

“Poetry Jam with Prose on the Side,” curated by Lissa Moira and hosted by Richard West and Didi Champagne, will take stage Sunday, May 24 from 4-7pm in TNC’s Community Space Theater. Wordslingers are TBA. An open mic will follow as time permits.

 

This year, the film program, curated by Barak Tatar, is screening over 20 projects, shorts, documentaries, and animations, all projects created by New York Artists or shot in New York, particularly emphasizing LES Artists. Talk backs follow each screening. (Saturday from noon to 10:00 PM.)

 

Throughout the festival, an art show curated by Carolyn Ratcliffe will grace the TNC lobby spaces. This exhibition will have its own free, special opening Wednesday, May 21 from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM. Participating artists are TBA.

 

In the Johnson Theater, emcees will be Crystal Field, Robert Gonzales Jr., Danielle Aziza, Melanie Goodreaux and Sabura Rashid.  In the Cabaret Theater, emcees will be Tim Moss, Elizabeth Ruf and Wendy Stuart. The film program will be emceed by Burak Tatar.

 

Specialty curators of the festival include Lissa Moira (poetry), Burak Tatar (film), T. Scott Lilly and Danielle Hauser (kids’ performances), Carolyn Ratcliffe (visual art) and Richard West and Didi Champagne (outdoor theater-dance-music). The whole festival is organized by the LES Committee (see below) and chaired by Crystal Field.

 

 

BACKGROUND

The first festival, presented June 14 to 16, 1996, was a three-day, indoor and outdoor multi-arts festival, organized by TNC and a coalition of civic, cultural and business leaders. The aim was to demonstrate the creative explosion of the Lower East Side and the area’s importance to culture and tourism for New York City. It employed two theater spaces at TNC plus the block of East Tenth Street between First and Second Avenues, featured over 100 attractions, drew favorable press and attracted crowds from all around the City. Its success prompted TNC to continue the festival annually on Memorial Day Weekend. For 28 years it has been presented free each year to an average attendance of over 4,000. (In 2020 it was held online due to pandemic concerns).

 

The concept of the festival was developed by Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director of TNC, and Esther Cartegena, President of Loisaida, Inc., to portray the Lower East Side (LES) as a haven for artists and artistic creation. The region is a unique multi-ethnic community with an unusually high level of artistic vitality. Large populations with differing languages and cultures coexist there successfully and a large artistic population helps glue the neighborhood together. Its theaters are also an unprecedented source of tourism. Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “Buried Child,” was commissioned and first produced by TNC. The committee envisioned an event that would demonstrate the region’s cultural fervor, its large artistic population and its multiplicity of ethnic influences to contradict the neighborhood’s stereotype as a dangerous refuge for drug dealers and criminal activity. The Village Halloween Parade was also first conceived and produced by TNC.

 

Disciplines presented have always included theater, music, dance, poetry, puppetry, cabaret, visual art, film and children’s programming.

 

SPECIAL CREDITS

Festival Director is Crystal Field. Assistant Directors are Gloria Chang, Leona Minseo Koo, Arun Saini  and Alex Sisk.

 

The LES Committee for 2026 is: Crystal Field, JC Augustin, Joe John Batista, Alex Bartenieff, Briana Bartenieff, Asher Cohen, Walter Corwin, Eva Dorrepaal, Myrna Duarte, Renee Edelman, Alberto Ferreras, Andrea Fulton, Robert Gonzales Jr., Willie Ann Gissendanner, Melanie Goodreaux, Robert Greer, Susan Hemley, Barbara Kahn, Dan Kelly, Miguel Loyola, Anne Lucas, David Mandelbaum, Lissa Moira, Stephan Morrow, Rome Neal, Emily Pezzella, Roman Primitivo, Carolyn Ratcliffe, Devorah Shubowitz, Jonathan Slaff, David F. Slone Esq., Claude Solnick, Mary Tierney, Jenne Vath, Robert Varcony, Jimmy Walker, Richard Weber, Jonathan Weber, Peter Welch, Richard West, and Lewis Widoff.  Press Representative is Jonathan Slaff.

 

# # #

THE COMPLETE LINEUP OF PERFORMANCES will be available after MAY 19 at http://www.jsnyc.com/season/LES-2026.htm.

LÁSZLÓ KRASZNAHORKAI WINS THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE 2025 · Oct 9th

(Emma Loffhagen’s article appeared in the Guardian, 10/9/2025; Photo: ‘Beauty in language. Fun in hell’ … László Krasznahorkai Photograph: Carlos Álvarez/Getty .)

The Hungarian novelist whose books ‘reaffirm the power of art’ was announced as winner at a ceremony in Stockholm
 Nobel prize in literature 2025 live: László Krasznahorkai wins ‘for his compelling and visionary oeuvre’

The Nobel prize in literature for 2025 has been awarded to Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, the Swedish Academy has announced.

The Academy cited the 71-year-old’s “compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”.

Krasznahorkai is known for his dystopian, melancholic novels, which have won numerous prizes, including the 2019 National Book award for translated literature and the 2015 Man Booker International prize. Several of his works, including his novels Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been adapted into feature films.

“Krasznahorkai richly deserves the prize,” said the novelist Hari Kunzru. “He has a reputation as an austere figure of European high culture, and indeed some of his work is uncompromisingly bleak and difficult, but he’s also a curious, playful and very funny writer. When I read him, I feel fortified, both as a human being and as someone who’s trying to make art. He shows me what’s possible.”

Born in Gyula, Hungary, in 1954, Krasznahorkai first made his mark with his 1985 debut novel Satantango, a mesmerising portrayal of a collapsing rural community. The novel would go on to win the Man Booker International prize in English three decades later, in 2015. It was also famously adapted into a seven-hour film by director Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has had a long creative partnership.

Often described as postmodern, Krasznahorkai is known for his long, winding sentences (the 12 chapters of Satantango each consist of a single paragraph) and the kind of relentless intensity that has led critics to compare him to Gogol, Melville and Kafka.

(Read more)

ROBERT REDFORD, MAGNETIC HOLLYWOOD ICON AND SUNDANCE FOUNDER, DIES AT 89 · Sep 16th

(Daniel Arkin’s article appeared on ABC NEWS,  9/16; Photo: Getty Images.)
Redford was best known as a go-to leading man of the late 1960s and 1970s, instantly recognizable for his windswept hair and widely beloved for his easy charisma.

 

Robert Redford, the actor and director who sailed to Hollywood stardom with turns in classics such as “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “All the President’s Men” and invigorated American independent cinema as the founder of the organization behind the Sundance Film Festival, died Tuesday morning.

He was 89.

Cindi Berger, his publicist, said he died at his home “in the mountains of Utah — the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved. He will be missed greatly. The family requests privacy.”

Redford was best known as a go-to leading man of the late 1960s and 1970s, instantly recognizable for his windswept hair and widely beloved for his easy charisma. But he was also an accomplished filmmaker, committed political activist and culture-shaping entrepreneur.

He won the best director Oscar for the family melodrama “Ordinary People” (1980), the first of his nine stints behind the camera.

Redford’s expansive spirit will live on through the Sundance Institute, a nonprofit organization he founded in 1981 that sponsors the Sundance Film Festival. The festival, held annually in snowy Park City, Utah, showcases offbeat projects and has helped launch many careers.

“I saw other stories out there that weren’t having a chance to be told and I thought, ‘Well, maybe I can commit my energies to giving those people a chance,’” Redford recalled in a 2018 interview. “As I look back on it, I feel very good about that.”

In a career that stretched more than six decades, Redford won two Academy Awards, including an honorary prize in 2002, and three Golden Globe Awards, including the Cecil B. DeMille Award lifetime achievement honor in 1994.

(Read more)

“KISS ME, KATE” IN CINEMAS BEGINNING SUNDAY, 11/17! · Nov 13th

(via John Singh.)

Smash-Hit London Production of 

 Joyous Musical Comedy KISS ME, KATE

Comes to U.S. Movie Screens This November

 

Filmed During Sold-Out Production at the Barbican Theatre, ‘Sexy and Sassy’ ‘Showstopper’ Stars Multi-Award-Winning

ADRIAN DUNBAR and Tony Award Winner STEPHANIE J. BLOCK 

Music and Lyrics by COLE PORTER

Book by SAM AND BELLA SPEWACK

Directed by Tony Award Winner BARTLETT SHER  

NEW YORK – Following an acclaimed summertime run at London’s Barbican Theatre, the cinema release of smash-hit production KISS ME, KATE brings the magic of this musical masterpiece to an even wider audience around the world, playing in U.S. cinemas beginning November 17. Tickets are available now at KissMeKateCinema.com.

During its three-month summer residency, audiences flocked to see this “showstopper of a musical” (City AM) thrill with its “exhilarating” (The Guardian) performances from multi-award-winning Adrian Dunbar (Line of Duty, Ridley), described by The i as “a revelation” in his musical theater debut as Fred Graham/Petruchio, and Broadway musical superstar and Tony Award winner Stephanie J. Block (Into The Woods, The Cher Show) who ‘commands the stage and makes every note sing” (Time Out) in her West End debut as Lilli Vanessi/Katharine.

Directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Sam and Bella Spewack, KISS ME, KATE was hailed by the Daily Mail as “sexy and sassy” with “great songs, hot dancing and smart gags.” The dazzling production enchanted audiences and critics alike with its breathtaking choreography, show-stopping numbers and star-studded cast delivering unforgettable performances. The cinema presentation from Trafalgar Releasing promises to deliver the best of both worlds: the intimacy of live performance captured with the clarity and scale of film.

Adrian Dunbar said: “I’m delighted that KISS ME, KATE will continue its journey onto the big screen this November. We had a great three months at the Barbican and I thoroughly enjoyed treading the musical theatre boards for the first time. It’s exciting news that even more people will have the opportunity to see the show in cinemas across the UK, Ireland and beyond.”

Stephanie J. Block said: “I had such a wonderful time performing at the Barbican this summer in KISS ME, KATE. So, I’m delighted that the production was recorded for cinema release and will now be enjoyed by an even wider audience, including cinema goers in the USA.”

Producer Howard Panter says: “Following the tremendous success of our summer residency at the Barbican, which was nothing short of extraordinary, I am delighted that we can bring KISS ME, KATE to audiences around the world. The performances of our incredible critically acclaimed cast, led by the incomparable Adrian Dunbar and Stephanie J. Block, make this a must-see cinema event this November.”

Trafalgar Releasing’s CEO Marc Allenby says: “Following the cinema Box Office success of The King and I and Anything Goes, it’s great to be working with our partner Trafalgar Entertainment once again to bring this entertaining and uplifting musical comedy to cinemas across the UK and around the globe. With the filming produced and financed by Trafalgar Releasing, we are continuing to build our wide-ranging portfolio of theatre and cultural content captured especially for the big screen.” 

The cast also features Charlie Stemp (Crazy For You, Mary Poppins) as Bill Calhoun and rising star Georgina Onuorah (The Wizard of Oz, Oklahoma!) as Lois Lane / Bianca. Hammed Animashaun (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Black Ops) and Nigel Lindsay (Victoria, Shrek The Musical) are the singing hilarious gangsters and acting legend Peter Davison (Dr Who, All Creatures Great and Small) plays the role of the General. 

Director Bartlett Sher (The King and I, South Pacific and To Kill A Mockingbird) has brought together an all-star creative team who have collectively won a remarkable 20 Tony awards between them. The dynamic team includes renowned choreographer Anthony Van Laast, accomplished costume designer Catherine Zuber and leading set designer Michael Yeargan. With music and lyrics by Cole Porter and the original book by Bella & Samuel Spewack, this new production promises a symphony of wit, charm and musical brilliance. Featuring a company of over 50, including a full-scale orchestra, they perform Cole Porter classics such as ‘Another Op’nin’, Another Show’, ‘Brush Up Your Shakespeare’, ‘Tom, Dick or Harry’ and ‘It’s Too Darn Hot’ – KISS ME, KATE is the perfect musical spectacle. 

The musical farce, winner of Best Musical at the Tony Awards, is a sophisticated, ferociously funny, show within a show which whisks you into a world of backstage chaos and romantic entanglements as a theatre company attempt to put on a production of Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. The battle of the sexes takes centre stage as former spouses feud, only to find the off-stage antics rival the drama on-stage. Throw in a number of cases of mistaken identity, confused love, gangsters and a spectacular tap routine, and the result is the unparalleled delight of the first production ever to win the Tony Award for Best Musical: KISS ME, KATE.

 

RALPH FIENNES IN ‘MACBETH’ COMES TO MOVIE THEATERS FOR TWO DAYS ONLY: THURSDAY, MAY 2, AND SUNDAY, MAY 5 (REVIEW FROM NEW YORK) · Apr 29th

By Bob Shuman

Director Simon Godwin’s structured, composed descent into the “defilement of a mind” in Macbeth is objective and clear, filmed unpoetically, yet sustained with uniformly standout performances.  The conception is Brechtian and modern, which allows for hard analysis (the adapter is Emily Burns). Shakespeare’s verbal descriptions, which often start scenes, can be envisioned as eventually forming a base point for the German playwright’s  well-known text above the proscenium.  The uncluttered setting by Frankie Bradshaw, made up of six steps to a platform (with side wings of stairs), uses photography of the audience at a live theatre performance, as well as their laughter and applause.  The story’s plot points register, which, in other versions can get lost, especially as the focus shifts away from the husband-and-wife murderers.  Between the Early Modern English and the supernatural elements, as well as its change from hearth to battlefield, Macbeth is an economic tour de force, but only if you can track it. Because of its precision, this interpretation can be especially helpful for students.

Ralph Fiennes (Tony and BAFTA Award-winner) made an impact  with his ancient Roman conqueror in Antony and Cleopatra (another play he helped disentangle) and, hopefully, that same sense of discovery will inform others who now come to the Scottish play.  The work is straight to the audience and physical:  he kneels at Lady Macbeth’s womb, takes a fetal position on the floor, and engages in heavy swordplay.  He is also an older actor playing the iconic role, which highlights a strange contradiction in the text and challenges anyone playing the part.  The issue is that Macbeth murders in order to become king, and spends a good amount of time preserving his title and succession.  However, the character has no heirs: for all his raging about wearing “a fruitless crown” and “holding a barren scepter,” there is no one to accept a legacy. The audience may be able to rationalize a younger Macbeth as someone who will still be able to start a family, but an older Macbeth, who is childless, has lower chances of becoming a father (he’s worried about succession, when there is none).  If Macbeth does not have a prince, it is a moot point whether Banquo “shalt get kings.”  Imagine also the kind of life Macbeth’s child (if there was one) would have, growing up among killers and the chilling distortions of their minds.

Indira Varma (Olivier Award-winner) makes a formidable Lady Macbeth:  She’s practical, realistic, and goading—and her diction and gestures are impeccable (look at her outstretched arms and hands—she’s unafraid of large physical description and pronouncement). Macbeth can trust her to make untenable choices, and she is bold in their implementation, at least until she, too, succumbs to the nightmare in her mind.  Each of the actors has created very specific, well-thought-out characterizations.  In a sea of impressive work, there really is no mediocre, unindividuated performance–from witches to soldiers to courtiers and advisors, even children.  Two further bright lights are:  Rebecca Scroggs, who takes on a pair of no-nonsense roles:  Lady Macduff, in a brown and yellow checkered housecoat, and Lady Macbeth’s doctor, with a Red Cross armband.  Ben Turner’s Macduff is also exemplary, fusing correct language presentation and valor—for those who appreciate the steadiness of a Shakespearean line expressed, this cast delivers laudably.  Think of how difficult it must be to bring together over twenty cast members, not to mention other theatre professionals, in a high-quality Shakespeare performance.  The sharp work presented here, from The Shakespeare Company, can help make up for the lack of Shakespeare in the Park, in New York City, this season, while the Delacorte Theater is being remodeled.  

A very palpable hit.

 

© by Bob Shuman

Ticketing information:

 

MACBETH

Cinema Release Date: Thursday, May 2, and Sunday, May 5

Cinema Website: MacbethInCinemas.com 

Distributor: Trafalgar Releasing

Adapter: Emily Burns

Director: Simon Godwin

Set & Costume Designer: Frankie Bradshaw

Lighting Designer: Jai Morjaria 

Sound Designer: Christopher Shutt

Composer: Asaf Zohar

Sound System Design: Christopher Shutt & Sam Clarkson

Movement Director: Lucy Cullingford

Hair, Make Up and Prosthetics Designer: Susanna Peretz

Fight Director: Kate Waters

Casting Director: Amy Ball CDG

Children’s Casting Director: Ellie Collyer-Bristow CDG

Voice & Dialect Coach: Jeannette Nelson

Associate Director: Alice Wordsworth

Associate Set Designer: Ceci Calf

Associate Costume Designer: Olivia Ward

Associate Lighting Designer: Tom Turner

Casting Associate: Arthur Carrington

Cast:

Ralph Fiennes , Indira Varma, Ben Allen, Ewan Black, Levi Brown, Jonathon Case, Danielle Fiamanya, Keith Fleming, Michael Hodgson, Lucy Mangan, Jake Neads, Richard Pepper, Steffan Rhodri, Rose Riley, Rebecca Scroggs, Lola Shalam, Ethan Thomas, Ben Turner 

For tickets and a full list of participating cinemas, please visit MacbethInCinemas.com

NYC area theaters where Macbeth will be playing:

Barrymore Film Center: 153 Main Street, Fort Lee, N.J. 07024

Regal New Roc & IMAX: 33 LeCourt Place, New Rochelle, NY 10801

Regal UA Kaufman Astoria: 35-30 38th Street, Long Island City, NY 11101

Regal Times Square: 247 W. 42nd Street, NY., NY. 10036

Macbeth is presented by Trafalgar Releasing. To secure your tickets and witness this must-see event, visit MacbethInCinemas.com.

About Trafalgar Releasing

Trafalgar Releasing, the global leader in event cinema distribution, harnesses the power of cinema to bring fans together in more than 15,000 cinemas across 132 countries.  A subsidiary of Trafalgar Entertainment, Trafalgar Releasing’s operations include production, acquisition, marketing, and distribution of live or pre-recorded content to cinemas worldwide led by an international team based in the UK, US and Germany. Featuring live concerts, music documentaries, award-winning theatre, world-class opera and ballet, and more from leading names in entertainment such as Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, BTS, Coldplay, Billie Eilish, the Royal Opera House, Concord Originals, Hasbro and others, Trafalgar Releasing has repeatedly shattered event cinema box office records, most recently with international distribution for TAYLOR SWIFT | THE ERAS TOUR, the highest-grossing concert film of all time. Information about Trafalgar Releasing can be found at www.trafalgar-releasing.com.

(Photo credit:  © Marc Brenner; via John Singh)

 

RALPH FIENNES’ ‘MACBETH’ ON-SCREEN–2 DAYS ONLY IN AREA CINEMAS (MAY 2 AND MAY 5) · Apr 5th

 

   

A rare cinematic event is coming to New York theatres for only two days: Ralph Fiennes in Macbeth.

The Daily Telegraph calls the film, “full-voltage visceral,” while The Times of London raves it is, “Succession in a war zone.” Reflecting a contemporary resonance, the film intensifies the play’s exploration of ambition, manipulation, and the destructive allure of power.

Currently riveting audiences in Washington D.C., after a sold-out UK run, Macbeth is played by Tony and BAFTA Award-winner Fiennes (Antony & Cleopatra, Schindler’s List, Coriolanus) and Olivier Award-winner Indira Varma (Present Laughter, Obi Wan Kenobi, Luther). This production of the epic Shakespeare drama, designed for a custom-built space, brings, as  The I says, “Shakespeare’s tragedy pulsing into the present day.”

Directed by Simon Godwin (Antony & Cleopatra, Romeo & Juliet, Hansard­) with set and costume design by Frankie Bradshaw (Jerusalem, Blues for an Alabama Sky),  Macbeth is unmissable on the big screen. The sold-out Washington, D.C. production, staged by the Shakespeare Theatre Company, runs from April 9 to May 5. In London and following seasons in Liverpool and Edinburgh, Macbeth will have played to sell out audiences of over 100,000 people at 110 performances.

Given Godwin’s proven directorial skills and the undeniable talents of Fiennes and Varma, this limited release is an event not to be missed by serious theatre enthusiasts and Shakespeare aficionados alike.

For tickets and a full list of participating cinemas, please visit MacbethInCinemas.com

NYC area theaters where Macbeth will be playing:

Barrymore Film Center: 153 Main Street, Fort Lee, N.J. 07024

Regal New Roc & IMAX: 33 LeCourt Place, New Rochelle, NY 10801

Regal UA Kaufman Astoria: 35-30 38th Street, Long Island City, NY 11101

Regal Times Square: 247 W. 42nd Street, NY., NY. 10036

Macbeth is presented by Trafalgar Releasing. To secure your tickets and witness this must-see event, visit MacbethInCinemas.com.

About Trafalgar Releasing

Trafalgar Releasing, the global leader in event cinema distribution, harnesses the power of cinema to bring fans together in more than 15,000 cinemas across 132 countries.  A subsidiary of Trafalgar Entertainment, Trafalgar Releasing’s operations include production, acquisition, marketing, and distribution of live or pre-recorded content to cinemas worldwide led by an international team based in the UK, US and Germany. Featuring live concerts, music documentaries, award-winning theatre, world-class opera and ballet, and more from leading names in entertainment such as Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, BTS, Coldplay, Billie Eilish, the Royal Opera House, Concord Originals, Hasbro and others, Trafalgar Releasing has repeatedly shattered event cinema box office records, most recently with international distribution for TAYLOR SWIFT | THE ERAS TOUR, the highest-grossing concert film of all time. Information about Trafalgar Releasing can be found at www.trafalgar-releasing.com.

(Photo credit:  © Marc Brenner; via John Singh)

AUSTIN PENDLETON:  ‘ORSON’S SHADOW’ (REVIEW FROM NEW YORK) · Mar 20th

By Bob Shuman

The aesthetic issue being explored in Orson’s Shadow (Austin Pendleton’s own play now celebrating its 25th Anniversary) might best be expressed if I show you a picture of the Little Tramp (or the Little Fellow, as Charlie Chaplin and Laurence Olivier might call him). 

My question to you is the following:  Are you viewing a character from Hollywood’s golden age or are you looking at an actor from a Beckett play, 1949 (advertising shot)?  The one was invented during an artistic gold rush, in the early 1900s, and the second, after the devastations of a world war; the first possibility represents the popular entertainment establishment and the second existentialism, socialism or anti-authoritarianism.  The roles of the famous thespians, in Pendleton’s excellent comedy, now playing at Theater for the New City until March 31, are considering the Rorschach, too, with their own bankability at stake, just as the audience, likewise, notices incongruous elements, such as contemporary folding chairs in a play set in 1960, the breaking of the fourth wall, actors seen readying for their entrances, and the disregard of a culminating confrontation with the words: “don’t plead” (and no one is pleading).  Are these characters the same, as before theatre seemed to be changing beneath their feet, are their techniques any different than what they had been, and, if so, why do they feel so lost in the shadows of a theatre rehearsal room?  These are but a few examples.

Examining the film Citizen Kane, critic Pauline Kael noticed also the overlap between commercialism and modernism in her essay “Raising Kane,” from The Citizen Kane Book, and she took sides on the ironies regarding Welles’s film: “The formal elements themselves produce elation; we are kept aware of how marvelously worked out the ideas are.  It would be high-toned to call this method of keeping the audience aware “Brechtian . . . ” (it would also be too early in this review to tell you the point she then makes).

Orson’s Shadow is about the collaboration between Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier, and Joan Plowright (and tangentially, Vivien Leigh), in which the great auteur, Welles, is recommended by one of his friends, the English critic Kenneth Tynan, to work with Olivier—a mega star of the ‘40s and beyond–at London’s Royal Court Theatre.  The idea is to have Welles, the pariah, hired as director, for a production of Ionesco’s Absurdist play Rhinoceros (which will also give him a chance to gain funding for a Shakespearean film Chimes at Midnight). Just like today, Ionesco is a hard sell, but his vision is a legitimate and historically critical artistic reaction to World War II (as is Beckett’s) and his empty and little characters illuminate the path to increasing societal conformity.  Ionesco’s revenge is that his insight was valid and, by the ’70s, the hit musical A Chorus Line emphasized the mainstream acceptance of the societal ideal of machine-like uniformity. Brecht, whose characters, for oppositional German theatre, included criminals, sex workers, and the guilty and unapologetic displayed productions that  incorporated machine apparatus, along with film ideas from silents and ‘30s movies: “in the talkies the heroes were to be the men who weren’t fooled, who were smart and learned their way around.”  That’s why Orson’s Shadow is ambiguous—because what appear to be Brechtian ideas are comparable to what was appearing on movie screens, in the early years of the medium. The subject matter of a behemothic Orson Welles and prima dona Laurence Olivier is out of old Broadway, Hollywood central casting, and maybe Warner Brothers cartoons (Brecht would show up there, too, before the House of UnAmerican Activities could decide to kick him out of the country).  Pendleton’s script is not consciously or unconsciously reflecting the captivity of defeated Europe, in either weirdness or depravity.  His characters are too busy and hopeful to be caged in barbed wire. Not gigantic modernism or proto-fragmenting post-modernism, the writing is witty, rat-a-tat-tat typewriter music, with literary repetitions and foreshadowing. Forget Beckett—at its heart this is Hecht and MacArthur, Dorothy Parker, George S. Kaufman, Ring Lardner, Moss Hart, Edna Ferber, and dozens of other smart, “wisecracking, fast-talking, cynical-sentimental” screenwriters and literati, to quote Kael, as well as Herman J. Mankiewicz, the man who wrote Citizen Kane, suggesting that Randolph Hearst’s mistress couldn’t sing and who made Welles, the genius, into a roving, homeless, Odysseus.

Patrick Hamilton as Kenneth Tynan, Luke Hofmaier as Sean, the Stage Manager. Photo by Jonathan Slaff.

Pendleton can make you think he’s known you all of your life—you can feel immediately comfortable with him, even if he can enter a room without being noticed, which, oddly, is a descriptor also mentioned in his play. For many he is not a playwright (although two friends and I have loved and laughed with and over this play since 2008) but, of course, a consummate actor and director who acted, as only one example, in Billy Wilder’s 1974 version of  The Front Page, the 1928 newspaper comedy by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur; Pendleton was praised by Pauline Kael for his performance.  In the New York theatre world, everyone will have their stories, but I have known about him since 1972 when my mother came home from teaching in central New Jersey to explain that she had taken her history class to see Nicholas and Alexandra, a movie about the Russian Revolution, at the Criterion Theatre in New York City, on its last day.  Instead, the film had changed and the movie What’s Up Doc? premiered, starring Pendleton—the class was exultant.  Today, at Theatre for the New City, he is sitting two rows in front of me, in a blue sweatshirt and hoodie and blue ski jacket, occasionally chewing an orange-handled toothbrush.  Many will be watching his directing, whether he is part of the casts or not.  From the outside, he seems to allow his companies, often made up of new and unknown talent, to develop their roles from their own insides, in memorable, inhabiting, and complete ways. This is true for Orson’s Shadow, where the roles are luscious, because of the characters we think we know and the aligning interpretations of them.  The actors are facsimiles of who they say they are, handling subtext and rhythms adroitly:  an Olivier who can’t help being prissy and over-balletic (Ryan Tramont); a sane Vivien Leigh holding on and counting before she spirals out of control–a Sondheim line that might apply for her: “Clutching a copy of Life Just to keep in touch” (Natalie Menna); a young, down-to-earth, and, regrettably overshadowed Joan Plowright (Kim Taff); a reticent, stuttering (a difficulty Pendleton knew from his own youth) in-person and bold in-prose Kenneth Tynan (Patrick Hamilton); a compliant stage manager, holding it in (Luke Hofmaier), and, of course, the brilliant, untrustworthy, hammy, eternally damned Welles himself (Brad Fryman). You’d want Hirschfeld to draw them. The mood of the room is cozy.

Austin Pendleton and cast of “Orson’s Shadow.” Photo by Jonathan Slaff.

Shadows are, of course, the central images for the play, and the murky Lighting Design is by Alexander Bartenieff,  incorporating ghostlight, spotlight, footlight, and sidelight; the Costume Design is by Billy Little. Sound Design, using music from the soundtracks of Welles’s films, is by Nick Moore. David Schweitzer is co-director. Mark Karafin is Assistant Director and Company Manager. Jose Ruiz is the Stage Manager.

Oh, yes.  Pauline Kael wrote, by way of Walter Kerr, that in the ‘30s, “A play was held to be something of a machine. . . . It was a machine for surprising and delighting the audience, regularly, logically, insanely, but accountably.  A play was like a watch that laughed.”  That is this play.

She also wrote: It would be wrong to call such a play Brechtian because it comes out of a different tradition.

I leave you to ponder the photo of the little tramp in conjunction with considering Orson’s Shadow.  

© by Bob Shuman.  All rights reserved. (Written without AI.)

WHERE AND WHEN: March 14 to 31, 2024; Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. (at E. 10th Street) Presented by Theater for the New City in association with Oberon Theatre Ensemble and Strindberg Rep. Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM, Sundays at 3:00 PM. Wednesdays at 7:30: March 20 & 27. $25 general admission, $15 seniors & students. Pay what you can Thursdays. Box office (212) 254-1109, www.theaterforthenewcity.net Runs two hours with intermission. Opens March 17.

Press: Jonathan Slaff