(Yuriy Goodnichenko’s and Ilona Sologoub’s article appeared in the Kyiv Independent, 6/7; Photo: Famous Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko is seen in front of a destroyed building in the Ukrainian city of Derhachí, Kharkiv Oblast, on Sept. 20, 2022. (Photo by YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images.)
BERKELEY/KYIV – When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, few expected resistance to last longer than a few days. In both Russia and the West, Russian troops were expected to sweep into Kyiv, parade uniforms in hand, install a proxy government, and effectively end Ukrainian statehood.
But whereas Western leaders believed that Ukraine was no match for Russia militarily, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s confidence in a swift victory rested on a more fundamental assumption: Ukrainians would have little will to resist, because they had never actually existed. In Putin’s eyes, Ukraine’s history and identity were so bound up with Russia that its people would have no reason to risk their lives and property for the sake of sovereignty.
The war is rooted in this imperial miscalculation. The strength of Ukraine’s resistance has depended less on the military assistance provided by NATO members than on the Ukrainian people’s insistence on their own agency and destiny. Ukrainians understand that the fight is for their national survival, and that cultural decolonization is essential to it.
This has caused much handwringing in the West, where Ukrainians’ unwillingness to share the stage with Russians is still raising eyebrows. In May, for example, the Russian-American writer Masha Gessen resigned from the board of PEN America in response to the cancellation of a panel they were chairing with two Russian writers at the organization’s World Voices Festival. Two Ukrainian writers – both active soldiers – had refused to participate in an event with Russians, so the Russians were sent packing. (A similar episode occurred in Estonia earlier the same month.)
While some decried “the impulse to censor anyone Russian,” Gessen’s response to the episode was sympathetic to the Ukrainians and nuanced in justifying their resignation (Gessen uses they/them pronouns). While recognizing that “Ukrainians are constantly confronted with Russian dominance in cultural spheres and in academia,” their concern was for the “human victims” – the curators, musicians, and writers whose work was in danger of being “erased.”
The issue for Western cultural fora is not just that scores of writers, actors, singers, producers, and others signed letters supporting the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the invasion in 2022 (with some even braggingabout their active role in killing Ukrainians). The issue is the role of Russian kulturträgers of all stripes in advancing Russian soft power. (Ironically, the Kremlin commemorated the United Nations’ Russian Language Day with a savage display of hard power, apparently blowing up the Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro river.) Seen from this perspective, deplatforming Russian culture would benefit Ukraine – and perhaps even Russians themselves.
(William Earl’s and Brent Lang’s article appeared on Variety, 6/7; Photo: Helen Murray.)
Jodie Comer is getting rave reviews for her performance in the one-woman Broadway play “Prima Facie,” but her June 7 performance was cut short due to the air quality crisis in New York City.
Eyewitnesses say Comer told the audience she couldn’t breathe because of the air and a stage manager helped her off stage about 10 minutes into the matinée performance. The show resumed from the top shortly after with Comer’s understudy Dani Arlington taking over the role, a spokesperson for the play confirmed to Variety.
New York City is in its second day of terrible air quality as a result of Canadian wildfire smoke blowing in its direction. The city is bathed in a yellow hue, the air is difficult to breathe and smells like a burning campfire.
(Charlotte Higgins’s article appeared in the Guardian, 6/5; Photo: ‘What would you have done?’ … Stephen Campbell Moore as John Reith in When Winston Went to War with the Wireless. Photograph: Manuel Harlan.)
In 1926, with the General Strike looming and the right warning of a Bolshevik revolution, the BBC found itself in a dreadful dilemma. Writer Jack Thorne on why he turned this into ‘a love letter to people in authority’
Jack Thorne is a furiously busy scriptwriter and, although he’s celebrated for bringing Harry Potter to the stage and His Dark Materials to the screen, he loves a chewy subject. In recent years, he’s tackled child abuse, the plight of care homes in the pandemic, and a Grenfell-like catastrophe that devastates a community. At the moment, his play The Motive and the Cue, about the famously rocky process of putting together John Gielgud’s production of Hamlet starring Richard Burton, is at the National Theatre in London.
He will soon have another play on in the city. When we meet, Thorne – tall, gangly, scrappily bearded, wearing a T-shirt with a printed design that instantly calls to mind the armoured bear in His Dark Materials – is on a break from watching a run-through of his newest work, When Winston Went to War With the Wireless. It stages an early crisis for the BBC that shaped its future and set the tone for the way it handles political pressure to this day.
Fight the government and imperil the corporation? Or accept that in a crisis, the BBC should sacrifice its independence?
The play takes place in spring 1926. The General Strike has been called. On the right, there’s a climate of, says Thorne, “absolute paranoia” that a Bolshevik revolution is on its way. Winston Churchill, then chancellor, sets up the British Gazette as the voice of the Conservative government. He also wants to grab the BBC, then a mere four years old, and bring it under full state control.
What was John Reith, the high-minded, complicated BBC director general, to do? Fight the government and imperil the young corporation? Or accept that, in a time of national crisis, the BBC should sacrifice its independence and impartiality on the altar of national stability? What played out, says Thorne, was “a defining moment” for the BBC. And it is wonderful material for a drama, with two remarkable characters – Reith (Stephen Campbell Moore) and Churchill (Adrian Scarborough) – at its heart.
Thorne himself has huge love and respect for the BBC. He is delighted that it was early to throw its weight, with Channel 4, behind The TV Access Project, which aims to transform working conditions for disabled people working in production (the subject of his 2021 MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV festival). He himself suffers from a long-term condition called cholinergic urticaria, an allergy to heat or movement that, though manageable now, was debilitating when he was younger.
(Wednesday, May 31, 2023) – Winners for the 67th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced today.
The 2023 Drama Desk Awards will take place at Sardi’s Restaurant (234 W 44th Street) on June 6th from 3:00 – 6:00pm. The full list of winners will be available at the website www.DramaDesk.org, and below.
Tony® and Emmy Award winner Mandy Patinkin (Evita; “Homeland”) and 2-time Obie Award winner Kathryn Grody (The Marriage of Bette and Boo; A Mom’s Life) will host the ceremony.
In keeping with the Drama Desk‘s mission, the nominators considered shows that opened on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway during the 2022-2023 season for this year’s awards. Shows were eligible with 21 or more unique live performances.
The Drama Desk Awards are the only major New York City theater awards for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway compete against each other in the same categories. David Barbour and Charles Wright are The Drama Desk co-presidents.
The Drama Desk Awards ceremony on June 6 is produced by Staci Levine/Groundswell Theatricals.
In accordance with a directive by the Drama Desk board of directors, all performance categories are gender-free. The updated gender-free categories are: Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play, Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical, Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, and Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical.
Each of these categories had twice as many nominees as the former gendered categories and these categories have two winners each.
“We are proud to congratulate the winners of the 67th Annual Drama Desk Awards, which celebrate all of Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway,” said Commissioner Anne del Castillo of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. “This year’s awards also honor Between Riverside and Crazy’s Stephen McKinley Henderson, the cast of Soho Rep’s Public Obscenities, and Ryan J. Haddad, creator of Dark Disabled Stories, who each represent the rich diversity and breadth of talent that define NYC as a global creative capital.”
What sets the Drama Desk Awards apart is that they are voted on and bestowed by critics, journalists, editors, and publishers covering theater. The Drama Desk Awards honor all aspects of New York’s professional theater.
About The Drama Desk
The Drama Desk was founded in 1949 to explore key issues in the theater and to bring together critics and writers in an organization to support the ongoing development of theater in New York. The organization began presenting its awards in 1955, and it is the only critics’ organization to honor achievement in the theater with competition among Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway productions in the same categories.
The 2022-2023 Drama Desk Nominating Committee is composed of: Martha Wade Steketee (Chair; freelance: UrbanExcavations.com), Linda Armstrong (New York Amsterdam News), Dan Dinero (Theatre is Easy), Peter Filichia (Broadway Radio), Kenji Fujishima (freelance: Theatermania), Margaret Hall (Playbill) and Charles Wright, Drama Desk co-president, ex-officio.
Follow the Drama Desk Awards: @DramaDeskAwards on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for updates.
2023 DRAMA DESK WINNERS
(winners are highlighted and starred)
Outstanding Play
A Case for the Existence of God, by Samuel D. Hunter, Signature Theatre
Fat Ham, by James Ijames, The Public Theater and National Black Theatre
**Leopoldstadt, by Tom Stoppard
Love, by Alexander Zeldin, Park Avenue Armory
Prima Facie, by Suzie Miller
Wish You Were Here, by Sanaz Toossi, Playwrights Horizons
Outstanding Musical
& Juliet
Between the Lines
F*ck7thGrade, The Wild Project
Shucked
**Some Like it Hot
White Girl in Danger, Vineyard Theatre and Second Stage Theater
Outstanding Revival of a Play
A Raisin in the Sun, The Public Theater
Death of a Salesman
Endgame, Irish Repertory Theatre
**The Piano Lesson
Ohio State Murders
Wedding Band, Theatre for a New Audience
Outstanding Revival of a Musical
A Man of No Importance, Classic Stage Company
Into the Woods
Merrily We Roll Along, New York Theatre Workshop
**Parade
Sweeney Todd
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play
Hiran Abeysekera, Life of Pi
Kyle Beltran, A Case for the Existence of God, Signature Theatre
Will Brill, A Case for the Existence of God, Signature Theatre
Brittany Bradford, Wedding Band, Theatre for a New Audience
**Jessica Chastain, A Doll’s House
Sharon D. Clarke, Death of a Salesman
**Sean Hayes, Good Night, Oscar
Denise Manning, Amani, National Black Theatre and Rattlestick Theater
Audra McDonald, Ohio State Murders
Wendell Pierce, Death of a Salesman
John Douglas Thompson, Endgame, Irish Repertory Theatre
Kara Young, Twelfth Night, The Classical Theatre of Harlem
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical
**Annaleigh Ashford, Sweeney Todd
Nicholas Barasch, The Butcher Boy, Irish Repertory Theatre
Sara Bareilles, Into the Woods
Andrew Burnap, Camelot
Micaela Diamond, Parade
Andrew Durand, Shucked
Callum Francis, Kinky Boots, Stage 42
**J. Harrison Ghee, Some Like it Hot
Jonathan Groff, Merrily We Roll Along, New York Theatre Workshop
Somi Kakoma, Dreaming Zenzile, New York Theatre Workshop
Lindsay Mendez, Merrily We Roll Along, New York Theatre Workshop
Anna Uzele, New York, New York
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play
Emily Bergl, Good Night, Oscar
Danielle Brooks, The Piano Lesson
Amelda Brown, Love, Park Avenue Armory
Ray Fisher, The Piano Lesson
K. Todd Freeman, Downstate, Playwrights Horizons
Francis Guinan, Downstate, Playwrights Horizons
Nick Holder, Love, Park Avenue Armory
Arian Moayed, A Doll’s House
Brian Quijada, Wolf Play, MCC Theater and Soho Rep
**Miriam Silverman, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Brooklyn Academy of Music
**Brandon Uranowitz, Leopoldstadt
Kara Young, Cost of Living
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical
Kevin Cahoon, Shucked
**Kevin Del Aguila, Some Like it Hot
Robyn Hurder, A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical
Mark Jacoby, A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical
Tarra Conner Jones, White Girl in Danger, Vineyard Theatre and Second Stage Theater
Julia Lester, Into the Woods
**Alex Newell, Shucked
Daniel Radcliffe, Merrily We Roll Along, New York Theatre Workshop
Phillipa Soo, Into the Woods
Mare Winningham, A Man of No Importance, Classic Stage Company
Outstanding Direction of a Play
Zi Alikhan, On That Day in Amsterdam, Primary Stages
Shayok Misha Chowdhury, Public Obscenities, Soho Rep and NAATCO
Miranda Cromwell, Death of a Salesman
Adam Meggido, Peter Pan Goes Wrong
**Max Webster, Life of Pi
Alexander Zeldin, Love, Park Avenue Armory
Outstanding Direction of a Musical
Jeff Calhoun, Between the Lines
John Doyle, A Man of No Importance, Classic Stage Company
Maria Friedman, Merrily We Roll Along, New York Theatre Workshop
**Thomas Kail, Sweeney Todd
Jack O’Brien, Shucked
Outstanding Choreography
Andy Blankenbuehler, Only Gold, MCC Theater
Tislarm Bouie, the bandaged place
Edgar Godineaux, The Harder They Come, The Public Theater
**Casey Nicholaw, Some Like it Hot
Susan Stroman, New York, New York
Jennifer Weber, KPOP
Outstanding Music
**Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, Shucked
Michael R. Jackson, White Girl in Danger, Vineyard Theatre and Second Stage Theater
Tom Kitt and AnnMarie Milazzo (vocal designer), Almost Famous
Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson, Between the Lines
The Kilbanes, Weightless, WP Theater
Outstanding Lyrics
Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, Shucked
Jonathan Hogue, Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical
Michael R. Jackson, White Girl in Danger, Vineyard Theatre and Second Stage Theater
Adam Schlesinger and Sarah Silverman, The Bedwetter, Atlantic Theater Company
**Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, Some Like it Hot
Outstanding Book of a Musical
Jonathan Hogue, Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical
Robert Horn, Shucked
**Matthew López and Amber Ruffin, Some Like it Hot
Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli, and Tye Blue, Titanique
David West Read, & Juliet
Outstanding Orchestrations
Bruce Coughlin, A Man of No Importance, Classic Stage Company
Jason Howland, Shucked
**Charlie Rosen and Bryan Carter, Some Like it Hot
Kenny Seymour, The Harder They Come, The Public Theater
Daryl Waters and Sam Davis, New York, New York
Outstanding Music in a Play
Ben Edelman, Zane Pais, and Sinan Refik Zafar, Letters from Max, a ritual, Signature Theatre
Mauricio Escamilla, the bandaged place, Roundabout Theatre Company
**Suzan-Lori Parks, Plays for the Plague Year, The Public Theater
Ian Ross, Wuthering Heights, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Wise Children, National Theatre
Daniel Schlosberg, Montag, Soho Rep
Outstanding Scenic Design of a Play
Jason Ardizzone-West, Wedding Band, Theatre for a New Audience
Beowulf Boritt, Ohio State Murders
dots, Public Obscenities, Soho Rep and NAATCO
**Tim Hatley, Life of Pi
Natasha Jenkins, Love, Park Avenue Armory
John McDermott, Chains, Mint Theater Company
Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musical
**Beowulf Boritt, New York, New York
David Korins, Only Gold, MCC Theater
Scott Pask, Shucked
Walt Spangler and Brendan McCann (production props), Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical
Michael Yeargan, Camelot
Outstanding Costume Design of a Play
Kara Branch, According to the Chorus, New Light Theater Project
Enver Chakartash, Public Obscenities, Soho Rep and NAATCO
Qween Jean, Wedding Band, Theatre for a New Audience
Sarah Laux, Wish You Were Here, Playwright Horizons
**Emilio Sosa, Ain’t No Mo’
Roberto Surace, Peter Pan Goes Wrong
Outstanding Costume Design of a Musical
**Gregg Barnes, Some Like it Hot
Tilly Grimes, Shucked
Jennifer Moeller, Camelot
Clint Ramos and Sophia Choi, KPOP
Anita Yavich, Only Gold, MCC Theater
Donna Zakowska, New York, New York
Outstanding Lighting Design of a Play
Isabella Byrd, Epiphany, Lincoln Center Theater
Jiyoun Chang, The Far Country, Atlantic Theater Company
**Natasha Chivers and Willie Williams (video), Prima Facie
Allen Lee Hughes, Ohio State Murders
Cha See, On That Day in Amsterdam, Primary Stages
Japhy Weideman, The Piano Lesson
Outstanding Lighting Design of a Musical
Ken Billington, New York, New York
Jeff Croiter, Only Gold, MCC Theater
Heather Gilbert, Parade
David Grill, Bob Fosse’s Dancin’
**Natasha Katz, Sweeney Todd
Outstanding Projection and Video Design
Simon Baker, Wuthering Heights, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Wise Children, and National Theatre
**Andrzej Goulding, Life of Pi
Caite Hevner, Between the Lines, Tony Kiser Theater
Josh Higgason, White Girl in Danger, Vineyard Theatre and Second Stage Theater
Nicholas Hussong, On That Day in Amsterdam, Primary Stages
Johnny Moreno, Public Obscenities, Soho Rep and NAATCO
Outstanding Sound Design of a Play
Justin Ellington, Ohio State Murders
Tom Gibbons, Hamlet, Park Avenue Armory
Josh Anio Grigg, Love, Park Avenue Armory
Lee Kinney and Daniel Kluger, You Will Get Sick, Roundabout Theatre Company
**Ben & Max Ringham, A Doll’s House
Mikaal Sulaiman, Fat Ham, The Public Theater and National Black Theatre
Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical
Peter Hylenski, Almost Famous
**Scott Lehrer and Alex Neumann, Into the Woods
John Shivers, Shucked
Joanna Lynne Staub, Weightless, WP Theater
Jon Weston, Parade
Outstanding Wig and Hair
Campbell Young Associates, Almost Famous
Cookie Jordan, The Piano Lesson
**Mia M. Neal, Ain’t No Mo’
Earon Nealey, Twelfth Night, The Classical Theatre of Harlem
Mitsuteru Okuyama, Chushingura 47 Ronin
Luc Verschueren, A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical
Outstanding Solo Performance
**Jodie Comer, Prima Facie
David Greenspan, Four Saints in Three Acts, Lucille Lortel Theatre
Jessica Hendy, Walking With Bubbles, AMT Theater
Anthony Rapp, Without You
Tracy Thorne, Jack Was Kind, Irish Repertory Theatre
Unique Theatrical Experience
Asi Wind’s Inner Circle
**Peter Pan Goes Wrong
Plays for the Plague Year, The Public Theater
Zephyr, Cirque Mechanics at The New Victory Theater
Outstanding Fight Choreography
**B.H. Barry, Camelot
Rocio Mendez, Día Y Noche, LAByrinth Theater Company
Rocio Mendez, How to Defend Yourself, New York Theater Workshop
Unkledave’s Fight-House, soft, MCC Theater
Outstanding Adaptation
**A Doll’s House, by Amy Herzog
Arden of Faversham, by Jeffrey Hatcher and Kathryn Walat, Red Bull Theater
black odyssey, by Marcus Gardley, Classic Stage Company
Oresteia, by Robert Icke, Park Avenue Armory
Wuthering Heights, by Emma Rice, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Wise Children, National Theatre
Outstanding Puppetry
John Leader, Wuthering Heights, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Wise Children, National Theatre
James Ortiz (design), Kennedy Kanagawa (as Milky White), Into the Woods
**Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell, Life of Pi
Kirjan Waage, The Immortal Jellyfish Girl, Wakka Wakka and Nordland Visual Theatre at 59E59
SPECIAL AWARDS
Harold Prince Lifetime Achievement Award
Stephen McKinley Henderson has been bringing in-depth, gripping portrayals of memorable characters to the stage for over four decades. With his return to Broadway this season as Pops in Between Riverside and Crazy, which the Drama Desk previously nominated in 2015, this year’s Harold Prince Lifetime Achievement Award marks Henderson’s role in this powerful production as a celebration of his brilliant career.
Ensemble Award
The cast of Soho Rep’s Public Obscenities – Tashnuva Anan, Abrar Haque, Golam Sarwar Harun, Gargi Mukherjee, NaFis, Jakeem Dante Powell, and Debashis Roy Chowdhury – embodied the transnational world of Shayok Misha Chowdhury’s bilingual play with memorable authenticity, remarkable specificity, and extraordinary warmth.
Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award
From his standout performance in american (tele)visions, to writing and performing the autobiographical Dark Disabled Stories, Ryan J. Haddad’s work this season has expanded on and interrogated what the idea of “accessibility” really means. Whether riding a shopping cart like a throne, or relating his experiences on a “gay, pink bus,” Haddad shared with audiences an unabashed queer fabulosity that was both unforgettable and deeply human.
Tina Turner – one of rock’s great vocalists and most charismatic performers – has died aged 83, her spokesperson has confirmed.
In a statement, they said: “Tina Turner, the ‘Queen of Rock’n Roll’ has died peacefully today at the age of 83 after a long illness in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland.
“With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model.”
The US-born star was one of the best-loved female rock singers, known for her on-stage presence and a string of hits including The Best, Proud Mary, Private Dancer and What’s Love Got to Do With It.
(Colette Davidson’s article appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, 5/17; Glen Stubbe Photography/Courtesy of Children’s Theatre Company.)
May 17, 2023|MINNEAPOLIS
Fievel Mousekewitz’s immigration story begins like so many others – a menacing, outside threat. The packing of bags. A tumultuous voyage at sea.
But, as the name suggests, Fievel isn’t a person, he’s a mouse. And the threat is a band of cats.
Fievel’s tale – “An American Tail” – is a story of loss, hope, rebuilding, and family. It is a story shared by many Americans, some recently, some in generations past.
Generations of American kids grew up on the story of Fievel Mousekewitz. At a time when roughly a quarter of Americans are satisfied with immigration levels, a new play looks at what it means to come to America.
Now, the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis is revisiting the 1986 film classic in dramatic form, in a world premiere from Tony-winning playwright Itamar Moses and Obie-winning director Taibi Magar. The tale of Fievel and his Jewish family’s traumatic uprooting from 19th-century Russia – in what is now Ukraine – to the boroughs of New York City is one that members of Generation X will remember from the animated film and a new generation can learn from.
In the opening act, the family of mice sing, “There are no cats in America, and the streets are paved with cheese!” The puns are abundant, but the lessons are universal.
“America is a patchwork of arrivals, but how do we welcome each new wave?” says Mr. Moses in an interview. “There are threats. But if we can work together, a better version of ourselves is always somewhere out there.”
Ultimately, “An American Tail” harks back to an era when immigration was romanticized, not politicized, in films like “West Side Story” (1961) or “Coming to America” (1988). This February, a Gallup Poll showed that Americans’ satisfaction with the country’s level of immigration had dropped to 28%, its lowest in a decade.
“This is reaching back to a happier time, a vision of immigration when it was seen simply as a part of the way this country worked,” says David Itzkowitz, a St. Paul-based historian. “Now, antisemitism is back in the media. … Immigration has become a race issue.”
(Michael Billington’s article appeared in the Guardian, 5/16, 2023; Photo: The Greek theatre in Syracuse. Photograph: Gaspare Urso’ )
Playing in the vast ancient amphitheatre, imaginative new productions of Euripides and Aeschylus find fresh nuance even in this huge space
How best to stage the great Greek classics? The fashion in Britain is for intimacy. But there are other alternatives, as I found on a visit to the ancient Greek theatre in Sicily’s Syracuse where everything is on a massive scale. The auditorium, carved out of a hillside, seats 5,000. The stage is 27 metres wide and 44 deep; acting, direction and design are correspondingly epic. Yet I discovered, in the two productions I saw, that psychological detail is still achievable even in this vast arena.
Seasons of the Greek classics began in Syracuse in 1914, continued spasmodically but only became annual events in this century. Scanning the records, you find that many famous directors, including Peter Stein, Luca Ronconi, Yannis Kokkos and Irene Papas, have worked there. Among the translators, the name of Pier Paolo Pasolini stands out. Each eight-week season blends a well-known title with others less familiar. This year Medea and Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound kicked off the programme, with Peace by Aristophanes and a multi-media spectacle about Ulysses still to come. After July, selected productions will go on tour around Italy.
This is all the impressive work of the Istituto Nazionale Del Dramma Antico (National Institute of Ancient Drama) but I was relieved to find that a respect for the past was matched by a regard for the present. On a basic level, non-Italian speakers are offered an earpiece translation and a text in English. But my first discovery at Medea was a brilliant essay in the programme-book by the play’s translator, Massimo Fusillo, which suggests that Euripides pioneered the use of the inner monologue allowing us to get inside the protagonist’s head. Fusillo argues that this leads ultimately to Macbeth, Milton’s Satan and modern TV series such as Breaking Bad and Gomorrah. The play’s director, Federico Tiezzi, goes further by saying he sees Medea as “a clash between an archaic society and a post-industrial society” and compares Jason to the “great boisterous Ibsen titans from John Gabriel Borkman to Torvald Helmer in A Doll’s House”.
All this is heady stuff but how does it work in practice? Tiezzi goes out of his way to stress the symbolic nature of the conflict in which Medea is told that she will be forced to leave Corinth never to see Jason or her children again. Medea initially sports a fearsome bird-like headpiece, her children wear fluffy rabbit-heads and Creon, the king of Corinth, a crocodile-mask. The female chorus, meanwhile, are blue-clad skivvies with pails and scrubbing-brushes. But the great revelation comes in the relationship between Medea and Jason.
(Chis Wiegand’s article appeaed in the Guardian, 5/5; via Pam Green; Photo: On tomorrow and tomorrow … David Tennant in a publicity shot for the Donmar’s forthcoming Macbeth. Photograph: Charlie Gray.)
The actor will take to the stage as the Scottish king in December, in the last production of the London theatre’s 30th-anniversary season
Hot on the heels of the news that Ralph Fiennes will play Macbeth in a tour of repurposed UK warehouses comes the announcement that David Tennant will also star as the Scottish king at London’s Donmar Warehouse.
It is the Scottish actor’s first Shakespearean stage role since he played Richard II for the Royal Shakespeare Company, on and off, from 2013 to 2016. In 2022 he was Macbeth in a two-part BBC Radio 4 broadcast. The Donmar production will be directed by Max Webster and will conclude the 30th-anniversary season for the London theatre, which was previously home to a banana-ripening warehouse.
You must be very careful in the use of a mirror (when trying to make sure that feelings are externally reflected). It teaches an actor to watch the outside rather than the inside of his soul, both in himself and in his part. (AP)
A Moscow court has sentenced a poet to four years in prison for publicly reciting verses condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Tver district court sentenced Nikolai Daineko on May 10 after finding him guilty of “inciting hatred and calling for anti-state activities.” Daineko, who agreed to cooperate with investigators, was arrested along with two other poets, Artyom Kamardin and Yegor Shtovba, in September after they presented their anti-war verses in public. Kamardin’s girlfriend has accused police of subjecting the poet to sexual violence during his apprehension. Kamardin and Shtovba will be tried separately.
