Superfluities Redux
A Theatre Surrounds a City:
Vienna's Burgtheater
Superfluities Redux |
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Home > Upcoming Tuesday, 18 May 2010 Upcoming: That FaceUPDATE: The Observer's Hermione Hoby interviews Polly Stenham on the New York opening of her first play here. The Manhattan Theatre Club production of
Polly Stenham's That Face, directed by Sarah Benson, is
currently in previews, and should be an interesting test-
Will it be perceived as "an enclosed family psychodrama" here, whatever the accents that Benson decides upon? Maybe. And though Alison points out that the play's power rests in "its precise observations of a family locked in the crisis of mental illness," you won't find that in the publicity materials for the MTC production, which describe the play's plot as "a powerful and darkly comic look at an affluent family in freefall. Mia has been suspended from boarding school. Her brother, Henry, has dropped out altogether. And Martha, their mum, manipulates them all. Money can no longer fix their problems — now it's up to them" — not a mention of mental illness to be found (or, for that matter, class upheaval, though there's the glamour of money to be sure) and more, indeed, an "enclosed family psychodrama" among the affluent. Never mind the director; the press material has it simplified from the start. Is the play's Martha a "a fragile, damaged creature teetering wildly on the edge of a catastrophe curve," as Alison describes her, or a "Real Housewife of Contemporary Great Britain"? Is there a significant difference? The production will tell. Posted in /Upcoming Home > Upcoming Sunday, 09 May 2010 Howard Barker at the Segal CenterI hope you'll be able to join the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center and
theatre minima for
Howard Barker at the Segal Center
tomorrow, Monday 10 May, beginning at 1.00pm. The event, which is
free and open to the public, will feature a variety of screenings,
readings and performances to celebrate the
four-
The Segal Center is located at 365 Fifth Avenue between 34th and 35th
Streets in New York, and a full schedule for the day is at the theatre
minima Web site here. I look forward to joining you in welcoming
Barker on a rare visit to our shores. Posted in /Upcoming Home > Upcoming Wednesday, 05 May 2010 Tony nominations for Jan Maxwell
Congratulations to Jan Maxwell, who yesterday was nominated for not one
but two Tony
Awards for the 2009- But Broadway and Tony aficianados will probably be surprised to learn
that Ms. Maxwell is also one of the foremost performers of the work of
Howard Barker in the United States. She is a founding member (with Richard
Romagnoli and Robert Emmet Lunney) of The Barker Project, won a Drama Desk
nomination for her performance as Galactia in the 2008 Potomac Theatre
Project's production of Scenes from an Execution, and was a
revelation in the title role of Barker's Judith in a reading for
the 21- Which makes us doubly glad that she'll taking some valuable and no doubt hectic time out to join us for the Howard Barker at the Segal Center event next Monday, where she'll be discussing Barker's work on a panel that will also include Romagnoli and Lunney, and reading a scene from Barker's Gertrude — The Cry, directed by the Red Bull Theater's artistic director Jesse Berger. I'm grateful that Ms. Maxwell will provide a welcome dose of Broadway lustre and glamour to our proceedings, and again offer my sincere congratulations to her. Posted in /Upcoming
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